"You are blind to reality; and for that, I am most proud."
Settling on just one brand archetype for your brand is much tougher than it sounds. Especially if you're an organisation that offers both B2B and B2C products or services. What to do? Aim to narrow your archetypes down to one primary archetype for your parent company brand and one primary archetype for each of your product or services brands. Just be sure to settle on service or product brand archetypes that share common ground with the values and motivations of your parent brand archetype.
But what if you're an organisation with a single brand, with one product or service and you simply cannot settle on one brand archetype? Even if you're a single brand with one product or service, the chances are that you'll have multiple target audiences; or at the very least, multiple segments within your target audience. In this case, embrace both archetypes, but dial up the most appropriate archetype's attributes and tone of voice according to the audience or segment you're communicating with...
Clear as mud? To illustrate, we shine a light on Catherine O'Hara's Moira Schitt from much-loved cult series, Schitt's Creek. Throughout the series, she seamlessly transitions between The Ruler and The Innocent brand archetype according to who she's speaking with at the time. Read on to learn more about these two archetypes and why her character has already become one of television's most loved characters of all time.
I am - and I cannot stress this enough - dreading the day I come to the final episode of Schitt's Creek. There's something so comforting about watching the credits roll at the conclusion of each episode, as the on-screen counter resolutely counts down to the commencement of the next installment. "Oh my", I think to myself. "I simply cannot find the remote. It must be a sign that I must watch the next episode. It is simply meant to be". Naturally, my inner monologue is articulated with the voice of the exquisite Moira Rose - with the consonants elongated in all the wrong places [insert witty remark here, Dav-erd].
If you were to witness "TV's Moira Rose" in the first several episodes alone, you’d be forgiven for aligning her penchant for wearing vests over collared shirts as nightwear and demands to stay at the top of the food chain with the Ruler brand archetype (YSL, Mercedes-Benz, Rolex). But as the show progresses, it becomes patently clear that she’s more of an Innocent brand archetype (Dove, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz). Her desire for simplicity, unwavering elegance, almost-to-a-fault honesty and belief that everyone has the right to be who they truly are fall neatly into the Innocent category. And that’s before we even address her unconditional (but oft blind) adulation of her husband’s abilities and talents. Her complex ensembles and revolving door of headwear increasingly belies her desire for safety and simplicity with each new episode.
I've just stepped into Season 4 and I'm going to string this masterpiece out for as long as humanly possible – or as long as one of Moira’s moments of inexplicable hysteria lasts, whichever lasts the longest.