Brand archetypes are a great shortcut to identifying the personality and communication style of your brand. These distinct personalities are easy to identify and occupy specific niches in the market. Aligning your brand with a classic archetype makes it easier for you to create a coherent brand personality and position yourself competitively in your industry.
Check out our guide to the common brand archetypes below. Do you know which one fits your brand? If you wanna explore your brand identity, why not book a workshop with our brand experts? Through a series of fun group exercises we can help guide you to a brand identity that feels right and looks great.
The Innocent
Popular example | Innocent Smoothies |
Attributes | Pure, virtuous, simple |
Brand personality | The Innocent values simple things done well. This archetype exhibits a level of openness and optimism that could be considered naive. The Innocent strives to find happiness through the enjoyment of uncomplicated pleasures. |
Marketing niche | Companies with strong values, who are seen as trustworthy, reliable and honest. They are associated with morality, good virtues and simplicity. |
Makes you feel | Wholesome |
The Hero
Popular example | Nike |
Attributes | Bold, valiant, courageous |
Brand personality | The Hero is society’s saviour and redeemer. Characterized by courage, self-sacrifice, and achievement, the Hero seeks personal transformation in its quest to triumph over adversity. |
Marketing niche | Companies who want to make a positive mark on the world, solve major problems or enable and inspire others to do so. |
Makes you feel | Brave |
The Regular Guy/Gal
Popular example | PG Tips |
Attributes | Familiar, unassuming, relatable |
Brand personality | The Regular Guy or Gal values comfort, belonging and familiarity. This personality is down-to-earth, predictable and easy to trust. |
Marketing niche | Companies with a common touch, solid virtues, and who provide a sense of belonging and nostalgia. |
Makes you feel | At home |
The Caregiver
Popular example | Unicef |
Attributes | Sympathetic, nurturing, tender |
Brand personality | The Caregiver is a selfless personality driven by the desire to protect and care for others, especially those in need. They are often figures who take those who need care under their wing. |
Marketing niche | Companies who seek to help people care for themselves, or who serve the public through healthcare, education or aid programs. |
Makes you feel | Safe |
The Creator
Popular example | Apple |
Attributes | Innovative, original, visionary |
Brand personality | The Creator is the champion of imagination and self-expression. They are driven by their need to build exceptional and enduring creations. This archetype values design and aesthetics. |
Marketing niche | Visionary companies who help customers express or create, and foster their imagination. |
Makes you feel | Inspired |
The Explorer
Popular example | The North Face |
Attributes | Adventurous, intrepid, spirited |
Brand personality | Explorers are brave, adventurous, and love a challenge. The challenges are more about understanding themselves than proving themselves to others. |
Marketing niche | Companies who are exciting, risk-taking and authentic, who help people escape mundanity through extraordinary experiences. |
Makes you feel | Liberated |
The Rebel
Popular example | Dead Happy |
Attributes | Disruptive, challenging, provocative |
Brand personality | The Rebel seeks to break the rules and fight authority. They are the harbinger of change. They disdain rules and conformity, valuing disruption, destruction and defiance. |
Marketing niche | A company who is an agent of change, an advocate for the disenfranchised, or who encourages people to bend the rules or break with conventions. |
Makes you feel | Defiant |
The Lover
Popular example | Chanel |
Attributes | Romantic, decadent, luxurious |
Brand personality | The Lover inspires love and intimacy. They have an affection for the beautiful and a penchant for blissful experiences, both sensual and nurturing. |
Marketing niche | Companies who help people feel sexy, beautiful and appreciated. They enable people to belong, connect, enjoy intimacy and build relationships. |
Makes you feel | Passionate |
The Ruler
Popular example | Rolex |
Attributes | Confident, authoritative, opulent |
Brand personality | The Ruler desires control above all else and is a dominant personality. They are authoritative in their communication and actions and can come across as intimidating. |
Marketing niche | Companies who help people feel superior, confident and in charge. They bring order and respectability to a chaotic world. |
Makes you feel | Powerful |
The Jester
Popular example | Skittles |
Attributes | Funny, playful, frivolous |
Brand personality | The Jester is all about having fun and living in the moment. They see it as their duty to be a ray of sunshine in everyone’s life around them. |
Marketing niche | Companies who help people have a good time or enjoy what they are doing, or allow people to be more impulsive and spontaneous. |
Makes you feel | Entertained |
The Magician
Popular example | Disney |
Attributes | Captivating, enchanting, fantastical |
Brand personality | The Magician’s goal is to make dreams come true and create something special. They are charismatic, clever and dynamic. They conjure something from nothing, and their methods are mysterious. |
Marketing niche | Companies who help people transform their world, inspire change, and expand consciousness. |
Makes you feel | Wonder |
The Sage
Popular example | TED |
Attributes | Wise, erudite, knowledgeable |
Brand personality | The Sage is a seeker of truth, knowledge, and wisdom. Their drive comes from the desire to understand the world and to share that understanding with others through philosophical conversations. |
Marketing niche | Companies who help people to better understand the world by sharing practical information and analysis. |
Makes you feel | Informed |
Who wrote this?
She / her; red / blue. Mel is a writer, editor and designer. Equally happy hiking a muddy trail as playing tabletop roleplay games by candlelight. Will seize any opportunity for a party, as long as said party features copious food, prosecco and hits from the 1980s. Her true passion lies in words. A student of literature, she is fascinated by enduring myths, etymology and science fiction. Kurt Vonnegut is her hero. “We are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.”
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