If you are looking to build a brand that your customers can trust and relate to, then an Everyman brand archetype is the right choice for you. Everyman brands are the down-to-earth, down-home brands that one can count on to provide you with quality products and services at a fair price.
Today, brand archetypes have become a huge part of a product’s branding strategy. Marketing managers need to adopt an archetypal approach to define what their brand stands for and what relationship it wants to formulate with its customers, in turn, providing them with a real sense of attachment. To read more about, what are the various brand archetypes and what various purposes they can serve for you as a business owner, read our blog post on ‘Brand Archetypes’ here.
This blog post is next in the series of the 12 brand archetypes based on Carl Jung’s personality framework. This post focuses on an archetypal personality that is the consumer favourite – The Everyman Archetype – what they are and how to apply them successfully in an Indian context.
Meet the Everyman Archetype
Does your brand appeal to the silent majority? Is your brand an advocate for ordinary joys? Does your brand give people a sense of identity and belongingness?
If the answer to the above questions is affirmative, the chances are that your brand falls under the category of the Everyman archetype.
Everyman brings solace to others because of their integrity, honesty, and work ethic. They are happy to work with and help others out since they believe that everyone should have the same rights and opportunities. For example, Levi’s provides blue jeans in various ranges, with people going through everyday experiences. The idea is to promote a sense of security and self-identity yet be able to acknowledge the expertise of everyone else at the table as their equal.
The desire to discreetly blend in and establish connections with people is a shared desire of every Everyman brand archetype. This archetype cultivates common, solid virtues and the ability to connect with people.
However, as we have mentioned for the other archetypes too, we all have our strengths and flaws.
Strengths
Particular virtues of the Everyman brand persona include realism, empathy, and a lack of pretence. An everyman archetype comprises open, honest people full of grit and empathy.
Watchouts
The Everyman brand archetype struggles to strike a balance between belonging and maintaining individuality. “Can I belong to this group, fit in, and still be myself?” is a constant concern for brands in this group.
How to apply the Everyman Branding Strategy?
The best way to apply the everyman branding strategy is to connect with consumers by creating products or services that address real problems, which make life easier and deliver high-quality experiences.
Here are the elements that an Everyman Branding Archetype will embody:
Colours
The everyman archetype brands use a particular colour palette which includes Blue, Red and Brown/Tan. A combination of these colours helps them to reflect on qualities such as comfort, passion, and trust all at once. The blue colour represents traits such as boldness, youth, passion, energy, heat, strength, desire, sensuality, intensity, and speed. Brown/Tan colours represents ruggedness, earthiness, outdoorsiness, longevity, dependability, comfort, strength, modesty, and independence.
Imagery
An everyman archetype voice comprises pleasant imagery, cooperative teams, and messages of acceptance. It is crucial to take care to depict actual people who are “just like you” and to embrace customers for who they are.
Brand Offering
Everyman brands go back to basics. They do not provide anything extravagant or lavish. Instead, they offer useful and practical goods that target satisfying a fundamental need and are appealing to a wide audience, for example, Ikea. They also work to build a straightforward brand image that portrays them as trustworthy and honest. Everyman brands often provide consumers with things that make them feel like they belong.
Brand Voice
When it comes to communication, the Everyman brands speak with a common voice. Their advertising is simple and to the point. Consider the “Das Auto” campaign of Volkswagen. To foster trust, they could frequently provide money-back guarantees and avoid outrageous assertions and anything that can startle or distress their audience.
The Everyman Archetype Industries and Categories
This archetype is well suited to businesses with a traditional organisational structure or those that produce items we use daily. In Everyman firms, casual workspaces and everyday environments are the norms.
The various industries and categories that relate to the everyman archetype are:
- Everyday Apparel
- Home/Family Life
- Automotive family segment
- Comfort food
The Everyman Archetype in Action: An Indian Case Study
AMUL
Amul is one of the major producers of milk-based products in India. Its major functions involve the collection of milk from farmers, procuring and processing and then marketing of milk and milk products. The brand is the best exemplar of the Everyman archetype. Before jumping in into the peculiarities, let us understand the major marketing traits of this brand.
