What is Marketing?
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Story archetypes and their use in digital marketing strategies
Story archetypes and their use in digital marketing strategies
Archetypes have long been used by marketers to help define a brand’s personality, which in turn allows for a powerful and cohesive digital marketing strategy to be rolled out. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world of luxury marketing, where story archetypes help brands to define their image and tailor their marketing to a very specific group of individuals.
Relevance explain how story archetypes can be a powerful tool in luxury brand storytelling.
There are 12 archetypes, which were defined by famed Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung. These carefully constructed story archetypes each reflect enduring personas that feed into the human experience, helping a brand to discover its personality and brand voice by anchoring it to a clearly defined story archetype that is already embedded within humanity. This story archetype ultimately defines how and the way that brand communicates to its target audience, helping to make the brand instantly recognisable.
By identifying the specific archetype that a brand embodies, marketers can tap into what that brand’s clients consciously, or unconsciously, desire to experience. Archetypes are, at their very essence, story characters, whose symbolic or personal significance evokes emotional reactions in the listener.
Once a luxury brand has chosen their story archetype, they can create a powerful and compelling story that resonates with individuals’ desires, essentially enabling their target audience to better relate to a brand and their product. And, when you consider that a survey by Meaningful Brands in 2017 highlighted that 84 percent of people expect brands to produce content that entertains, provides solutions, experiences and events, carefully selecting the right story archetype and producing compelling content to appeal to that archetype has never been more important, or powerful.
A brand’s overall digital marketing strategy will also be driven by their archetype, dictating where their marketing focus should lie as well as what social media platforms will work best for them.
Story archetypes run the gamut from those that create excitement, to those that convey comfort to others, and choosing the right one is essential for the success of any brand.
The following 12 archetypes are typically used by marketers, with each story archetype tapping into the common narrative that individuals experience and see on a day-to-day basis.
The 12 story archetypes
The Creator
Naturally expressive, original and imaginative, the Creator wishes to see new ideas take shape and see visions realised. This is the ideal story archetype for technology brands, in addition to marketing and design brands, companies who believe that anything is possible and that ideas should not be stifled. Novel and experimental digital marketing strategies tend to work best with this archetype, with brands often focusing on their creative and innovative ideas. The multinational technology company Apple ideally fits this story archetype as it constantly pushes the boundaries of technological evolution.
The Everyman
Naturally empathetic, unpretentious and resilient, the Everyman’s purpose in life is to be accepted and belong. This is the story archetype for brands that wish to be known for their reliability and quality. Trust is central to this archetype, along with a feeling of belonging. Digital marketing strategies that offer a realistic down-to-earth view will appeal best. Luxury fashion and beauty brand Fenty appeals to the Everyman, with its no no-nonsense products designed to appeal to a wide range of people.
The Innocent
Idealistic, optimistic and hopeful, the Innocent wishes to live life in harmony and is the archetype for brands that offer wholesome fun, alongside brands that promote wellness, or those selling natural products, for example. Simple, yet cheerful marketing campaigns tend to appeal best to this archetype. Exclusive brand Chanel appeals to this story archetype with its luxurious goods that promote happiness and wellbeing.
The Explorer
Naturally independent, authentic and curious, this archetype craves, freedom, and adventure, with marketing campaigns tapping into this archetype’s desire by focusing on risk taking, travel and discovery. Ambitious and innovative, Explorer brands aim to push the boundaries and embrace anything is possible attitude. The Explorer story archetype is perfect for brands that promote exploration, such as Land Rover and its go anywhere rugged off-road vehicles.
The Caregiver
Compassionate, nurturing and dedicated, the Caregiver’s purpose in life is to help others. Brands that align with this story archetype offer protection, safety and support for their customers, and often includes healthcare, education, resorts, and baby care brands. Emotionally driven digital marketing strategies tend to appeal best to this archetype. The Four Seasons Hotels are ideal for this, with their latest marketing campaigns tapping into how they can help families spend more quality time together.
The Ruler
Confident, competent, and responsible, the Ruler aims to be a role model to others. Digital marketing strategies for brands that align with this story archetype need to have an authoritative voice, infused with a sense of wealth and success. Brands such as Porsche are an ideal fit for the Ruler archetype.
The Magician
Intuitive, insightful and inspiring, the Magician’s purpose in life is to transform the ordinary into extraordinary. Digital marketing strategies should be imaginative and inspiring, aimed at making dreams comes true and turning problems into opportunities. Italian jewellery company Bvglari’s extraordinary and exceptional designs perfectly resonates with the ideals of this story archetype.
The Rebel
Unconventional thinkers who can develop new, cutting-edge approaches, the Rebel’s purpose in life is to shake up the status quo, a great fit for action-orientated brands that want to stand out and be different. Digital marketing strategies should demonstrate the brand as an alternative to the mainstream in order to be successful. Balenciaga’s forward-thinking and cutting-edge designs perfectly align with this archetype.
