Let's get a feel for our 16 Archetypes:
Really, you can look at any sitcom, where you have multiple main characters meet and interact and have to stay relevant and engaging for years.
(Often only having 20 minutes PER WEEK to keep people engaged.)
Let's use Friends.
(Which by the way is how many "brand designers" approach brand development, and I wanna flick their nose for that. It's just stupid.
People are more than just their quirks.
Don't just put 2 colored socks on someone and call it branding. Just "pink + glitter" is not branding.
Don't ever let yourself get reduced to something trivial like that by a "brand strategist".)
... back to Friends:
What makes the show interesting in 20 minute increments and kept our attention over 10 years running time- is each character is based on Archetypes:
Archetypes: A specific set of values, character traits, goals, hopes and dreams that are used to create multi-dimensional characters we can instantly understand + relate to...
... Because that's how they show up in real people. Real life.
They are character - trait - packages we humans recognize, because we know them from ourselves and the people around us.
Let's start with....
Monica: Provider primary, Hero secondary - she will provide, protect and defend, but ohh, when you challenge her, it is OOOON. The fact that she cleans is part of how she lives out her provider personality, not all there is to her character.
Rachel: Based on the Royal and The Aesthete - she loves beautiful, high quality things and needs them to feel at ease.
Note:
THAT'S NOT A CHARACTER FLAW by the way. Great composers, photographers, editors, music producers, designers of any kind... - all tend to have an Aesthete Archetype.
It's something we personally actively look for when hiring anyone, it makes it SO MUCH EASIER- they will simply never put out horrible-looking work.
... It's also why it's so hard to find good brand designers. Not everyone who offers the service has it- and it shows.
(In our team, Nimue is the one with the dominant Aesthete Archetype, which is why she's head of design. It's one of 2 Archetypes you'd want to look out for, before hiring a brand strategist, in our opinion.)
Joe is based on the Sensual and a very underdeveloped Provider... he is a little one dimensional in my opinion, they could have given him more.
Maybe an Explorer, and send him out traveling more, being brave, initiating change etc... It would have given the character more depth.
As it was - he just got "more stupid" the further along we go in the show. A wasted opportunity in my opinion.
Phoebe is based on the Mystic and the Natural...
They were a little inconsistent with Phoebe's in my opinion, she was something a little different in every episode, scotch-taped together with "quirky-crazy".
(More Archetypes don't make a character more "deep"- it just makes them more crazy. "Multiple Personality" type crazy.)
Chandler: He has the Entertainer which actually is part of... and give me a moment to explain... the Freak. I know I know, he does not SEEM like a freak - because at the same time... He has the Diplomat, which means he would never want to look out of place. Together they create a character that has a definite way with words, the ability to surprise people with his quick wits and jokes in the most random situations.
With that, he has the exact same dominant Archetypes as Frank Kern!
Ross is based on the Sage and the Provider - which is just super smart, since there are some theories that say that Archetypes are, to a certain extent, hereditary.
In our experience, most of the time, you have at least 1 or 2 of your Archetypes in common with your family members - or you would quite simply kill each other before you are old enough to sustain yourself.
In Ross and Monica's case: It's not just "she cleans and he keeps marrying."
It's an inherent motivation to want to provide, in their own ways.
That's where they do get along...
That's where they can understand each other, because they have similar values. More on that in a bit.
The 3rd Archetype every single character has on the show, the Archetype that makes them all come together is: They all also have a really strong Social.
(Otherwise they would simply not spend 90% of their lives with each other and instead in their careers, with their families, their hobbies etc.)
Which by the way is the secret behind the allure and reputation Rachel's character and in turn Jennifer Anniston has gotten...
She is a "Royal-Girl Next Door", it creates a contradiction that is interesting to our brains. (And teenagers hormones.)
Royals often have something alluring, something "celebrity like" around them, some level of status, an air of exclusivity, when they are really owning their type. With her also having the social, its mixing the allure with - "very approachable", "girl next door", someone you could "talk with all night".
Not only do these contradictions make for entertaining TV- they make for interesting and relatable characters.
Because that's how real people are.
In them, we recognize ...
... Characters we LOVE.
... Characers we RELATE to.
... Characters WE WANT TO BE
... Characters that WE FEEL WE KNOW
... Characters that WE REMEMBER...
...even though the first episode came out in 1994.
That's what you do for your business, when you utilize Archetypes in the way you present yourself and your services.
We all wear a lot of different hats in our lives.
And none of us know how to "just be ourselves" online.
But when we understand our most dominant archetypes... we do!
And, our prospects instantly notice.
BIG takeaway from all this:
Using Archetypes is never about becoming someone outside of you - some character you see on TV.
It's about figuring out what YOUR most dominant Archetypes are, and then clearly communicating them.
That's how you create the baseline for a memorable, relatable, bone-deep authentic and Alive Brand.
