THE CREATOR
IF IT CAN BE IMAGINED, IT CAN BE CREATED
The Creator seeks to express their unique perspective and expansive imagination to the world and to see their visions come to fruition. They are motivated by a desire to inspire others and to pave the way for innovation. They use their originality and expansive imagination to problem solve.
This archetype is also called the Artist, Architect, Dreamer, Innovator, Inventor, Musician, Prophet, Entrepreneur, Dreamer, Visionary, or Writer.
The 12 Brand Archetypes were developed by Carol Pearson and Margaret Mark as mental shortcuts designed to help creatives quickly understand the personality of an organization. This allows for more efficient and effective marketing efforts.
Creator Marketing Opportunity




The Creator identity may be right for your brand:
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If your product’s function encourages self-expression, provides the customer with choices and options, helps foster innovation, or is artistic in design
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In a creative field, like marketing, public relations, the arts, technological innovation (such as software development)
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When you are seeking to differentiate it from a brand that “does it all” for the customer, leaving little room for choice
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When a do-it-yourself element saves the customer money
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If your customers have enough discretionary time for creativity to flourish
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If your organization has a Creator culture
MARKETING APPROACH | A desire to differentiate themselves from others through their unique ideas
TONE | Descriptive, Expressive, Insightful, Inventive, Pioneering, and Unconventional
VALUE PROPOSITION | Helps people craft something new
CUSTOMER FEAR | Financial ruin, ill health, uncontrolled chaos
Creator Mindset




GOAL | To create and execute original, meaningful, and enduring visions, while also inspiring creativity in others
STRATEGY | Using innovation and imagination to promote freedom of expression
MOTIVATION | Stability & Control
CALL | Daydreams, fantasies, flashes of inspiration
CORE DESIRE | Create something of enduring value
GIFT | Creativity and imagination
CHAMPIONS | Craftsmanship, Creativity, Imagination, Innovation, Inspiration, Perfection, Stability, and Uniqueness
SUPER POWERS | An expansive imagination that allows them to transform their visions into reality; masters of their craft
SHADOW | Overly dramatizing your life, living a soap opera
TRAP | Perfectionism can cause them to spend an excessive amount of time on one particular task
FEARS | Having a mediocre vision or execution
TURN-OFFS | Fundamentalists, Mediocrity, and Tradition
LEVELS OF THE CREATOR
LEVEL 1 Being creative or innovative in imitative ways
LEVEL 2 Giving form to your own vision
LEVEL 3 Creating structures that influence culture and society
The 12 Brand Archetypes
So what is a ‘Brand Strategy’?
SOURCES
Mark, Margaret, Pearson, Carol, (2001). The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes Hardcover - (Amazon Affiliate Link) pages 15, 53-262
The authors developed the 12 Brand Archetypes as a tool for marketing in 1995 and explained their methodology and ideas in their seminal book. Some of the content on this page are ideas cited directly to maintain correctness and some have been paraphrased where possible.