Just as a sommelier tunes into the elements within a glass of wine, so we need to tune into the elements – complex emotional drivers and feelings – that lie at the heart of any piece of branded communication. RADNB helps you tune into these drivers and identify the elements that make up each archetype. RADNB gives you the tools to read the subtlety, the nuance, the tonal blend of emotion within a brand’s visual language. So that you can map your own brand, identify the emotional triggers brands use to influence behaviour and become an expert in how brands use archetypes.

Brands look to communicate different and often opposing aspects of themselves, such as being fun and frivolous while also being concerned about social justice. They may in one moment look to sell a product or attract the best employees. In the next encounter they may try to make you laugh or inspire you to change your life. All of these complementary, contradictory or parallel strands inevitably make their stories more complex. RADNB enables you to pull apart these layers of narrative and see which archetypes a brand uses to tell its story.

RADNB not only maps the 12 primary archetypes but also each of the 4 family archetypes that sit within each primary. Seeing brands through the lens of 60 archetypes means you can now see a brand’s story and strategy in greater detail than ever before.

Within RADNB each archetype represents a feeling (an emotional driver and narrative) and is positioned on the map relative to its neighbour and within a framework of 15 primary emotional needs. Making RADNB a map, or spectrum, of human emotional needs on which brands compete through the stories they tell and the designs they use.

Carl Jung said, “They (archetypes) are, at the same time, both images and emotions. One can speak of an archetype only when these two aspects are simultaneous. When there is merely the image, then there is simply a word-picture of little consequence. But by being charged with emotion, the image gains luminosity (or psychic energy); it becomes dynamic, and consequences of some kind must flow from it.”

For over two decades, many consultants and agencies have encouraged managers and marketers to leverage archetypal meaning to strengthen their brands. The idea that when a brand taps into one specific archetype, it can trigger associations, universal patterns and emotional responses that influence consumer behaviour. Archetypes, the theory says, help brands connect with customers on a more human and emotional level. They give brand’s stronger personalities and make what they say more engaging, believable or distinct.

However, although research on the use of archetypes in marketing has been very limited, increasingly concerns have been raised about a lack of managerial usefulness and the applicability of the concept, and recent evidence seems to suggest that the single archetype view may have lost its relevance.

Archetypes in marketing have their roots in psychology. However, in the two decades that have passed since Mark and Pearson’s seminal work in identifying 12 primary archetypes, several challenges have emerged. First, the concept of brand archetypes has attracted criticism, especially from those who are supposed to implement it, for lacking contemporary relevance and practicality in the real world. There’s a perception that the concept is impractical and outdated, and that managers do not really know what to do with it. The 12 archetypes, according to some, are about as useful to managers as the 12 zodiac signs and should be retired.

It is no surprise that scholars such as MacInnis and Folkes (2017) have called for further studies, noting that, “Current research on the role of brand archetypes is limited, making this area a fruitful one for understanding how consumers perceive, connect with and form relationships with brands in human-like ways”.

A second concern is that while the theory has long dictated that brand identities are most effective when they identify strongly with one, and only one, archetype, there is a growing sense that this no longer applies in a fractured, multi-layered world of consumer/brand interactions and interfaces. The analogy that has been often used to describe a brand that evokes multiple archetypes is that of someone afflicted by multiple personality disorder or dissociative identity disorder. The term ‘brand schizophrenia’ is sometimes used. However, an alternative view is that brands can - and do - successfully blend different archetypes. In fact, recent research has shown that strong brands often evoke multiple archetypes at the same time: According to Wertime (2002), “Strong brands often harmonize multiple subconscious elements” and, “The decision about which archetype(s) to associate with a brand provides plenty of room for creativity and requires the company to think about how the archetypes will work in combination”.

Carl Jung said, “Those who do not realise the special feeling tone of the archetype end with nothing more than a jumble of mythological concepts, which can be strung together to show that everything means anything – or nothing at all."

RADNB (Research on Archetypes through Design and Narrative in Branding) responds to these calls for further and more detailed research into brand archetypes.

Specifically, how brands through their design language, narrative and tone of voice blend different archetypal emotional drivers to influence behaviour. By analysing more than 2400 brands of all types through the lens of 60 archetypes, RADNB’s goal was to build a more detailed database that evidences each archetype and to shows if and how brands, of all types, really use archetypes.

RADNB has adopted several important approaches in its methodology.