Physical traits and Brand mascot
In terms of this element, Amul is identified with the “utterly, butterly” Amul girl, the butter, and the distinctive flavour of its milk products. Simple, non-distracting packaging makes sure that its brand appeal begins at the physical or visual stage.
Personality
The implications linked with Amul are that it is an entirely Indian product, traditional and innovative, straightforward yet honest – one that will never defraud the consumer and only take what is due. Amul’s associations also include being a fun-loving, patriotic Indian who also loves quality and adheres firmly to moral principles.
Culture
The associations with Amul’s culture suggest that there is a cooperative culture that places a strong focus on giving and being socially responsible. Amul connotes feelings of affection and concern for family members as well as strong respect and commitment to moral principles.
Relationship
Consumers’ perceptions of Amul’s reliability in this regard are based on their experiences with its products. As seen by the frequent use of Amul products, another quality connected to this characteristic is being sociable. Amul participates in consumers’ social lives.
All these traits have made Amul the largest farmer cooperative of milk and milk-based products in India. Being a farmer’s cooperative, Amul enjoys the virtue of presenting itself as an authentic, hardworking, and honest partner to the Indian population. It has been able to enjoy supremacy in the market by highlighting itself as a farmer-based cooperative that believes in its own qualifications yet acknowledges the expertise of the farmers. This way Amul has come out to be a brand that is happy to support and collaborate with others because of their belief that all people should have equal rights and opportunities.
Nirma
Another brand that is immediately recognised as a grassroots Indian brand with an everyman archetype is Nirma. Nirma took on powerful multinationals and rewrote the marketing rules to win the consumers in the country. With ad campaigns such as ‘Dher Sara Jhaag,’ and ‘Kam Keemat,’ the brand got the attention of women and embraced the idea of being comfortable with ‘who they are.’
It has historically been a “value for money” pillar. In addition, a slim distribution network, umbrella branding, and low-key media campaigns enabled the company to provide high-quality goods at competitive costs. The marketing campaign has been successful in portraying the brand as an affordable detergent option for every Indian household.
Is your Brand an Everyman Archetype?
It is not easy to understand if you are an everyman or any of the other archetypes. To make it simpler for you to distil, if you are ‘an everyman,’ here is a quick guide.
There are various aspects of the Everyman archetype that can emerge, based on the strength of various attributes. Which of these sub-archetypes resonates with you?
Everyman
Sincere, helpful, and genuine, the everyman wants to belong and have a good relationship with others.
Citizen
The citizen is a responsible member of society, believes in the collective whole and works for fairness and equality.
Advocate
This sub-archetype can motivate and inspire others to action while uniting people behind a cause.
Servant
Committed to helping others, this sub-archetype believes in empathy, awareness, and commitment.
Networker
The Networker creates communities and connections for the benefit of the whole.
If you fall into any of these categories, chances are you are an everyman brand archetype.
To finish with, here are a few other questions to get you going with your marketing efforts as an Everyman:
Are your accomplishments truly motivational?
Your customers would exhibit the utmost loyalty to you if you can somehow become more relatable and human.
Does your brand reflect your dedication to work?
Describe your rigorous labour. An everyman archetype customer is attracted by challenging work and is not wowed by easy success.
Do your consumers associate you with being “likeable”?
Use conversational language and keep it light. Just keep in mind to always be inclusive. This is where you can be cheerful, and straightforward, and give some colour to your logo. It is your key selling proposition.
It does not bother you to be labelled ‘boring’.
You are not dull just because you are knowledgeable, amiable, empathic, and warm. You become a good person as a result, and even better, a phenomenally successful
With a vibe this strong, it is difficult to go unnoticed. Let the ideal archetype lead you in uplifting your brand and connecting with your target audiences. Picking up the best archetype for you can be tough sometimes. To humanise your company holistically and achieve the level of consumer connection that all successful brands achieve, let professional branding experts help you.
