The meaning of a brand is its most precious and irreplaceable asset. Whether you’re selling a soft drink or a presidential candidate, what your brand means to people will be every bit as important as its function—if not more so—because it is meaning that tells us “this one feels right” or “this one’s for me.” Meaning speaks to the feeling or intuit

Today the brand is a repository, not merely of functional characteristics, but of meaning and value. But if we are to identify and effectively leverage the essential elements, or “immutables,” of our brands, we must become fluent in the visual and verbal language of archetypes.

Access to the Internet gives them information about brands and companies, so what you say had better be the truth. If not, they surely will find out.

This book addresses the critical need, and the tremendous opportunity, to create, preserve, protect, and nurture brand meaning by leveraging its deep archetypal roots.

Organizations that thrive have at least one active archetype in each quadrant helping them to find their unique mission (individuality), create the feeling of community (belonging), get the work done (mastery), and create stabilizing structures (stability).

Archetypal images signal the fulfillment of basic human desires and motivations and release deep emotions and yearnings.

Brands that capture the essential meaning of their category—and communicate that message in subtle and refined ways—dominate the market,

For example, many for-profit firms (Microsoft, for one) are living out the value of becoming the premier company in the entire industry (the Ruler).

Products grab—and keep—our attention for the same reason: They embody an archetype.