The Primary Brand Archetype

What Carl Jung understood about human nature, and what it can tell us about building a personal brand.

By Raquel Covey, Founder, Slate & Signal

People are remarkably good at recognizing certain qualities in others.

We all know the perpetual questioner, the natural teacher, the problem solver, and the person who can find fault with just about anything. Certain characteristics are so familiar that we recognize them immediately, even when we don't have a name for them.

Carl Jung spent much of his career studying the patterns that appear throughout human experience. His work on archetypes explored recurring figures and themes found in dreams, mythology, literature, and the human psyche.

The Hero. The Wise Old Man. The Trickster. The Mother.

Jung wasn't developing a branding system, of course. But his work gave us an interesting way to think about the recognizable patterns in human nature.

And human nature is a fairly sensible place to begin when you're building a brand around a human being.

So, what is a brand archetype?

An archetype is a recognizable pattern. In branding, archetypes are used to help explain the character, qualities, and associations people come to recognize in a person or business.

But assigning someone an archetype and understanding why it fits are two very different things.

At Slate & Signal, we begin with the individual.

We examine the individual through a carefully developed, research-based discovery process that considers their experiences, abilities, interests, values, and perspectives. Their answers are then evaluated through an equally deliberate method of analysis, developed specifically to identify the characteristics and recurring patterns that inform a person's Primary Brand Archetype and the development of their brand.

Someone may have spent years teaching, explaining, and helping people understand difficult subjects without ever considering those abilities especially remarkable.

Another person may have built an entire career around questioning accepted ideas and finding better solutions.

Neither person necessarily thinks of these tendencies as defining characteristics. They're simply doing what comes naturally.

But when we examine the whole picture, certain patterns begin to emerge.

Those patterns help us identify a person's Primary Brand Archetype.

Why does it matter?

Consider how many people begin developing a personal brand by studying someone else's.

They see a successful creator, admire the way that person communicates, and decide to try something similar.

Suddenly, a perfectly intelligent, soft-spoken individual is shouting into a camera because someone convinced them that successful people must be loud.

Or a naturally funny, irreverent person is attempting to sound like a corporate executive.

Neither is particularly convincing.

The problem is that these people are trying to communicate in a manner that has very little to do with their actual personality and communication strengths.

A personal brand has to belong to the person whose name is on it.

Your Primary Brand Archetype gives us a starting point for understanding the qualities that are already present and how they might influence your brand.

It helps us recognize what comes naturally to you, what distinguishes your perspective, and how those qualities can be expressed consistently.

What do you actually do with this information?

Let's say your research reveals a strong Investigator archetype.

You're curious by nature. You question assumptions, look for evidence, and prefer understanding a subject thoroughly before reaching a conclusion.

That tells us something useful about how your brand might be developed.

Your writing could draw upon research, examination, and discovery. Your professional reputation might be built around your ability to investigate complicated questions and explain what you've found.

Your visual identity and communication style could reinforce that thoughtful, investigative character.

Now consider someone whose strongest pattern is that of a Connector.

Their abilities may lie in recognizing relationships, understanding different perspectives, and bringing people or ideas together.

Their brand would naturally emphasize different qualities.

Neither archetype is better than the other. And neither tells the complete story of a person.

That's an important distinction.

An archetype helps us recognize a pattern. It doesn't account for every aspect of someone's personality, dictate their behavior, or limit what they can become.

In the Signal Profile and Signal Report, it is one part of a much larger examination.

Your archetype isn't your entire identity

People are complicated.

A person can be analytical and imaginative, independent and collaborative, serious about their work and completely ridiculous at dinner.

Thank goodness.

The purpose of identifying a Primary Brand Archetype isn't to squeeze every characteristic into one tidy definition.

It's to recognize a central pattern that can help bring the various elements of a personal brand together.

Your interests, experience, expertise, personality, and ambitions all contribute to the finished brand.

The archetype gives us another way to examine how those elements relate to one another.

And because the findings come from an examination of the individual, two people who share an archetype won't necessarily receive the same brand direction.

They may have certain recognizable qualities in common, but their experiences, abilities, interests, and opportunities will be different.

What happens next?

Identifying the Primary Brand Archetype is one part of the research and analysis we conduct at Slate & Signal.

We examine the individual, investigate the relevant market, and bring the findings together into a complete brand with practical direction.

The finished Signal Profile or Signal Report gives you something to work from. You can adopt the recommendations, modify them, or use the research to make your own decisions.

The important thing is that your brand begins with an understanding of you.

Because you can borrow someone else's marketing strategy, but you can't borrow their personality.

If someone who knows you well named the one pattern they see in you, what would they say? Most people can't answer that about themselves, because the pattern is too familiar to notice.

This is Part 1 of Inside the Signal Report, a series examining the individual sections of the Signal Profile and Signal Report, what they mean, and how to use them.

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