The Entertainer
Playful, spontaneous, and humorous, the Entertainer aims to make people feel good, lighten the mood, and enjoy themselves. Fun-filled creative marketing strategies that create an emotional response work best. A great story archetype for fun-loving brands that are aimed at encouraging people to have a good time, such as historic fashion house Gucci.
The Lover
Appreciative, passionate and committed, the lover’s purpose in life is to make people feel special. Brands tap into this feel-good attitude by creating compelling digital marketing strategies that pleasure the senses. A great fit for aesthetically beautiful brands, especially very exclusive ones, such as Hermes.
The Sage
Intelligent, knowledgeable and reflective, the Sage seeks to find answers to their questions. This story archetype is a great fit for educational or research-based brands, as well as news outlets. Factual digital marketing strategies that challenge the audience to think differently and discover more about the world will work best with this archetype. Patek Philippe, one of the oldest luxury watch manufacturers in the world, is a great example of an iconic brand that perfectly fits with this story archetype.
The Hero
Determined, achievement-orientated and focused, the Hero’s purpose in life is to improve the world. Brands that align with this story archetype promote themselves as being superior to their competitors, often creating loud and bold marketing campaigns, such as the prestigious watchmaker Rolex.
At Relevance, we use story archetypes to help us craft compelling stories that align perfectly with our client’s brand personality but we also go beyond the traditional story archetypes to develop our own. Based on data and assumptions that we have in-house, we really believe in the power of creating your own archetypes that uniquely characterise a specific brand. For example, we have a huge amount of information on high-net-worth-individuals and ultra-high-net-worth-individuals, from their lifestyles and spending habits, to their education and business profiles. This unique data enables us to identify trends amongst this audience, create our own story archetypes, and then craft innovative digital marketing strategies and campaigns that are based on data and facts, not assumptions.
Sunday, November 9, 2025
ChatGPT is prompting advertising strategists to think different
How ChatGPT is prompting advertising strategists to think different
For The Drum’s latest Deep Dive, AI to Web3: the Tech Takeover, we catch up with planners from Jellyfish, R/GA and more to hear about how they’ve been experimenting with the AI chatbot ChatGPT.
ChatGPT
Tom Roach, the vice-president of brand strategy at Jellyfish, has been putting ChatGPT through its paces recently, asking the machine learning tool to create a list of potential brand positioning ideas. Mostly, he has been met with some rather bland and uninspiring suggestions Рbut these have been pretty useful in helping to eliminate clich̩d routes.
“I thought it was a really obvious way to use it,” he tells us. “But I was surprised that people thought it was non-obvious, that they hadn’t thought of it that way. It was a really simple flip for me – don’t expect it to be giving you all the answers yet.”
Roach took a real project that his team was working on for an educational institution and used ChatGPT to come up with positioning ideas in the knowledge they would be ”bog-standard”. As predicted, he was met with platitudes such as “unlock your potential,” which wouldn’t look out of place on a poster ad on a train, for example. He pushed it further, prompting the bot to give him “surprising” and “unique” concepts, but the system would merely end up quite literally adding in those words. “It doesn’t have a brain and is just using historical information.”
Its idea generation is mediocre
Presenting to clients is another practical situation where Roach feels the server could become advantageous. “If the client pushes us back toward things that are more expected, then we’ll have some good evidence that it’s a bit pointless and isn’t going to be different.”
This is a sentiment that R/GA senior brand strategist Mario Ramirez Reyes echoes, explaining to The Drum: “You want to steer it closer to synthesis rather than analysis or idea generation. Analysis should be a planner’s job and ChatGPT’s idea generation is mediocre.”
There are four strong uses he has found for the bot. The first is for feedback summaries, which are particularly useful if you need to sift through multiple texts, he says. Next is training it on a framework – he advises people to begin by coaching it, explaining the objective, giving it examples, inputting texts and asking it to fill the framework. “It won’t be perfect, but along the way you’ll tweak and get to a good place faster than doing it alone.”
Thirdly (and this is his most valuable suggestion, he says) is to use it to reframe your position. “It makes the analysis less analytic – and boring. The first draft generally tends to be more rigid, more prone to rely on jargon, clichés and even a passive voice. And many times, we don’t have time to go beyond first drafts – much to the dismay of bored creatives.
“Asking it to rewrite your text – analysis, slide, brief, etc – in the style/voice of someone else can usually help shake off the uninspiring stiffness and unlock different ways in, but you should then bring it home yourself. Have it ELI5 [explain like I’m five] or write it in the style of Ernest Hemingway or like a song by Dolly Parton. Maybe have it turn into a debate by Cristopher Hitchens and Moe from the Simpsons.
“It’ll always be an imitation of the style, but you’ll likely pick up a metaphor or a phrasing or possibly a perspective that gives your writing a better way to hook the reader/audience. Plus, bonus points for having a deep well of pop culture and art history to draw from.”
The strategist confesses his fourth and last move is a bit hit-and-miss, but that it can sometimes be useful. If strategists input ’how would X solve this problem?’ into the server, he says, it can generate some interesting (though not top quality) results.
Want to go deeper? Ask The Drum
- How can ChatGPT be trained to generate more unique ideas?
