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Howâs your work week going? I took some time off publishing new articles and consulting clients to look at âThe Hero and the Outlawâ by Carol Pearson and Margaret Mark. Itâs a guide to leveraging the power of archetypes for your brand, and I think thereâs much to learn from it.
Archetypes are properly defined as âuniversal constructs of the human psycheâ. In laymanâs terms, these are images we all recognise because theyâre built into our subconscious mind. One such example is the archetype of the heroâââa good guy who triumphs over evil and saves the day.
It is a powerful image with an agreed upon meaning and a set of expectations that need no explanation. Much of our culture is built around archetypes. They define the way we tell stories and can be found in ancient folk tales as well as Pulitzer prize winning novels. Everything impactfulâââfrom works of art to advertisementsâââworks on an archetypal level.
Okay, but how does it work?
Content creators, no matter the kind, can benefit from understanding the principles behind this phenomenon. Stories that inspire archetypal thinking are easier to read and digest.
Letâs say, youâve been given a description of the 1605 Gunpowder plot, taken straight from your typical history textbook. Chances are, by the time you finish reading it, youâll forget the bulk of what happened in the beginning.
On the other hand, if you watch a TV series on the subject, youâll be much more likely to remember the details. Film characters come alive inside our minds as archetypes. And itâs not just about character-driven storytelling.
© At Scale by Dmitry Kabanov
Archetypes can signal a set of values associated with your brand. Some businesses pull risquĂ© jokes on Twitter, while others speak of âheritageâ and âthe national spiritâ. Feel the difference?
The most curious example
Corporate identity crisis is easy to spot. Brands that try to be everything at once end up being nothing in particular. They fall behind, leaving the spotlight to companies, whose archetypes are easier to recognise.
Letâs look at Appleâs recent slump through this lens. Remember their early messaging? The âThink Differentâ slogan, the âTree of Knowledgeâ logo, the rebellious ad campaigns? It all appeals to the outlaw archetypeâââthe image of someone creative, bold, and ready to challenge the status quo.
What about now? This is what Tim Cook had to say about the latest iPhone update: âWe always thought ⊠that if you provide a lot of innovation and a lot of value, there is a segment of people who are willing to pay for it. For us, itâs a large enough group of people that we can make a reasonable business out of it.â
Now, what exactly is âreasonable businessâ? How do you measure âinnovationâ and âvalueâ? Pricing concerns asideâââit seems to me that Appleâs consumerist attitude is destroying whatâs left of its outlaw spirit. What do you think? đ
The Game of Archetypes: How Storytelling Works for Tech Brands was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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