RULER

Archetype Profile
Your Brand Archetype
Insights.

brandonian.com
 This is your Bradonian Archetype
Profile insights document. This
report captures the essence of
your own archetype and is a
valuable resource for building or
CONTENTS
strengthening your brand.
The Methodology
The values and behaviours aligned How we define your future brand..................3
with your archetype should
Meet all the Archetypes...................................4
provide a set of guidelines for your
How Archetypal Theory is applied................4
organisation’s activity.
Once your brand has been aligned
to an archetype you can use it to Meet Your Archetype
confidently navigate your future The Ruler...............................................................5
marketing and business direction. Motivational Theory...........................................8

Always ask:

“Are the plans that we Using Your Archetype

are making aligned Within business.................................................10

with our Archetype?”

From here you can flesh out your
brand strategy further to include
all your future business and
marketing activities.
The Ruler Trap
Perfection and mis-creation.......................... 12
Ruler Customers
What are the characteristics?........................ 13

Awakening Your Archetype

How to present a Ruler brand?..................... 14

What’s Next?
Tell the world...................................................... 15
Get some help................................................... 15

Copyright Statement
© Copyright Brandonian Pty Ltd – All IP, ideas,
concepts and supporting materials are the property
of Brandonian Pty Ltd.

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 UNDERSTANDING OUR
METHODOLOGY
Your brand’s future direction
is based on a bespoke position
mapping methodology.

HOW WE DEFINE
YOUR FUTURE BRAND
We believe marketing is a method and consumer
buying behaviour is a science. We developed
our Brandonian system to combine the two to
make marketing a methodology that we term
neuro-marketing.

Brandonian’s branding methodology is based on Swiss

psychiatrist Carl Jung’s theory of ‘archetypes’ or brand
characters. Jung’s research concluded that everyone shares
an innate understanding of what certain characters are and
represent. Therefore, archetypes allow us to define the ‘soul’
or essence of your brand and to express it with universal
feelings and instincts we all share and can relate to.

When we start telling your brand story using the language of your
aligned archetype people will easily connect with your brand.
They get you. They know what you stand for. It feels right!

Most importantly, a great connection with your customer or

stakeholder becomes a SIGNIFICANT POINT OF DIFFERENCE
in the market.

A powerful, aligned Brandonian brand no longer has to rely on

differentiating on price, features or benefits.

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 MEET ALL THE ARCHETYPES

HOW ARCHETYPAL THEORY IS APPLIED

The online quiz you have just completed prompted you to carefully consider your brand’s true
motivation (‘what it is you are REALLY selling’); and what your customer’s emotional response should
be when experiencing your brand.
At Brandonian, we contend that this ‘true motivation’ (the ‘Why?’) creates
a more powerful connection with customers and stakeholders than simply
experiencing the product or service.

Simon Sinek said it best when he said,

‘People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it’.

Your brand’s emotional connection with your customers is defined by your archetype. You can
tell your brand story from your business’s perspective as to why you have created what you
have. Or, you can tell your brand story from a customer’s perspective telling why they need, or
what they can expect from using your product or services.

This document provides assistance for you, your team, and any future employees to
understand your archetype. When your archetype is understood it will help you appeal to the
right customers, and communicate your ‘why’ more effectively.

Your business will be seen and heard and stand apart in crowded marketplace.

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 THE EXPLORER
THEBrand
Your Future RULER
promises new
experiences and challenges us to
Your
give Brand
them is By
a go. large and in
trying charge,
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create setpossibility
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more about play.

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 RULER
Rulers are large and in charge, they set the rules
by which other brands play.

“Power is everything”

Wish Control

Focus Creating structures for a successful family, company, or community

Fear Disruption, loss of control

Strategy Demonstrate leadership

Trap Authoritarian, entitled arrogance

Purpose Responsibility, leadership

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 THE RULER
The Ruler is the boss, leader, aristocrat, king, queen, politician, role model,
manager or administrator, and they take this role in the categories that they play in.
Rulers lay down the law. They see themselves as knowing what is good for people,
if there is anything the Rulers hate, it is any kind of change they cannot control.
Ruler brands are often market leaders, which offer a sense of security and
stability in a chaotic world.

The Ruler Business:

Many ruler businesses are central in setting standards that control how things
are done in their industry. They like to lead and be in control, often providing
a product or service before their customers even know they need it.

The Ruler Culture:

When the Ruler archetype is active in a culture, there will be team members
who will enjoy taking on leadership roles, and innovation will need to be a
focus to ensure the business stays ahead of the game.

