Implementation of Business Strategies and Archetypes by Brands

Nowadays, every company in the market tries to be different than the others. According to Houraghan S. (2018) The Ultimate Guide To Brand Archetypes: Hack the Mind of Your Customers article, all of the brands can be divided into 12 archetypes, based on how they identify themselves, interact with customers and act in the market. Some of the enterprises can be listed into more than one category, if they share traits from more than one of the archetypes. Identifying the archetype helps companies to understand what kind of customers they are trying to reach out with their products or services and later on target those specific audiences. In this analysis, I will try to define four different archetypes the Explorer, the Ruler, the Hero, and the Creator, which all have unique ideas on how to identify themselves and give valid arguments on why some specific companies are listed in them.

First of all, let’s start from defining the Explorer type. Companies that believe in this kind of brand archetype ideas, tend to be adventurous and their products are used by people that love adrenaline and outdoor activities. According to the same Houraghan S. (2018) article, this archetype of brand can be defined as naturally independent, fearless, and curious. Usually, products of these companies are used in outdoors, sometimes even in dangerous and live risking situations. Companies of this archetype, make quality products, so they would be reliable and durable during extreme conditions. Moreover, prices of the products, of this archetype, usually are higher than competitors of the market, but are more trusted for their functionality and message behind the brand. Furthermore, the message of this archetype is to have no limits whatsoever and try to achieve the best results that is possible even if the odds of doing them are not in the favor. Talking about brands that relate to this archetype and the vision behind it, we can definitely mention the North Face. North Face company makes outdoor clothing and equipment for extreme people such as skiers, climbers, hikers, and snowboarders. Also, they sponsor athletes that pursue similar activities mentioned before, because creators and first employees were explorers themselves and that is why they manage to succeed. The mission retrieved from their official website is stating that: “Empower exploration and the trill of the unknown for as many people as possible”. The North Face is typical Explorer type of company that seeks to push their customers outside their comfort and inspire journeys of everyday life. Moreover, company’s logo is white color, which is one of this archetypes most common palettes together with earth colors such as brown, dark green, light green and so on. Also, according to Marino T. (2018) The North Face Logo article, logo itself represents one of the famous granite “Half Dome” in Yosemite National Park in the United States, which is adventurous climbing place for outdoors people - their clients.

Another archetype, which states different ideas than previously mentioned one, is called the Ruler. According to the same Houraghan S. (2018) article, The Ruler brand companies can be defined as naturally confident, competent, and articulate. They desire to have full control, remove chaos and create prosperity and success. Entreprises of this archetype are usually controlling the market and have strong leader behind them. They constantly trying to be “number one” in every category and are pushing to achieve that. Products of these kind of companies are usually more expensive than the others, but also are way better quality and provide status symbol for the consumer. One of the company that is definitely represents this archetype is called Rolex. Rolex are luxurious watch maker that concentrates to always be number one and be the biggest in the market. Brand’s advertisements constantly promotes their brand by showing how Rolex consumers are presidents and world leaders – Rulers. Their mission retrieved from their official website states that Rolex wants to always put the customer at the first place and make sure that their customer are satisfied with their product and services, which can be related to competence and responsibility provided by this archetype. Rolex company is also known as very generous and helpful for orphans and other less fortunate children. Moreover, they sponsor events like tennis, formula-1, golf, yachting, and arts, which are usually watched by wealthy and powerful people - their customers. Furthermore, Rolex logo is green and gold color, which is unusual for this archetype (usually silver or blue is dominating), but on some of the watches the logo is painted in silver or white. Also, the logo itself has a crown on the name, which is one of the most powerful symbols, associated with monarchy and the Ruler archetype.

The next archetype that I am going to describe is called the Hero. According to the same Houraghan S. (2018) article, these type of brands are inspiring the customers and make them feel empowered to succeed and achieve. Furthermore, the words that describe the Hero archetype is brave, candid, and honest, which are related to inspiring stories about unbelievable achievements. Also, it is mentioned that they want their product consumers to stand up for what’s right, like a real life superheroes and not be afraid to do more for better. Moreover, the article says that companies of the Hero archetype are usually selling the sports equipment/clothes for people that stand for themselves and constantly break the records and their goals or are some kind of emergency trade services like plumbing, electricity, locksmiths or mechanics, that help people in the emergencies and save people’s days from going bad. That is why companies that pursue this archetype ideas are usually sponsoring people with some kind of story that many could relate and inspire others. The perfect example of this kind of company would be Nike. They support athletes that not only the best at what their doing, but also help to encourage younger generation to be what they are dreaming to be. According to their website, Nike's mission is to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world and “If you have a body, you are an athlete”, which means that everybody can do sports and achieve something. Their logo is pretty simple and known for almost everyone. It is usually white or black color, which are known for the Hero archetype brands and represents motion and speed. If we look at their commercials, not so long ago they supported the NFL (american football) athlete Colin Kaepernick by making an ad on how he boycotted police brutality before games, which caused not so good reactions among some people at first, but later on was a successful and represents the values of the true Hero archetype.

The last archetype that I am going to describe is called the Creator. According to the same article written by Houraghan S. (2018), this archetype explained as the one that creates something new and exceptional, that adds value to the customer. Moreover, it is mentioned in the article that the brands try to give tools for self-expression and realization in different fields and encourage customers to create freely, use the imagination and innovate something that is unknown before. The main words associated with this archetype are: inspirational, provocative, and daring, which means to push somebody to do more to create. Furthermore, the article mentions that company of the Creator archetype believes that if you imagine it, it can be created. Based on the information we can assume that the products or services related to this archetype are usually related to arts, design, marketing or any other creative activity. Example of this kind of company is Instagram. Even though this company is not the typical one, that sells product and gains revenue from that, but actually makes the creators’ platform that lets to share photographs with people around the globe and makes money in different ways. Also, Instagram logo has typical Creator archetype colors that are purple, white and red. The main purpose of the Instagram that is stated in their website is to capture and share the world’s moments, which means to explore, create and be different by making something interesting and worth sharing. They always trying to push the creators’ to make their best works and inspire them by giving opportunity to reach audiences, that before internet could not been reached, which is what theory about the Creator type is telling.

To sum up, in this paper four different archetypes and brands associated with them were analyzed. The Explorer type of companies provide freedom and adventure feeling to customers, the Ruler type is more conservative, leadership and success oriented, the Hero archetype is orientated in success and achievements, while the Creator is into inspiring and creating innovations. They give different messages for their customers, but actually users of their products can be the same people. If we look at those products and services mentioned before, we can see that they could be used by the same person, because words like inspiring, exploring, success and creativity were mentioned throughout the paper and could be applied to more than one of the archetypes, which means that even though the messages are different these brands have similarities.