- How does ChatGPT's language processing ability compare to human understanding?
- What are the limitations of using ChatGPT for brand positioning ideas?
- What are some potential biases in ChatGPT's idea generation?
- Can ChatGPT be used to analyze consumer behavior and preferences?
Get it to ‘Ronseal’ your strategy work
“It’s your new bullshit detector,” laughs Adrian McCusker-Delicado, whose agency Ah Um counts the NHS and Zoopla amongst its client roster. “Let’s face it, ChatGPT isn’t going to help you write Byronic verse. But use this to your advantage and get it to ‘Ronseal’ your strategy work.“
He admits that strategists can be prone to cramming decks with jargon and buzzwords, and that it can therefore be helpful to “stick your latest strat deck through the ChatGPT ringer and ask it to refine and bring clarity to your narrative“. He says to provide details of the intended audience and their level of technical understanding and tell it which style guides to reference.
His team has been planning a campaign for one of the UK’s leading telcos that wants to engage with SMEs in multiple markets. “We simply asked ChatGPT to create a 12-month content calendar for our target audience in each market, asking it to align to upcoming relevant events, the topics we should cover and the content formats we should use. In an instant, we have a draft campaign framework bespoke to business goals and audience that we can talk the client through and iterate on.”
Even though it can feel “refreshing”, he questions if never having to start with a blank page is good for creativity in the long run – which is something that Digitas UK’s chief strategy officer Matt Holt agrees with.
Holt tells us: “Like any emerging technology, ChatGPT comes with a health warning and that warning relates to using it to create the ‘difficult first draft’ of your strategy. It may be tempting to do this – the first draft is difficult for a reason. Your brain is synthesizing information and connecting the dots. The act of writing the first draft gets you to unexpected places, be that diagnosing the problem or reframing the brief. What’s more, the blank sheet of paper can be hugely motivating if harnessed correctly.“
He argues that the best use cases are those that automate the more mundane elements of the role and leave strategists to do what they do best – “connecting the dots to write strategies that create a positive impact“. He says: “The machine can do the logic and us humans can bring the magic.“
You’re still going to need somebody to spot the gems
No matter where you stand on ChatGPT, “you can’t avoid it at the minute,” as Roach puts it. “Genuinely, all the strategists at Jellyfish seem to be using it in different ways.” These range from pitch research to finding papers on specific topics and streamlining wording, and he says some have even looked to it for audience insights – human truths about going to the cinema, for example, or to develop questionnaires.
“You can see a lot of it is initial research – trying to quickly establish the ground that you’re on, this territory that you’re on with a project, and getting up to speed quickly. We’re doing a media pitch and we gave ChatGPT the brand platform and explored what media activation ideas it might be able to come up with. The output wasn’t super original, but it could be useful in a brainstorming session to then push beyond.”
It’s the building blocks, so to speak, but Roach says you’re always going to need human creative minds to spot what’s good and interesting. “If you were to apply it to the world of generating creative ideas, you’re still going to need somebody with taste and experience to spot the gems. It can’t do that yet, but it’s moving all the time.”
Just a week ago, developer OpenAI (which also lists AI artist Dall-E in its portfolio) unveiled GPT-4, its most powerful AI tool yet, which can write code and even understand inputted images. Someone has already used it to build a website that allows users to code any arcade game and let them play it instantly. The shortcuts it provides are startling.
“Historically, I’ve not been breathlessly enthusiastic about the latest tech,” confesses the Jellyfish strategist. I’ve often been a bit more septical and will wait and see because there have been too many instances where people have got excited and it has not quite had the same practical usage.
“This, however, could genuinely provide practical utility, which I think is unheard of. We’re all inundated with stuff in our social feeds about it and, of course, we still need to work out what’s snake oil and what isn’t.”
As a business, Jellyfish is looking at ChatGPT broadly and how it might help across the media, creative and tech sectors it works in, says Roach. “It will have huge implications when it comes to our production. We have big capability around creating assets, adapting them for platforms, translating them. That’s going to be a huge area in the world of the creative industries where this becomes embedded very quickly.
Monday, October 13, 2025
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If you ask a non-marketer, the answer often sounds like:
“Run some ads. Post on Instagram. Maybe go viral.”
Simple, right?
Well, not really.
( Credit: Design Aura )
Here’s the truth:
Marketing isn’t a single action.
It’s not just running ads.
And it’s definitely not luck.
-It’s a system.
-A strategy.
-An ecosystem where creativity meets psychology, design meets data, and storytelling meets sales.
It looks like:
-Understanding people
-Crafting a narrative
-Designing experiences
-Building brands
-Testing, tweaking, repeating
And yes, usually while juggling 27 tabs (both on desktop and in mind), 3 deadlines, and a half-drunk coffee in front.
Marketing is definitely not a side task in 2025.
It’s the growth engine of every business.
So instead of asking:
“Can we go viral?”
Start asking:
“What story are we telling?”
“How are we building trust?”
“What’s our GTM strategy?”
Good marketing is a mindset, a system, and an execution.