Branding and advertising, at their cores, aren’t merely about promoting products. They’re deeply psychological, designed to tap into our hopes, fears, and desires. In navigating brand psychology, a wealth of insight can be found in the work of Carl Jung, whose theory of the collective unconscious offers a fascinating lens through which we can view modern branding.

Jung posited the existence of a shared mental reservoir of archetypes: universally recognized motifs inherited not from personal experiences, but from our shared human journey. These archetypes are present in stories from every human culture across every era, from The Epic of Gilgamesh to the latest Marvel movie.

Brands are contemporary storytellers. They construct narratives, aiming to resonate not just with our personal experiences, but also with deeper, more universal feelings. They do so by appealing to the archetypes that, as Jung suggests, are hardwired into our psyche. Brands that successfully leverage these archetypal narratives achieve something significant: they resonate on a deeper level, across cultures and continents. They’re not just telling you a product story, but THE story, one that feels intrinsically human.

The Outlaw

These rebellious brands are characterized by a desire to disrupt the status quo. They seek to break conventions, introduce innovations, and attract audiences who value non-conformity, independence, and radical change.

The Magician

Brands that fit this archetype are transformational, creating special life-changing experiences for customers. They offer innovative and cutting-edge products or services that seek to improve and transform the consumer’s life.

The Innocent

These brands represent purity, goodness, and an idealistic view of the world. They strive to deliver products that are pure, safe, and beneficial.

The Ruler

These brands hold authority, exude leadership, and express a sense of power and exclusivity. They resonate with ambitious individuals seeking success and status.

The Everyman

This archetype creates products, services, or experiences that are relatable and designed to fit into everyday life. They appeal to the average person through practicality, honesty, and hard work.

The Jester

The Jester archetype aims to bring joy, entertainment, and levity to their customers’ lives. These brands represent fun, humor, and light-heartedness.

The Hero

Hero brands inspire and motivate others to overcome challenges, achieve greatness, and realize their potential. They promote triumph, excellence, and victory.

The Creator

Creator brands appeal to their customers’ sense of innovation, creativity, originality, and craftsmanship. They encourage customization, and a visionary outlook, and look to build community around creation.

The Explorer

These brands encourage their customers to explore new places, ideas, or experiences. They appeal to customers who value independence and self-sufficiency and offer products or services that enable self-reliance, adventure, and freedom.

The Caregiver

These brands focus on helping people care for themselves and others. They provide service, support, or comfort. Brands that fit this archetype are nurturing, compassionate, empathetic, and protective.

The Sage

These brands are characterized by wisdom, knowledge, guidance, and a pursuit of truth. They assist their customers in understanding the world better through information, analysis, and insight.

The Soundtrack of Your Brand’s Archetype

Each archetype represents not only humanity’s stories and symbols, but also the music that has been used to score and cue them since time immemorial. In this way, you might say that Jung’s collective unconscious comes complete with a soundtrack. These symbols and stories that are encoded across humanity have sonic retrieval cues that can be harnessed in storytelling to swiftly familiarize the audience with concepts that are already innate, facilitating trust and familiarity between the storyteller and the listener.

The challenge for brands lies in interpreting the archetypes as they apply to music in ways that align with their unique stories and values. It’s less about fitting into a predefined mold and more about tapping into collective symbols while retaining authenticity.

There is deep nuance in that interpretation, which is why choosing music partners who understand the rich cultural underpinnings of music in storytelling as it applies to the archetypes of your brand is so important.