Archai

Brand meaning can be companies' most differentiating and irreplaceable asset. Yet the great irony of modern marketing is that the development, identification and management of meaning has been a casual and careless process. At Archai, we have developed numerous approaches and tools that have proven to dramatically advance clients' ability to recognize, express, protect and nurture brand meaning.

Based on our proprietary system of Archetypal Branding, as laid out in the landmark work, The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands through the Power of Archetypes (Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson, McGraw Hill) Archai works with clients to identify and activate the Archetypal power of their brands. This results in brands and business that transcend demographic and cultural differences, resonating around the globe and over time.

Archai conducts customized Workshops for clients and individuals interested in experiencing the fundamentals of our Archetypal model and exploring the potential of Archetypes for their brands, businesses and organizational cultures. For those who have worked with us on Branding projects, or who feel they have independently arrived at their potential Archetype, Archai offers Archetype Immersions that create a hands-on experience in the depth and breadth of one Archetype, so that participants can internalize the energy and concept of the driving Archetype and as a result, better live the concept and deliver it their day to day work and decision-making.

This is a proprietary research concept that enables us to explore alternative Archetypes for a given brand by examining how different, category-relevant visual and verbal expressions of each Archetype connects with key audiences…in terms of both brand relevance and personal relevance. An usual combination of the insight typical of qualitative research and the systematic values of more quantitative methods, this approach provides a surprisingly structured way of exploring nuance, subtlety and meaning.

Brand and category-sensitive instruments are developed to explore how key constituents—e.g., brand managers around the globe or consumers in any location—relate to the client's brand and those of key competitors on critical Archetypal dimensions. Typically conducted on-line, these surveys provide deep insight into the Archetypal nature of the brand landscape, while at the same time, allowing for broad samples, sub-brand and multivariate analyses.

Having identified their Brand Archetype, clients often benefit from a repository of language, imagery and rich multi-sensory examples that bring the Archetype to life in a way that is relevant to their brand and inspiring for all of the stewards who will express it from a product, positioning and promotion standpoint.

Archai draws upon extraordinarily talented creative partners who are steeped in the richness of Archetypal Branding, and who are able to bring Archetypal energies to life in brand concepts, advertising campaigns, Web-based communication, social marketing programs, internal videos and other forms of communication.

Archai helps clients explore and understand both active and dormant energies within their culture, filtering these through the Archetypal lens for optimal interpretive power.

Holistic explorations of corporate Archetypes examine how energies driving the internal culture correspond—or conflict—with the Archetypal nature of the corporation's external meaning, revealing adjustments that need to be made in order to provide a more cohesive and coherent identity and sense of shared meaning for all stakeholders.

Archai provides organizational mapping of multiple corporate cultures, along Archetypal lines, in combination with insight about the external Archetypal meanings of the relevant corporate brands, in order to reveal a complete picture of areas of compatibility, dissonance and meaningful points of intersection.

Where a brand or message is experienced can influence reaction to the content as well as the provider. Using our proprietary Archetypal model, Archai explores the Archetypal fit of alternative media, formats, platforms and specific contexts in order to identify opportunities for a "multiplier effect" in product and media placement.