Someone who cares.
When it comes down to life essentials, that’s all us humans need besides food, water, and shelter.
Our need for connection is wired into our brain because our own survival depends on it. As a result, we respond to and connect with other people who satisfy this fundamental need of ours.
Related: Brand archetypes — Which of these 12 brand archetypes fit your brand?
There’s a big opportunity for brands to differentiate themselves not by being “the best” or “the first”, but the ones who care the most.
Is your company’s mission driven by the desire to help and support others?
If this your dominant characteristic, consider embracing the caregiver brand archetype. As the examples below reveal, there’s a lot you can achieve by growing into this narrative.
Does your brand fit the caregiver archetype?
As customers, we have an inevitable tendency to personify brands. This goes to show just how strong our need for emotional connection is.
If your brand personality already favors building relationships instead of coldly communicating product features, then you are already on track to become a caregiver.
Specifically, the characteristics of the caregiver archetype include:
- Sustained focus on the customers’ needs that’s visible throughout the company
- A proclivity for volunteering time, energy, and resources to assisting customers
- The ability to notice when someone needs help and the ability to provide it
- A responsible and benevolent way of conducting business
- A constructive approach to community involvement
- A track record of dependability and being supportive of others.
Traditionally, these traits have been associated with NGOs, but there are several commercial brands that are true caregivers too.
In recent years, an increasing number of companies have grown based on these exact features. This strong foundation allowed them to develop a strong, recognizable brand with clarity and confidence.
The caregiver archetype examples below show exactly how they achieved this.
Truthful brand positioning has a ripple effect
We long for loving, secure relationships not only with people, but with other entities we interact. The more we depend on a company — for our water, safe travels or most sensitive data, the more we need to be able to trust it.
Organisations that embrace the caregiver archetype inspire trust due to their brand mission to help, protect, and care for others in ways they cannot do so themselves.
For example, Johnson & Johnson articulate mission clearly on their about page: “130 Years of Caring”.
In 2018, Johnson’s Baby (no affiliation with J&J) launched a campaign called “Choose gentle” that states their commitment to a similar idea:
“We believe in the immense, transformative power of gentle. Gentle is something the world can’t ever have too much of. #ChooseGentle”
P&G taps into similar values to articulate their mission:
“We will provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world’s consumers, now and for generations to come.”
Another brand from the same industry, Honest, tells their story along the same lines:
“Our story began with a simple desire: to make the right choices for our families. We were parents in search of safe options, but unsure of where to turn. We needed one brand that we could go to for trusted products and information. And when we couldn’t find what we were looking for — and realized we weren’t alone — the idea for Honest was born.”
As you can notice, brands that fit the caregiver archetype seek to inspire others to act on the same nurturing tendencies. They do so by acting on their brand values and operating from a posture of:
- Generosity
- Humility
- Empathy
- Compassion
- Trust
- Kindness
- Openness
- Optimism
- Transparency
- Integrity
NGOs are the best equipped to harness the power of this brand archetype in a significant, impactful way.
Unicef’s USP — “For every child” — speaks to their dedication of working to improve the wellbeing of children around the world.
“We campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all” states Amnesty International, pointing to the bigger picture and inspiring others to join their pursuit.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has a similar position dedicated to selfless service:
“All Lives Have Equal Valuewe are impatient optimists working to reduce inequity”
For a caregiving brand, the core strategy is to do things for others. This can mean facilitating shared experiences or aligning people around common ideals. Also, this brand archetype excels at creating a feeling of belonging to something greater than oneself.
In this context, you can also achieve more clarity by assign a role for your brand to play in the market or in the community. You can be:
- An altruist
- A nurturer
- An advocate
- A helper
- A supporter
- Or even a mentor.
Developing your caregiver features can prove especially powerful for new brands seeking to build a recognizable personality. It can be equally helpful to companies trying to break out of their industry and reach a wider audience.
Being a constantly nurturing, supportive company creates a strong, consistent brand that customers are excited to endorse. That’s because these characteristics appeal to the universal values deeply embedded into our humanity.
Caregiver brands are good for everyone
When your company embodies the caregiver archetype, it:
- Fosters authentic connections between the brand and its customers and partners
- Builds loyalty among customers, reducing churn, and cultivating a constant interest in your products and services
- Empowers vocal advocates that carry your message forward and generates word-of-mouth promotion
- Lowers your cost of acquisition based on empathy and affinity for your brand
- Creates long-term value by helping people make better choices and care about others.
To achieve these goals, pay attention to your brand voice. The caregiver is usually considerate, thoughtful, kind, positive, calm, and supportive. Can you identify these features in your communication?
Next, evaluate your visual identity. Do your color scheme, font choices, and layouts create experiences that reflect kindness and gentle understanding?
For example, Headspace — “Your guide to health and happiness” — breathes positivity into their users’ lives through their website, app, and all channels they use for communication.
As you can see, their branding is remarkably consistent, albeit adapted to each channel’s specific communication style.
Another equally captivating example is Wistia, whose brand positioning empowers their customers to thrive: “Create, host, share, and measure your videos like the human you are. ?”.
Their branding is colorful but in a gentle, inviting way that combines feelings of calm and excitement in a way that feels healthy and balanced.
Wistia has also been recognized for their exceptional customer service which goes to strengthen their brand’s focus on helping others succeed.
Loyal followers will amplify your mission
Being a caregiver brand gives your customers a competitive advantage that’s associated with a powerful positive message.
Whether through shows kindness or empowering people to care for themselves, you will most likely attract people who value connection.
Those who have a lot of responsibility will naturally gravitate towards your brand as their tendency to look after other people is stronger.
