Don’t get us wrong – we love Simon Sinek and the fact that he has brought the deep need of understanding the WHY to people and businesses alike. It is one of the most important things that we believe brands can unlock for more meaning and success.
What we also believe is that there is something that holds just as much value as understanding your why and that is understanding the who.
Who you are will closely determine why you do something.
Archetypes help us understand the WHO. Who we are and what our core motivation is will inform why we do it, it will even inform behaviors, values and how we show up as brands in the world.
Let’s take Starbucks as the example.
Starbucks as a who, as an Archetype, is an Explorer Brand. Explorer Brands exist to help you discover who you are. Hence their purpose is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”
The how in which they do is by being “the third place”. In other words, ‘we are not your home, we are not your office, but we are your third place to work out who you are and be who you want to be.’
This would be a very different message if Starbucks as a brand was a different Archetype, a different identity.
Because they know who they are and are unapologetically who they are, they are able to stay consistent to their messaging and therefore have grown into the global brand they are today.
There are many more examples from where that came from…
So – the why is important, we wholeheartedly believe that, but the who is just as important.
It is the beacon of your behavior, the foundation of your values, the compass of your strategy.
The sooner you find out who you are, the more efficient and consistent you can be as a brand.
And iconic, global brands are built on it.