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Lesson 03 ยท 14 minutes

Twelve characters.
Your company is one of them.

A story needs a voice to be told in. The archetype is the character your company plays, and there are 12 to choose from. Pick one; the rest of the identity follows it.

Begin All nine lessons

An archetype is a character
people understand in one line.

  1. 01The twelve, each in its one line.Each comes with the brand that plays it, so you can hear the difference between a Hero and a Ruler.
  2. 02How to tell yours from the one you admire.It is easy to pick the character of a brand you like. The test is whether it matches what the company does.
  3. 03The three tests.Clear, match, resonate. An archetype that passes two of three gets redone in a year.

What it is

An archetype is a clear character portrayal, so people understand the company faster.

Twelve of them, drawn from the stories people already know. Every one is a promise in one line.

What is a brand archetype?

A brand archetype is a clear & concise character portrayal so people can understand it faster.

Slide 03The definition, from the workshop.
With oneThe voice has one character to follow.A Hero does not write like a Caregiver. Every headline, reply and caption has a register to check against.
Without oneEvery piece sounds like whoever wrote it.The site is bold, the emails are gentle, the deck is formal. Three characters, and the customer meets a different one each time.

The twelve

Each one is a promise. Read the promise, then the brand, and hear it.

Innocent

“We make life simple and good.”

Dove
Sage

“We help you understand.”

BBC
Explorer

“Go further. Try the new thing.”

Red Bull
Hero

“We help you win.”

Nike
Outlaw

“Break the rules with us.”

Harley-Davidson
Magician

“We make the impossible easy.”

Apple
Everyman

“This is for all of us.”

IKEA
Lover

“Enjoy this. Feel close.”

Chanel
Jester

“Have fun with us.”

Old Spice
Caregiver

“You are safe with us.”

Johnson & Johnson
Creator

“Build something new with us.”

LEGO
Ruler

“We lead. We are the premium choice.”

Mercedes-Benz

Notice the one you lingered on. It may be the one you admire, and the match test below checks whether it fits what the company does.

Three tests

An archetype passes or fails 3 tests, as every other element does.

The heart in the middle of the diagram is where all three hold.

FacebookMeta
Clear

One character, stated in one line.

“A bit of a Hero with some Sage” is not a character. It is a hedge, and a hedge cannot be written to.

Match

The character matches what the company does.

Facebook played the Everyman. Meta plays the Magician, because the product changed and the character followed it.

Resonate

The audience wants that character.

A Ruler sells to people who want to be led. An Outlaw sells to people who want to break the rules. Pick the one your customer is already looking for.

Picking yours

The workshop finds it with pairs of extremes, not a list of twelve.

Each pair is a scale. Read together, the team’s dots point at one character. This is lesson nine, in 15 minutes.

  1. Ruler or Outlawlead the category, or break its rules
  2. Sage or Magicianexplain the thing, or make it easy
  3. Hero or Caregiverhelp them win, or keep them safe
  4. Explorer or Everymango further, or belong

When the team’s dots disagree, that is the finding.

Two characters in one company is the inconsistency from lesson two, before anything has been designed.

On Monday

Pick one. Say it out loud.

One of the twelve, in one line, in your words. If the sentence needs an “and”, it is two, and you have not picked.

Check it against the last 3 things you shipped.

The site, the last email, the last deck. Which character wrote each one? If the answer is 3 different characters, the company has not picked one yet.

Ask 3 people on the team, separately.

Same question, no discussion. Three different answers is normal, and it is the reason the workshop exists.

Recap

  1. 01An archetype is the character the company plays.Twelve to choose from, each a promise in one line, each with a brand you know playing it.
  2. 02Clear, match, resonate.One character, matched to what the company does, wanted by the customer. Two of three gets redone.
  3. 03The workshop finds it.Pairs of extremes show where the team agrees and where it splits.

Twelve characters, one line each.

Next

Lesson four is the mark.

Lessons 4 to 9 are in production.

04In productionA logo is recognized in one second, at any size.

Accessible, unmistakable, authentic. Then why a logo is a system, not a file.

05In productionColor makes people feel before they read.

Emotional, distinctive, aligned. 6 colors, 6 brands, what each one is doing to the viewer.

Start here

Ask about the lesson, or tell me about the company.

A question about a lesson gets an answer. A company gets the questionnaire.

  1. 01You write.A few lines on the company and what you need.
  2. 02We talk.Thirty minutes, on a call, within 1 business day.
  3. 03You leave with a plan.What happens first, who it needs, and a date.
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