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Rating: 
Summary: If Joseph Campbell was a copywriter...
Review: ...he could not have written a more interesting treatise on the subject of branding. It is the single most interesting book on advertising that I have ever read.
(And I'm a bonafide nerd, folks...I've read plenty!)
Rating: 
Summary: WELL-WRITTEN, BUT COULD HAVE BEEN AN ARTICLE
Review: Behind every great brand is a great story. The authors explain, quite eloquently, how marketers can make their brands or products invincible by discovering the "soul" of their brands, and then expressing that soul in ways that tap into universal stories or "archetypes." It's the case studies (Nike, Ivory etc) that bloat this interesting but overdrawn idea into a book, but if you don't mind a used copy, I'd recommend this on a brand manager's desk.
Rating:
Summary: WELL-WRITTEN, BUT COULD HAVE BEEN AN ARTICLE
Review: Behind every great brand is a great story. The authors explain, quite eloquently, how marketers can make their brands or products invincible by discovering the "soul" of their brands, and then expressing that soul in ways that tap into universal stories or "archetypes." It's the case studies (Nike, Ivory etc) that bloat this interesting but overdrawn idea into a book, but if you don't mind a used copy, I'd recommend this on a brand manager's desk.
Rating:
Summary: Understanding brand power through archetypes
Review: For those marketers who have always had a secret predilection for using their intuition, who've harbored a belief in the hidden power of the right 'fit' in a message - The Hero and The Outlaw reads like a long, drawn-out ahhhhhhhh. Like scratching an itch. Like constant light bulbs going off in your brain, one after another. It drives to the central question behind all the 'buzz' about branding - in what exactly, and where exactly, resides the buried power of a brand? What is its hidden deep source? How come a brand 'pushes our buttons?' The simple, graceful and very fitting answers are given by Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson in their new book The Hero and The Outlaw - Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes. When a brand taps into one of their twelve major archetypes, and does so in a way that feels right and appropriate, then the brand 'works.' Consumers respond, a channel of understanding is opened, the message is received. The twelve archetypal categories which Pearson and Mark use for their analysis are: Creator, Caregiver, Ruler, Jester, Regular Guy/Gal, Lover, Hero, Outlaw, Magician, Innocent, Explorer, Sage. For instance: Williams-Sonoma is a 'creator' brand, and so is going to carry meaning and resonance for consumers who want to craft something new in their lives. Ivory Soap is the 'purest' example of the Innocent archetype. And if Nike is a Hero brand, you can be sure that the Harley-Davidson brand is an Outlaw archetype. While all the right brain, intuitive marketers are delighted to consider such a workable and insightful way of thinking about branding, rest assured, their more left brain associates have not been 'left' behind. In an wonderfully holistic way, the archetypal wisdom of Jungian author Carol Pearson is met, like yin with yang, in the rigor, testing and real world measurements of Margaret Mark during her 16-year career at Young & Rubicam's senior levels. Like a one-two punch, Pearson and Mark support intuition with quantitative reason, and round out data with connected imagination. I learned from this book. Advertisements look different to me now, and I can better perceive when a brand is being true to its self and effective in its message (and sometimes, I now know why). Pearson and Mark's idea that using archetypal patterns can be a more morally responsible way of branding, is a small but intriguing thought, offered almost parenthetically. Very few business books lead me to what feels like an 'epiphany.' (Tom Peters' Search for Excellence did when I first read it in 1989; so did Sally Helgesen's The Female Advantage in 1990, and Margaret Wheatley's Leadership and the New Science a few years ago.) To me, this book feels as though it contains the same sort of breakthrough thinking, but in terms of how to communicate, with power, in an information-saturated world. I highly recommend it. [475 words] Cathy Brillson ...the idea farmer ideafarm@rcnchicago.com
Rating:
Summary: Mythic Marketing
Review: Lord of the Rings. That was the first thing I thought of when I read the synopsis about The Hero and the Outlaw. I was somewhat doubtful about their premise, I must admit. Archetypes are powerful and they sell, undoubtedly, but that's for books and movies. But marketing? Yet, books and movies are marketed and sometimes quite successfully. Steven King. Tom Clancy. Star Wars. So, perhaps interweaving some of Jung's ideas and marketing is not such a bad idea, after all. When I combined these very ancient concepts with some of the more modern strategies suggested in Michael levine's Guerrilla pR: Wired, I did see an impact. Perhaps, despite claims to the contrary, we should not look to the future for marketing success, but to the past, for ideas that have a proven track record as ageless and as timeless as our dreams.
Rating:
Summary: Mythic Marketing
Review: Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson have wrote a book combining archetypal, mythic figures with modern day marketing. There are many time-tested concepts behind the consumer products we buy and use everyday. At times, we may feel a connection to a product because it's association has been in our archetypal consciousness for many years. One criticism I have is the book gets into a little too much detail about specific projects and study methods. This happens when the authors talk about clients they have worked with. I don't mean the book is one long advertisement for their marketing consultant services, it is not. You might appreciate how they relate a core group group of archetypes and how they relate to contemporary consumers. Such as Outlaw, Hero, etc. I found myself comparing these with what is generally called "demographics" and looking for possible fits, depending on the product or services sold. What I very much appreciate is their mention of those who "manage meaning" have a responsibility to act ethically and think through their advertising and marketing campaigns. Having worked in consumer products and now in advertising, I know this is often not the case. You'll get a lot out of this read.
Rating:
Summary: A Missing Link in Marketing and Brand Strategy
Review: This book marries one of the most fundamental elements of psychology to market positioning and brand strategy. Using the Jungian archetypes, the authors simplify the development of solid brands. They are replete with wonderful illustrative examples. Since the archetypes are subconscious, it has been difficult for us as marketers to understand how they operate in brand development and giving meaning to brands. The authors offer a very simple method to analyze the brand's archetype and where it fits within the competitive product category.
Even if you are not a marketing person, you will enjoy reading the archetypes, trying to figure out what most appeals to you personally - and no surprise those are usually your favorite brands.
Well written and calls upon many ancient and modern authors who understand how people behave and why.
Rating:
Summary: Marketing to the subconscious
Review: This is the the future of marketing: Less emphasis on numbers, focus group, statistics; more on appealing to customers emotionally. This book shows how universal stories can be used to appeal to customers, even though neither the customers nor the businesses may be consciously aware of it. I would recommend this book not only to marketing professionals, but to anyone who would like to know him/herself better.
Rating:
Summary: Marketing to the subconscious
Review: This is the the future of marketing: Less emphasis on numbers, focus group, statistics; more on appealing to customers emotionally. This book shows how universal stories can be used to appeal to customers, even though neither the customers nor the businesses may be consciously aware of it. I would recommend this book not only to marketing professionals, but to anyone who would like to know him/herself better.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful!
Review: When you think of Apple Computer, does the image of "The Rebel" come to mind? If authors Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson are right, these archetypes should spring to your mind as part of the identification of these brands. The authors assert that people think in a certain subliminal way about companies based on the characteristics of archetypal personalities. Your company, they say, should define the archetype that fits its culture (is your firm an "Explorer" or an "Innocent?") and consistently brand its products accordingly. While they quote people seldom seen in business books "Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell "they insist that their ideas are practical and profitable. If you are an executive who wonders what to do to make your brand stand out, we at recommend this book to you.
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