Back in the 1970s, when trousers were flared and disco ruled supreme, a battle to convert the nation’s mothers from cloth nappies to disposables was in full swing.
Pampers were the market leader, running pseudo-scientific TV adverts that showed the remarkable ‘dryness’ of their product. Their campaigns used people in white coats, side-by-side comparisons of cloth and disposable nappies, as well as testimonials from the medical profession to drive home their ‘dryness’ USP. This marketing tactic worked for them… until Huggies came along.
Huggies adverts were light-hearted, down to earth and celebrated motherhood, rather than simply how dry they’d leave your baby’s bottom. Soon it was Huggies, not Pampers, who were the market leaders. They took the Number 1 spot on the strength of their personality and by making an emotional connection with their customers as opposed to coldly focussing on their product features.
Huggies also evoked the Caregiver archetype in their branding, which you’ll see echoed in most baby products on the market today. From P&G’s recent Thank You, Mom tearjerking advert to Johnson’s Baby Instagram, these brands celebrate caring for others, altruism and optimism. By evoking this very old and universally recognised archetype it is easier for for them to make an emotional connection with us.
This is not just fluffy branding stuff either, according to an extensive 2007 case study analysis by the World Advertising Research Center, emotional ads outsell informational ones by 19 percent.
However, you don’t have to be creating products or services for mothers to be a Caregiver brand, as we explore later on in this post. Most brands are a mixture of two or three archetypes, so Caregiver might be one facet of your brand personality. Read on to see if it resonates with you and how you can make more of an emotional connection by expressing it in your branding.
An introduction to the Caregiver archetype
Sometimes known as the Earth Mother, Angel, Healer or Guardian, Caregiver brands are motivated by nurturing and caring for others. They remain calm in a crisis, make friends with everyone and radiate the lightness of optimism.
Mission: Protect others from harm. Make them feel cared for.
Values: Altruism. Compassion. Patience. Empathy.
Personality attributes: Caring. Generous. Optimistic. Friendly. Handholding. Competent.
Characters: Follow the link to our Pinterest board of Caregiver characters from TV, film and literature.
Classic Caregiver Brands: Persil. Procter & Gamble. Johnson & Johnson. Volvo.
How can we express our Caregiver personality?
1: Use optimistic, upbeat, open and friendly language
2: Find ways to be of service, to give advice and listen to what your customers really need
3: Share the causes you’re passionate about and why
4: Wear your values on your sleeve - talk about what you believe, what moves and motivates you
5: Be mindful of the user experience - stay reassuring and calm and talk your users through everything you're doing
How have other brands expressed this archetype?
In our work for the Salisbury Laser Clinic, it would have been easy to centre the branding and marketing on the research side of the clinic, which is both groundbreaking and fundamental to the work it does. We could also have simply promoted its cosmetic laser treatments by celebrating beauty and feeling good. But when we dug into archetypes in a brand workshop, the Caregiver archetype came through more strongly than any other.
What makes the clinic so special and unites the team is a desire to help and care for patients. We made sure the Caregiver archetype came through in the look and feel of the brand as well as the tone of voice and choice of language. This gave them a point of difference over other laser clinics and really resonated with their patients; helping to increase revenue by 30% without any additional marketing activity.
Not sure if your brand is a Caregiver?
Discover your unique archetypal blend and get custom brand guidelines that show you how to use it to connect with your customers in a one-on-one workshop.
Book an archetype workshop now
During this fun, relaxed 1-2-1 workshop, I'll help you discover your unique archetypal blend.
This will help you:
- See your brand in a new light and give you new stories to tell
- Know what makes you different from every other brand in your space
- Connect with customers emotionally and memorably
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Following the workshop, you'll get a custom brand guide to help you apply your archetype across your branding, with recommendations for:
- Brand voice - so you can communicate in a way that sounds like you
- Messaging and copy - big ideas and concepts customers will connect with
- Look and feel - with best-in-class examples to inspire you
It's only £299 and is suitable for all kinds of brands and businesses, because archetypes are a universal emotional language everyone understands.
Book an archetype workshop now
