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Realigning archetypes to strengthen brand connection
A global luxury fashion house sought to enhance its connection with evolving consumer preferences. The brand’s storytelling heavily relied on archetypes—universally recognized character patterns that evoke emotional responses in audiences. Specifically, the brand emphasized the Hero archetype, symbolizing courage and ambition, and the Rebel archetype, reflecting nonconformity and defiance. These archetypes positioned the brand as bold and aspirational.
However, in-depth analysis revealed a misalignment: consumers gravitated more toward the Ruler archetype, which embodies authority, sophistication, and control—qualities that were underrepresented in the brand’s narrative. Archetypes like the Ruler offer structure and leadership, appealing to audiences who value refinement and ambition. This gap created a strategic need to recalibrate the brand’s archetypal alignment to better resonate with its audience while maintaining its aspirational identity.
Why Archetypes?
Archetypes are powerful tools in brand strategy because they tap into shared cultural meanings and universal human desires. Rooted in Jungian psychology, archetypes like the Hero, Rebel, Ruler, and Creator allow brands to forge emotional connections with their audiences. When used effectively, archetypes:
Differentiate brands in crowded markets by creating distinct and authentic personalities.
By aligning archetypal storytelling with audience expectations, brands can drive stronger engagement and loyalty.
Advanced social listening meets archetypal analysis
To address the challenge, the team deployed a robust methodology combining digital ethnography and AI-driven analytics. Quilt.AI’s archetypal framework, trained on millions of cultural expressions, was applied to map consumer sentiment against brand messaging across platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Weibo. Natural language processing and sentiment analysis enabled categorization of over 3,800 social media posts into thematic clusters. These insights revealed nuanced divergences in how the brand’s messaging resonated with diverse audiences and identified opportunities for alignment.
Realigning archetypes for greater resonance
By reorienting messaging, the brand successfully realigned its narrative with audience expectations. The refined approach amplified Ruler cues through campaigns showcasing elegance and ambition, while the Rebel narrative shifted to emphasize individuality and empowerment. Community-driven content leveraging the brand’s creative heritage deepened connections and addressed gaps in the Creator archetype. This alignment strengthened the brand’s digital presence, enhanced emotional resonance, and cemented its status as a leader in aspirational luxury storytelling.
Reimagining archetypes to deepen resonance
Analysis revealed critical gaps between the brand’s messaging and consumer expectations, as well as untapped opportunities to align more closely with audience desires. Key findings include:
Discover how data-driven insights and archetypal strategies can transform your brand narrative. Contact us today to create campaigns that captivate and inspire your audience.
“If you have only daughters in the house, people will talk about it saying “these people don’t have a son, who will carry on the family name?”. Relatives and neighbors talk about it in a very negative way. They will not allow the parents to live in peace.”
Tweet from Nepal
“Actually daughters are fine as well, but a sense of security a safety can only be provided by a son, no?”
Tweet from China
This community minded segment enjoys a sense of belonging. As such, they care about how they are perceived by others, and try their hardest to fit in and uphold duties. They are most likely to follow trends and respect influential figures.
Driven by a sense of purpose and responsibility, Idealists want to do good in the world. They put in the work to drive positive change and impact. However, there’s also an undertone of realism, as they know that action is limited.
Characterised by their expressiveness and independence, Explorers pride themselves on having a different approach or mindset to life. This includes spirituality enthusiasts, solo travelers, and freelancers, among others. They seek to live life on their own terms.
This segment comprises of highly ambitious goal-getters. Their goals are not always conventional ones (i.e. graduating at the top of their class), but rather tend to be about finding their passion and excelling at it. They look for opportunities at every corner and strive to leave a lasting impression.
Driven by a need to prove themselves to the world, signallers are hard-working and practical individuals. To them, success is about financial stability and external validation. As such, traditional status symbols are important to them.
This passive segment are merely observers of the world: they don’t take things too seriously, they aren’t concerned with other people’s opinions on them, nor do they hold any strong opinions themselves. They are “here for a good time” and enjoy a nihilistic sense of humor.
Protective of traditions; Afraid of shame; Influenced by social norms.
🙅 Deniers
Amazon is launching a Gen Z offering that takes users back in time to explore and experience iconic moments or events of the Y2K era
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Airbnb is launching a Gen Z offering that celebrates the power of monetization
Highlighting inspiring stories of people
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