If you make these customers feel loved, safe, taken care of, they will soon become thankful for your support. Nurturing that feeling of “we’re in this together” can lead to them becoming strong advocates for your mission who carry your message to their own circles of influence.
For example, The Salvation Army is top of mind for those who want to extend a helping hand to people across the world. When it comes to donations, they are also the first to come to mind.
Volvo launched in early 2019 the E.V.A. initiative which entailed sharing over 40 years of their own safety research so other car manufacturers can provide an equal level of safety for both men and women (who are at a disadvantage).
To make it easier for your followers to share your call to action, make sure you provide them with up to date, eye-catching brand assets they can use on their own channels.
Visuals always work best, especially when you combine them with a clear and compelling message. AVAAZ does a great job at this:
Ready to embrace the caregiver brand archetype and make the most of your resources to help others?
Start by unifying your communication around a clear set of values that will guide your strategy. Choose the role you want your brand to play in your community. Give it a voice, using words, visual assets, text and/or audio, and start attracting more loyal customers and supporters.
Strengthening your relationship with them puts you on a growth path that greatly benefits from the compound effect these acts of kindness have on everyone’s lives.
Is it time to update or refresh your brand’s identity? Learn more in our free ebook: How and why to rebrand your company
The main goal of your brand, as it is of any brand, is to make a profit and perhaps change some lives in the process.
But what if we said that every brand – whether intentional or not – has an underlying brand personality? And that this personality, sometimes referred to as a brand archetype, can actually be used to build deeper connections and drive more sales?
Related: Brand archetypes — Which of these 12 brand archetypes fit your brand?
In this post, we’ll discuss the concept of brand archetypes. We’ll then highlight one archetype in particular – the magician.
Finally, we’ll show you how Lucidpress can help you to maintain a consistent brand personality across all of your campaigns and platforms. Let’s begin!
Why your brand archetype matters
The personality traits and characteristics of the magician archetype are well and good, but what does this matter to your brand?
It helps if you think of your brand as your company’s personality.
How do you want customers, potential customers, investors, and competitors to see you?
This is where the brand archetype comes in.
Humans like to connect with other humans. An archetype, then, helps your brand to appear more human. And this connection can lead to deeper, more fulfilling relationships.
Even further, this humanness can lead to more sales and higher profits.
The magician brand archetype
As the name suggests, the magician archetype is mysterious and somewhat elusive. They’re also incredibly persuasive and driven by the need to make positive change.
The magician archetype is far from the only one that exists, though. There are twelve brand archetypes in total. They are the:
1. Caregiver.
2. Creator.
3. Entertainer.
4. Explorer.
5. Girl/guy next door.
6. Hero.
7. Innocent.
8. Lover.
9. Magician.
10. Maverick.
11. Royalty.
12. Sage.
And while we’d love to dig deep into each one, we’ll be focusing on just one of these today: the magician.
A brand with the magician archetype is one that has lofty goals, but that also has the power and drive to attain those goals.
There are those who may say that the magician can even be a manipulator, but as with all things, balance is key.
Are you in need of brand inspiration? Let’s take a look at just three of popular brands with the magician archetype.
Example: Tesla
When you think of mystery and innovation, which brand comes to mind? For us, it’s Tesla.
Tesla is the American automotive and energy company owned by Elon Musk. Their goal? To change the world.
In fact, innovation and positive change seems to drive everything they do.
From mock-ups of their next vehicle model to their Instagram feed, Tesla is all about making an impact.
Example: Disney
When it comes to creating magical moments, who does it better than Disney?
Whether you’re watching their movies, cruising the seven seas on their liners, or strolling through their parks and chatting with your favorite characters come to life — Disney makes the impossible, possible.
Example: Red Bull
The owner of Red Bull doesn’t have plans to go to Mars (that we know of, anyway!), and they don’t own and operate the happiest place on Earth. But where Red Bull gets it right is in it’s lofty approach to brand marketing.
The brand’s slogan is simple, but explicit: “Red Bull gives you wings!”
In essence, they claim their drink is the magic potion that will help you to achieve your goals and even make a dream come true.
Which businesses would benefit from the archetype
You may have aggressive goals, and perhaps you even hope to change the world. But that’s not all it takes to become a standout brand that falls under the magician archetype.
Just as with the other archetypes, there are those that would benefit more from this angle. They include brands that:
- Create/promote a transformative experience.
- Offers clarity and knowledge.
- Design and sell contemporary, new-age products.
- Have a spiritual or conciousness-expanding angle.
That’s not to say that you can’t incorporate bits of the magician archetype into your overall brand strategy. But this is definitely not an archetype for the weak at heart!
How Lucidpress can help you to design your brand
A consistent brand design is crucial, but also difficult to achieve in reality.
That’s where Lucidpress can help.
Lucidpress is an online print and digital software program that helps you achieve your brand goals. How? Well, one way is with our brand management software.
As a brand templating platform, Lucidpress is a great way to help your marketing team stay on brand and generate the exact marketing content you need.
First and foremost, Lucidpress offers you one centralized location to store and manage all of your digital brand files. From anywhere in the world, your team members can access anything they need.
But Lucidpress is also a secure place to store your brand assets, including logos, fonts, and templates.
With Lucidpress, you don’t have to worry about finding the latest version of a logo on your computer, or uploading your brand-approved font for each digital design task. Just upload them once, and you’re all set!
And finally, Lucidpress enables you to design and distribute your branded content across numerous channels.
The drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to build brand templates, and you can then share with your team – or the world – with just a few clicks.
So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to bring your brand to life with the help of Lucidpress.