The Hero and the Outlaw

The best archetypal brands are—first and foremost—archetypal products, created to fulfill and embody fundamental human needs.

many politicians who fail to get either elected or reelected never establish a consistent archetypal identity.

Archetypes mediate between products and customer motivation by providing an intangible experience of meaning. Figure 1.4 identifies the archetypes most important to the fulfillment of the four basic human needs.

Similarly, entire product lines can take on a meaning that gives them symbolic power in all of our lives. A tuxedo (black tie) signifies that an occasion is important. Champagne says that we are celebrating.

We now know that brands that consistently express an appropriate archetype drive profitability and success in real and sustainable ways.

Understanding and leveraging archetypal meaning, once an interesting “bonus” to effective marketing, is now a prerequisite.

Brands that become truly iconic are archetypal through and through.

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

Therefore, the meaning of a product can be communicated very quickly simply by evoking a story or a concept that calls forth the viewer’s instinctual recognition of some fundamental, recognizable truth.