Happy Black Friday everyone! I hope you are finding the deals and discounts you crave in your search for those most perfect holiday gifts. I’m not really a big fan of shopping – I prefer to subscribe to the ease, convenience and magic that is the Amazon Marketplace (I just got a great deal on an electrolytic capacitor assortment kit for spaceship maintenance!). As I mentioned in my most recent blog post, Amazon truly is magical and fast becoming a stand-alone character during annual holiday festivities.
And there certainly are a fair share of “characters” associated with the holidays. Yesterday morning, I witnessed one of the biggest characters (both figuratively and literally) officially kick off the part of the holidays you call Christmas. Well, at least the commercial side of Christmas, as many Earthlings celebrate various aspects and origins of the holiday.
The aforementioned character is, of course, Santa Claus, a character that is supported by and classified with various other characters, including the likes of Rudolph, Jack Frost, Ebenezer Scrooge, Ralphie Parker, Clark Griswold, Frosty the Snowman, the Grinch and John McClane, among many others. And yes, you read my last list entry correctly – if you wish to debate if Die Hard is a Christmas movie, please reach out to me and let’s open a discussion.
Looking at each of these characters, they all have three things in common. The first is obviously the holiday with which they’re all associated. It’s the second two that I want to look at: each has unique characteristics, and each has a story. In other words, each can be classified as one of the twelve archetypes or some combination of two or three archetypes. What is an archetype, you ask?
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, an archetype is the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies; a prototype, if you will. In psychology, it’s an inherited idea or mode of thought in the psychology of Carl Gustav Jung that is derived from the experience of the race and present in the unconscious of the individual.
In marketing, archetypes are used to build a framework around a brand, helping an organization identify the desire it wants their audience to feel when they connect with their brand and how the organization adopts the archetype personality and behaviors that evoke that desire.1 In my last post, I talked about a business-to-business summit I attended – archetypes and how they are used to develop brand strategies were discussed in detail at the summit by representatives of the marketing firm TinyWins. I’d like to share some of the key points they discussed and how they apply to credit union mortgage lending.
To kick things off, we all must realize every story that was ever told falls into one of seven categories: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy and Rebirth. Many stories may be combinations of these seven plot lines but in the end, every story falls into these categories.
Within these stories, the characters can be classified as one of the twelve archetypes (or a combination of archetypes, as mentioned above):
- Creator
- Ruler
- Caregiver
- Everyman
- Jester
- Lover
- Hero
- Magician
- Outlaw
- Explorer
- Sage
- Innocent
Why is this important to the brand marketing of your credit union? When you dive into and investigate your marketing efforts, it comes down to storytelling. That’s all marketing is – telling stories about your brand and how it affects and benefits your audience (a.k.a., your members). How can you tell a good story if you don’t know the characters?
While I would welcome the opportunity to define and discuss each of these twelve characters, space and time prohibit it. However, I strongly recommend checking out the Brand Archetypes Checklist and accompanying article from the Brand Master Academy for a more in-depth look into these characters and how they can help accelerate marketing success at your credit union.
According to the article, the most loved brands connect with their audience on a deeper level than others and those with an authentic brand purpose often capture hearts. It goes on to say there are two primary reasons you would want to align your brand with an archetype:
- Connection: Most brands today are in the coalface competing on features, benefits and price. If you don’t want your brand to become a commodity, you will need to make a deeper connection with your audience.
- Differentiation: When it comes to standing out in a crowd, differentiation strategies seem well worn, with latecomers to the party left with little to work with. Personalities, on the other hand, have infinite possibilities. They’re not only unique but can be extremely memorable.
All this plays very well into the credit union way of doing business and the personality of a credit union. So how do you get started? The checklist suggests taking these four steps:
- Understand the desires of your members
- Identify your credit union’s personality position
- Adopt the right archetypal mix
- Give your brand an outlook and opinions
This process isn’t as simple as four steps. There is a lot that goes into each step, but the checklist is a starting place for you and your marketing team. Which archetype do you believe applies to you and/or your credit union? Please share here and include why you feel you’ve identified the right archetypal mix and what it means to your members.
The universe is filled with characters – make sure your credit union and its brand demand attention through strong personalities that make emotional connections. Let your archetype serve as a roadmap to more accurately appeal to your members’ given desires with your specific personality.
1 Brand Archetypes Checklist from the Brand Master Academy