Examples of the Ruler Brand:

Famous Rulers: Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Queen Elizabeth, Cleopatra.
Ruler brands: Microsoft, IBM, Mercedes Benz, American Express (when you
use, you are treated like royalty) The Vatican, Rolls-Royce and Ralph Lauren.

The Ruler identity might be right for your brand if you have:
• A high-status product used by powerful people to enhance their power
• A product that helps people be more organised
• A product or service that can offer a lifetime guarantee
• Services that offer technical assistance or information that helps maintain
or enhance power
• An organisation with a regulatory or protective function
• A product at the moderate to high price range
• A brand that is the clear leader in their field
• A field that is relatively stable or a product that promises safety and
predictability in a chaotic world

BENEVOLANT DICTATOR | CHAIRMAN | PROMOTER

Discover your brand at brandonian.com

 @mybrandonian  hello@brandonian.com DISCOVERING BRANDS
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DISCOVERING BRANDS

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 MOTIVATIONAL THEORY

We spoke about the fact that people don’t buy
what you do, they buy why you do it (Simon Sinek).
Understanding what REALLY motivates your target
market (as individuals or as a collective) at a deeper
or a sub-conscious level is the heart of Motivational
Theory. Discovering and leveraging these sub-
conscious drivers and triggers creates a distinct and
memorable brand, and a clearly defined position in
your market in the eyes of your customer.
At its core, motivation is a theoretical construct
used to explain behaviour. It represents the reasons
for people’s actions, wants and needs. Motivation can
also be defined as one’s direction to behaviour, or
what causes a person to want to repeat a behaviour
and vice versa.
Motivational Theory comprises of four major opposite
themes as drivers which create tension in our
collective unconscious:
1. Belonging
2. Independence
3. Stability
4. Mastery
It is important to remember that consumer motivation
is comprised of both rational and emotional drivers.
Rational drivers can be summarised as the benefits
constructed from the 4 Marketing P’s (Product,
Price, Place and Promotion). Much of your sales and
marketing activity will be conducted in this space
but it is equally as important to overlay with the
motivational drivers.

Life requires constant

negotiation along these poles

Stability

S
Inde
Belonging

pendence
B

M astery

These are the primary tensions

faced regularly in a person’s thinking

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 MEET YOUR ARCHETYPE

The Ruler provides structure to the world

The Ruler represents power and is motivated to lead
people as a way of establishing control and stability
to the world. They all have an underlying drive to help
the world in some way.
There are 3 core types of Ruler
• Benevolent Dictator,
• Chairman and
• Promoter
The Ruler is motivated to gain and maintain power.
They believe that in order to feel safe and at the top of
their game, they can rely only on themselves to take
control and avoid chaos.
The Chairman likes to listen and consider the thoughts
of those they influence, but at the end of the day will
make a decision on what is best for the people and
stand by that decision. The Promoter is driven by a
strong sense of personal responsibility and a need for
fairness. They want to promote their way to the world
as the best way.
No matter the type of Ruler you are, Ruler brands offer
a way of gaining control back in a world that seems
to be very out of control. They are willing to learn
new skills to remain on top and to share experiences
through stories that unleash powerful emotions, build
credibility and give us a way to address difficult topics.

For the Benevolent Dictator, they exercise absolute
power over their entire industry or community, but they
do so for the benefit of the population as a whole.
Ruler brands are never the result of inherited power
(corporate takeovers). There is always a story of how
they earned or created their power from humble
beginnings - where an idea was turned into a new and
better way.

Relating the Ruler archetype to the world of today

Benevolant Dictator – Microsoft in 1980 formed a partnership with IBM to bundle Microsoft’s operating system with
IBM computers; with that deal, IBM paid Microsoft a royalty for every sale. Microsoft kept the control of the system they
created. Then in 1985, IBM requested Microsoft to develop a new operating system for their computers called OS/2.
Microsoft produced that operating system, but also continued to sell their own alternative, which proved to be in direct
competition with OS/2. Microsoft Windows eventually overshadowed OS/2 in terms of sales. By the time Microsoft
launched several versions of Microsoft Windows in the 1990s, they had captured over 90% market share of the world’s
personal computers. From the beginning they controlled the system and the rules of the industry in which they operated.

Chairman – Ralph Lauren is famous for his controversial opinions on fashion, which are epitomised in his quote – “I am
not a fashion person. I am anti-fashion. I am interested in longevity, timelessness, style”. The Ralph Lauren brand, since its
launch, has crafted and operationalised a strategy that directly taps into a blue ocean opportunity in the fashion industry
– the balance between haute couture (sophistication) and classical lines (design and heritage). By successfully mixing a
new age identity with classical designs, Ralph Lauren has maintained its appeal with a wide range of consumers.

