The “Ruler” archetype has a deep and profound desire for control and places a high premium on responsibility and leadership. A Ruler’s goal is to create a prosperous, successful family, company, or community.

Ruler brands include mothers, the IRS, Brooks Brothers, Microsoft, IBM, American Express, banks, insurance companies, and high-status law and investment firms.

The best brands strike a deep nerve or reveal a timeless truth. To create such appeal Hudson Valley organizations must identify the most appropriate and effective single archetype to market “your brand” to.

Ask a three-year-old to draw a dog biscuit and she will draw a Milk-Bone. Where does that come from? Etched deeply in our memories are stories from our ancestors and first loves, our dreams, both realized and unfulfilled. Successful branding is accomplished by incorporating these unconscious but deepest memories and longings.

The “Caregiver” archetype feels a heightened awareness for human vulnerability, and preoccupied with resolving other people’s problems. Think of Mother Theresa and Albert Scweitzer. Caregiver brands include Campbell’s soup, AT&T, and Sesame Street.

AT&T’s brand was built on the Caregiver archetype. But in recent ads, it has shown how it can help mothers who fit the “Ruler personality” by allowing them to take their kids to the beach and use a cell phone to keep in touch with the office.

Customers with high Ruler archetype tendencies are concerned with issues of image, status, and prestige. More people want to be Rulers than ever before. We all crave to have no delays in lines and no concerns.

Do you know your customer? There are particular events, situations, or transition points in life that make an archetype particularly potent. First-time parents are learning how to be Caregivers, while young people just breaking free of their parents and primed to be Rulers.

The “Jester” archetype has existed since Merlin. Lately we see Joe Camel as the Jester to Marlboro’s serious “Hero.” Pepsi has built another kind of Jester brand, poking fun at Coke’s “Innocent” identity. Starbucks transformed coffee from a “Caregiver” product into an “Explorer.”

Remember the Cinderella story? It is a good story to tell for a Lover brand. If your brand has a function similar to that of the Fairy Godmother, then this story could be used by a Magician brand. If your brand has a Hero or Explorer identity, you would focus on the role of the Prince.

Ronald McDonald, the Jolly Green Giant, and the Nike swoosh are just a few of the symbols that endure while most others end up in oblivion after just a few weeks. People don’t tire of the archetypal ideas after years or even decades of being exposed to them.

Solid branding can help Hudson Valley businesses avoid chaos. Although everything is changing, archetypes are eternal. We are anchored in permanence, even as the products and services to our properly catagorized “archetype” customers change.

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