How do you stand out with the right message? Your message. That’s the question I ask myself every day. I found a wonderful insight, and with it tips, to help improve your video content. Don’t start the brainstorm for a new film with the question ‘How are we going to make this video stand out?’, but with the identity question: ‘What archetype does this brand represent for the people in the target group?’
Let's start at the beginning. What are archetypes and where do they come from? Archetypes are twelve primal characters that are so strong that every person recognizes them immediately. In 1919, Carl Jung discovered a way to distill twelve unconscious, universal idea patterns from myths, dreams, stories and fairy tales: the archetypes. You probably know them, think of the hero, the joker and the rebel. They are often used as a basis for personality tests, but archetypes can mean even more to you.
Marketers discovered this when Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson showed in their 2001 book The Hero and The Outlaw (aff.) that brands that clearly choose to represent one archetype are cambodia telegram data more successful than brands that borrow from several here and there. These successful brands then choose the archetype that their brand is in the eyes of the customer in terms of function. For example, Dove is a caregiver and the consumer sees Dove when he wants to take care of himself. Marlboro is a rebel and the consumer sees that he can smoke a cigarette when he wants to rebel against the world.
Okay, so the message is: center all your expressions around one archetype. In other words, be consistent. And that is exactly what many marketers who want to have a film made by us have trouble with. Below are the two most common causes.
Mistake 1: Using multiple archetypes in one story
It is difficult for many companies to choose one archetype. Understandable, because most companies are just like people: complex, more than one simplified type. However, in a video where you have 30 to 60 seconds to get your message across, it is precisely the case to simplify your company to the core. Because that way the viewer knows what he has in you. If you do use multiple archetypes in one film, there is a big chance that the viewer will not be able to reproduce the message.