These days I was asked by a great friend and reference in brand design: “is the archetype of the creator arrogant?”. The answer is simple, but the question is very valid, as I see that there is enormous confusion on the subject of archetypes and what they are for in communication.
Firstly: What are Archetypes?
“Archetype”, in the universe of brands, functions as just ONE of the countless Typology tools. In other words, it is a tool that helps us categorize brands and separate them by “types”.
To make it easier to understand, let me put here some other tools that work in the same way: astrology, the 4 human temperaments, the 12 layers of personality, the 5 human narratives, etc.
In the same way that our astrological signs do not define our personality, but only point us to natural tendencies or predispositions — so are the Archetypes in brands.
"The creator archetype is arrogant"?
Definitely not. Just as the Aries sign is not a gossip, the Gemini sign is not gossipy and the Scorpio sign is not vindictive, etc. Vices or virtues do not apply to types, but to the people or brands that carry these types.
It is true that a Gemini person tends to like to talk more and expand, but it is impossible to define how this tendency will develop in their personality over time.
With brands, it works more or less the same way. While we are born with defined signs or temperaments, with them, we have the possibility of defining what their archetype will be and, in addition, we can still control every aspect of the development of their personality.
Understanding the archetypes in this way, it is clear that they contain all types of vice or virtue, even if some have to pay attention to shadows of their own natures that come along with the "package" of the archetype:
Ex.: The Hero tends to appear arrogant, but any other archetype can be arrogant as well.
In the same way, the creator can be arrogant, as can the wizard, the outlaw, the jester, etc. It turns out that everyone will be in their own way.
Archetypes and Symbols
Archetypes in themselves are symbols of an apparent reality. In the famous book of 12 archetypes - The Hero and the Outlaw - the authors did an excellent job of observing, categorizing and writing down the 12 types of archetypes that advertising, marketing and branding today use to enrich their projects and improve communication with your customers.
But because they are symbols of an apparent reality, they are not limited to just those 12, but we can use that same structure (or invent a new one) to build more and more archetypes.
The use of Archetypes in brands
As I said previously, "brand archetype" It is just one of the typology tools that we can use to build a brand personality. As professionals in the field of communication and brand strategy, we cannot limit ourselves to this tool, nor let it define much of what a brand really is/will be - if we all acted according to the typological descriptions of our temperaments or signs, we would all be the same , without any personality.
Finally, archetypes can help with brand communication, but they need to be very well dosed and placed correctly in their place in the process of building and managing brands.