Promoter – The Mercedes-Benz brand stands for the aspiration to deliver ‘The Best’ in terms of products, technology
and services. As founder Gottlieb Daimler said ‘The Best or Nothing’, Mercedes-Benz wanted to promote the best.
The three points in the logo represent land, sea and air and depicts the company’s plan for world domination. With a
vision to drive innovation and sustainable mobility, Mercedes-Benz promotes a sentiment of responsibility throughout
their marketing making their products available to all who want and have the means to buy ‘The Best’.

Benevolent Chairman Promoter

Dictator
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 USING YOUR ARCHETYPE
WITHIN YOUR BUSINESS

What is the environment you are seeking to change?

The role of the Ruler is to keep the peace in the community, by taking control of the
rules and regulations in it and heading off threats, by putting in place the policies and
procedures that build success for as many people as possible.

We all need to have a feeling that there is a good balance of power in our lives to do and
have the things we desire. We look to Rulers to provide the stability to take care of things
in their area of expertise, so we can enjoy a feeling of security and stability.

The environment that a Ruler thrives in is one where they have earned respect of the
community. They are clear on their role in that community and continue to provide a
product / service that provides emotional stability to the customers they serve.

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 What does the Ruler stand for?

What causes can you identify with, that will support your power and influence?

Ruler brands should always be thought of as public figures, never reclusive and they clearly articulate to their
audiences about why they do what they do. They need to be seen out and about in the community and getting
involved in ways that support their views on the world and use their power and influence for good.

Our society seems to be obsessed with power in all its forms – money, status, control, authority, influence, fame,
the power to give, and also to take away, and the ability to change others’ lives in the process.

One of the most powerful acts for a Ruler brand is generosity. Generosity begins with an instinctual feeling to fulfil
on a need. The sight of someone who needs help after a natural disaster, for example, tugs at our heart strings
and the emotional response is to find a way to help – giving out blankets and food or comforting words. We feel
so good for taking this action. In a business context this could mean helping to open up opportunities, providing
feedback, or just making introductions. If a Ruler brand was to stop at this point, they could be seen as more of a
Caregiver brand.

As a Ruler brand, it is never just about generosity as a way to make you and the person you help feel good. On a
deeper level, Ruler brands understand the power that generosity can bring, by empowering others to realise their
potential. This generosity awakens when you realise you are in the presence of someone only you can help, with
something only you can do, say, or provide. Empowering others is your finest achievement and will never be a
threat to your own power.

What is the ideal world for your brand to operate in?

Ultimately, the Ruler provides a feeling of stability and will bring a level of control to their client’s world. They can get
on with what they do best, knowing you are doing what you do best.

Rulers enjoy using their mastery around setting up controls and procedures that ensure quality is maintained. They enjoy
having the power of how someone experiences the interaction with the business.

We all want to feel successful and important and Ruler brands appeal to this human need.

How to stay motivated, disciplined and focused?

Rulers are motivated by making a positive impact on the world as the long term measure of success. In the shorter term,
small wins should be celebrated when power / market share is gained and maintained.

Rulers also enjoy being in a position to facilitate a way to help individuals become wealthy, powerful and established
in their fields and their communities.

Power is important to any Ruler brand and also for the customers they serve. Sometimes one person’s success
could annoy another who doesn’t have the same level of success. It is therefore important for Ruler brands to show
potential customers how they can feel and have success simply by association.

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 RULER TRAP
Becoming domineering, controlling and arrogant

Each archetype has a shadow side to their character that needs to be understood in order
to become aware and therefore, prevent a negative brand experience for your team or
customers.

The greatest fear of Ruler brands is to become powerless - to lose influence and meaning for the
people they serve.

Ruler organisations can focus so much on making their products and procedures perfect, that they
leave no time for innovation. Balance is important to maintain.

1. Domineering – A stereotypical view of a Ruler is often described as a demanding demeanour

where orders are given but not taken. Herein lies a delicate balance between leadership
and dictatorship, you don’t want to be the latter.

2. Controlling – While being a leader for your industry, you want to be careful your actions
are not interpreted as that of a bully or control freak. Speaking with power and a sense of
control needs to be uplifting to your audience, not regulatory.

3. Arrogance – The Ruler has an air of confidence about them, but this must not translate into
arrogance. You may have the best product or service in your industry, but your intentions
for having the best is for the benefit of others. Ruler brands must be genuine and good
global citizens.

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 RULER CUSTOMERS
What are the characteristics of Ruler ‘type’ customers?

