Are you a ‘Caregiver’ Brand? Find Out How to Express Your Personality

(If you missed our introduction to the 12 core brand archetypes, check it out here)

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 feed, 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.

Typical 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. Visit the site here: http://www.salisburylaserclinic.org.uk/

Not sure if your brand is a Caregiver? Don’t forget that your brand is probably a mix of two or three archetypes. We’re going to be exploring all of them over the next few weeks. So do please sign up on the right and we’ll be sure to keep you updated. Not just on Archetypes but other creative ways to bottle your brilliance and build your brand.