The Hero and the Outlaw

Often, the best corporate logos echo ancient symbols. Apple’s logo, for instance, evokes the first act of rebellion in the Garden of Eden, a powerful distillation of the brand’s iconoclastic identity.

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

(For more information on these archetypes as they play out in the psyches of individuals, see Carol Pearson’s Awakening the Heroes Within. For more information on their roles in forming organizational cultures, see her book Invisible Forces.)2

Maslow is best known for defining the “hierarchy of needs,” which describes how human desires evolve as more primary needs are met.

No matter how effective the company’s manufacturing and distribution systems, or how state of the art its dry-cleaning processes, its competitors could imitate or duplicate them. In this circumstance, businesses found that they had only two broad strategic routes to go: reduce their prices or imbue their products with meaning.

Brands that become truly iconic are archetypal through and through.

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

Archetypes provide the missing link between customer motivation and product sales.

Marketing without a system for managing meaning is analogous to ancient navigators trying to find port in treacherous seas on a starless night.