1. To use a total of 60 archetypes, providing the potential for a more detailed and granular analysis of a brand’s communication. The aim is both to avoid stereotypes that come with limited choice and include brands traditionally seen as difficult to map, such as those in the B2B sector or brands with insufficient budgets to create polished comms campaigns.
2. Define archetypes not just by labels, which are open to personal creative interpretation, but by their emotional drivers and how they make you feel. This is a vital consideration, given that the true value of an archetype to a brand lies in its ability to connect and engage through storytelling, and identify and meet consumers’ emotional needs.
3. Calibrate the presence of multiple archetypes within single pieces of communication or brand expressions. Recognising also that what influences behaviours most is not a single need but, rather, a blend of multiple, sometimes opposing emotional needs. When these emotional needs are encouraged to come together and coalesce by a combination of counterbalanced archetypes, a tipping point is reached, ultimately influencing the consumer’s decision on who to buy from, work for or invest in.
4. Create a framework or map that locates each archetype’s emotional driver within spectrum of primary human emotional needs. Creating such a landscape is critical to developing a brand’s strategy and deciding which areas deserve investment and which to withdraw from. The map helps you see where a brand is positioned and, just as importantly, where it sits apropos the competition, showing you areas of strength, overlap and weakness relative to other brands. The map is also critical for the management and evolution of a brand over time, as brand mangers look to find ways to evolve a brand while also maintaining consistency of messaging. By finding the right blend of archetypes, emotions and messages across multiple channels managers can more effectively target specific audiences, maximise communication channels and align the right message with the most effective combination of archetypes.
5. Build a visual database that evidences the mapping of individual pieces of communication (website, literature and campaigns), a brand’s overall position and unique blend of archetypes, and the feeling behind each archetype. A database that not only allows you to compare brands directly or across a sector, but search out examples of brands that may use similar emotional drivers or stories to those you want to explore in your brand. A database that also defines and calibrates the graphic language for each archetype so that designers can make their work more effective at influencing consumer behaviour.
6. Finally, and potentially most importantly, RADNB is a training tool. One that makes YOU the expert, capable of tuning into and identifying 60 emotional drivers and narratives, and bringing them to life through an optimised colour palette, design style, and tone of voice across all brand communications.

There are various popular and academic theories, lists and frameworks around the many different types of human motivational needs. Including but not exclusively Max-Neef’s 'Human Scale Development', Cialdini’s 'Influence Triggers', Jonathan Haidt‘s 'Moral Matrix', David McClelland‘s 'Achievement Motive', and others such as Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill. Probably best known of all is Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) and his 5/6 basic human needs.

The diagram below presents a simple evolution from Maslow's (expanded) hierarchy of human needs to RADNB's framework, incorporating other more modern thinking:

RADNB cannot access or map every piece of communication a brand produces. Therefore, it can never be 100% accurate on a brand’s complete positioning and use of archetypes based purely on the fact it cannot physically access or map all their communications. What RADNB does is assess and evidence the brand’s positioning based on each piece of communication that is mapped. So, if a brand has just launched a new campaign, you can see if their mapped position includes that piece or not. RADNB provides evidence based on specific pieces of communication, rather than broad generalisations.

2. Due to the nature and limitations of how humans make meaning, and the fact that the vast majority of what we think, see and experience is based on past experiences, mapping and interpreting any type of branded communication (whether through AI, crowd sourcing or an individual’s personal perspective) has its limitations. Vitally, this is why RADNB is also a training tool for creating a common language for each archetype. One that helps those working with the data tune into and recognise these 60 different and often-subtle archetypal ‘feelings’ for themselves. So, while the data is there to inform you of a brand’s competitive strategy, its primary role is to first help you identify these 60 distinct patterns of emotional drivers, helping you become an expert identifier of the multiple archetypes within a brand’s communication. Just as sommeliers train their senses to be acutely aware of the myriad scents and flavours within a glass of wine, so designers, marketers, researchers and consultants can train their awareness of which emotional triggers and narratives are present within a piece of communication.
3. RADNB is open to a degree of personal interpretation while the broader community is formed. RADNB has taken several years to build the database and through this time has undergone a process of ongoing calibration with creatives and marketers. Each piece of communication has been individually mapped through the lens of 60 emotional drivers. The overall database has been calibrated by reviewing all the images linked to specific archetypes, individually identifying and assessing both commonalities and anomalies. Inevitably, as RADNB is a pioneering new tool, there will be some data points that need further calibration or others that are open to different viewpoints. As each piece of communication can often have multiple elements, sometimes almost equally divided, one person may feel that on balance the focus sits more with one emotional driver rather than another. Over time, as this community of experts grows within RADNB and the database expands, their feedback and the larger number of reference points will help further calibrate and refine RADNB’s database.

RADNB is not just building a visual database, it is also building a community of experts. Through shared understanding we will be able to establish a global common language around archetypes. Advancing our understanding of how brands use multiple archetypes to tell their story in ever more powerful ways. A community of pioneers who through their shared feedback (as Annual members), can directly contribute to the overall calibration of the RADNB database.

RADNB requires you, as a user, to tune into and recognise the presence of each archetype within a piece of branded communication. Not only so you can apply and share this knowledge with confidence, but also so you can validate, for yourself, the efficacy of the data. To assist you in this, RADNB (through the Annual membership) provides training on how you can learn to differentiate between your internal emotions and thoughts and those present within a piece of branded communication. A process often known as mindful awareness or embodiment training.

The brand images within RADNB have been mapped and calibrated by communication experts, trained to tune into and recognise 60 emotional triggers within individual pieces of communication. People trained, as much as possible, to remover their internal biases, quiet their minds and be aware of how each piece influences their emotions – the very skills and techniques RADNB looks to develop and nurture in people who want to be part of this community.

RADNB's process involves mapping each piece of communication for the presence of each of the 60 archetypal emotions. The size, area and location of the area mapped denotates its strength and proximity to each archetype. Then, each piece, in isolation from its parent brand, is calibrated (again by human eye) against similarly mapped images. Clearly, any process, including crowd sourcing and artificial intelligence, can never be 100% accurate. However, the calibration process is designed to reduce as much as possible the broad influence from any halo effect of the parent brand and individual human biases.