Audiences in which the Ruler archetype is dominant (the low hanging fruit for your brand to market to)
all have a common belief that they like to be successful. These types of individuals often enjoy taking
on leadership roles (in business or life or both) and like being in control as much as possible.

Looking at customers’ behaviour patterns is a good way to really understand them. Ruler brands
need to understand the motivations of their audiences.

With this in mind, there are two types of behaviours to successfully connect with your ideal customer:
• Connoisseur - they know what they want and have impeccable taste. They value investing
in goods and services that are high quality with a belief they will last longer and they will be
getting better value as a result.
• Peacock - is all about status - they buy products and services that the everyday person can
not afford as a way to elevate their status. They like to flaunt their money and success and
generally are confident individuals.

“Your goal is not to do business with everyone that

wants what you have. Your goal is to do business with
people who believe what you believe.” – Simon Sinek

Connoisseurs
Connoisseurs have an eye for detail and
value quality in all areas of their life. They
are always on the lookout for brands
that provide them a quality product or
service, as they value their time and
value what these items bring them. Their
belief is they are “too poor to buy cheap
“. They know what they want and will
find a way to get it. If satisfied they will
become loyal advocates of the brand and
a reliable referral source, but they must
continue to be looked after very well
as customers.
Peacock
These customers are the Ruler brand’s
best friends. They are the kind of
customer that is very well connected -
generally in social channels and share
openly and regularly all that they are
doing and the brands they prefer.
They are generally very self absorbed,
making buying decisions based around
how good it will make them look to
others. They don’t always know what
they want but will always want to buy
exclusive products or services not
available to the masses.

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 AWAKEN YOUR ARCHETYPE
How do you present a Ruler Brand?

Ruler brands have a natural connection to patriotism. Think about how proud we feel about the laws and the rituals
that define our culture and our countries. Most people have an alliance to the written and unwritten rules of our society
and culture that we as individuals have a role in helping to enforce. With the simple act of abiding by the rules we are
supporting the leadership.

The Ruler Archetype is not just about wealth and power. Rulers are about being role models for ideal behaviour in
society. Therefore giving and receiving respect is of the utmost importance.

Ruler environments are always impressive – use materials that are strong, durable and built to last. Also timeless styles
that incorporate granite, fine panelling and heavy drapes with ornate artworks.

Imagery should support prestige, status and responsibility.

The Ruler is in charge and in control. Typically Ruler brands are portrayed as extremely responsible and often are seen
to be juggling many important responsibilities. Ruler products help their customers to be managed in a more effective
way that always reaffirms that customer’s power and status.

There is a strong sense of personal honour and a need for things to be done right the first time.

The Ruler’s focus on details around image, status and prestige, not because they are superficial, but because they
understand how the way things look can enhance power.

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 WHAT’S NEXT?
1. Digest the information.
Read through this document and take the time to digest the information. We want you to understand and think
about all the content within this document. If you are unclear as to how you would use this information in your
business, then we are here to help.

2. Create a brand update and marketing plan.

Review your next actions, create a plan to implement your Brand Archetype Profile Insights.

3. Do you want help to expand and fully implement your Brand Archetype?
Brandonian’s expert Strategists can workshop your brand with you in greater depth. We will work with you to fully
realise the potential of your new brand by articulating your purpose. By creating a unique message and language
to express your Brand Archetype, you can’t be replicated.

GET SOME HELP

If you are having trouble understanding or awakening your archetype, Brandonian can help. Our Online Test and
this Archetypes Insights document has been designed to get you started and give you something you can work
with to stand out and be heard in the crowd at price everyone can afford.

It is important to note that the process to determine the archetype most suited to your business is a four hour
workshop with your key stakeholders present. We can only partially replicate that through an online quiz.

While any archetype can be used to create a language to consistently communicate with the world, this online quiz
may not have arrived at the archetype best suited to your business. We would recommend further discussions with
one of our strategists.

Our whole purpose and reason for being is to help small business be seen and be heard. We created this test and
archetype system because we kept seeing so many businesses just like yours, with good people in them and a
great product or service, but no one knew about them. We wanted to offer what big businesses with deep pockets
pay big dollars for to give smaller businesses the same competitive advantage.

So if you are having trouble using what you have just discovered, but can see how this thinking can really help your
business to be seen and heard and ultimately grow, we are here to help.

We can help you in many ways, from creating you a set of branded graphics and brand statements to setting up a
number of different templates that you can use straight away and build off.

We can define for you a tagline and a why statement or write some website copy with brand language capturing
your point of difference.

Just get in touch and we can chat about what will help you the most.

To inquire into how to successfully implement your new

Brand Archetype Profile Insights, please schedule a call
with an expert Brand Strategist at calendly.com/brandonian.

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