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Brand archetypes and other models: which model do you choose for your positioning?

Brand archetypes and other models: which model do you choose for your positioning?

There are many models for positioning a brand. Archetypes, the Golden Circle, a positioning canvas. Which model do you pick when, and for what? Positioning a brand starts with the right question, and with the right tool. There are quite a few models out there, and they don't all do the same thing. One helps you find your brand's personality, another your distinction from competitors. Whoever mixes them up ends up with a brand that never gets genuinely sharp anywhere. Here's how to choose. Brand archetypes: for your brand's personality The model of the twelve brand archetypes, based on the work of Jung and later Pearson and Mark, reduces a brand's personality to recognizable characters: the Hero, the Magician, the Caregiver, the Explorer, and so on. Each archetype carries its own motivation, tone, and behavior. You use archetypes when you want to determine how your brand feels and sounds. They give a shared language that lets everyone in the organization project the same personality, from marketing to sales. Important: an archetype doesn't replace your positioning, it brings it to life. And you're not required to stick to exactly one. A strong brand often combines a dominant archetype with a secondary one, as long as they reinforce rather than contradict each other. The Golden Circle: for your why Simon Sinek's model works from the inside out: why, how, what. It helps you find your brand's deeper reason, the purpose beyond the product. You reach for the Golden Circle when your brand knows what it does, but hasn't yet sharpened its inspiration. For tech companies, it's often exactly the right model, because they tend to communicate from their technology or product. The Golden Circle pulls them out of that and brings them back to their why: the reason they exist and the problem they want to solve. Strong for building a brand story, less suited to sharpening your distinction from competitors down to the wire. A positioning canvas: for your distinction Models such as the positioning canvas look at the market: what are the customer's alternatives, what makes you unique, what value does that deliver, and for whom does that value matter most. It forces you to choose a category and a target audience. You use this when the question is about differentiation, especially in a crowded or business market. It exposes where you're genuinely different, and prevents you from sinking into a story that's for everyone and therefore for no one. How to choose Start with your question. Want to know how your brand feels and sounds? Reach for archetypes. Looking for the inspiration and the story? Use the Golden Circle. Is it about distinction in the market? Choose a positioning canvas. In practice, you often combine them: first sharpen your distinction and your why, then the personality that carries it. The models aren't a goal, but a means to arrive at a brand that's coherent from the inside out and connects with your target audience.

August 6, 2026

Translating an international concept for the local market

Translating an international concept for the local market

A global brand concept is powerful, but it doesn't automatically fit everywhere. The trick is to resonate locally without letting go of the international brand line. Large brands often work with an international concept: one overarching creative line for all markets. That creates recognizability and consistency worldwide. But what lands well in one culture can feel flat or just off in another. The challenge is to make such a concept genuinely work locally, without throwing the global line overboard. Why one-to-one translation doesn't work Taking a concept over literally in another market often goes wrong. Humor, tone, imagery, and references are culturally determined. What's credible or on point in one country falls flat in another. A literal translation keeps the words, but loses the feeling. And it's exactly that feeling that makes a concept strong. Transcreation: rebuilding instead of translating In the industry, this is called transcreation. Where a translation converts the words, transcreation rebuilds the message so it evokes the same reaction in a different market. The strategic core of the concept, the idea and the emotion underneath, stays intact. But the way you deliver it is adapted to the local audience. A well-known idea behind this: human emotion is universal, but the cultural form of expression differs per market. You strike the same chord everywhere, but you do it in a way that fits there. Choose where you put the most attention Not every element needs to be adapted equally heavily. The trick is to determine which elements carry the brand voice and the emotional weight, and put the most creative energy exactly there. A tagline, the core message, the tone: those are the elements that genuinely need to land locally. That way you work in a targeted way, instead of remaking everything from scratch without thinking. Resonating locally takes local understanding You can only translate a concept well if you genuinely know the local market. What's on people's minds, what tone works, what keeps the audience up at night? That takes people who understand the culture from the inside, not a word-for-word translation from a distance. The best local translation doesn't feel like a translation, but like something conceived right there. The balance between consistency and relevance In the end, it comes down to balance. Hold on too tightly to the international concept, and it feels foreign. Let go too much, and you lose the recognizability and strength of the global brand. The trick sits exactly in between: consistent enough to stay recognizable, local enough to genuinely resonate.

August 3, 2026

Frequently asked questions

We are a strategic marketing and communications agency for complex markets: healthcare, pharma, healthtech, finance and other regulated sectors. We support organisations with strategy, concept development, content and campaigns always backed by deep sector knowledge and a clear understanding of the regulatory landscape that comes with it.

Pharmaceutical companies, tech companies, financial institutions, investment firms, and trade associations. Both large multinationals and mid-sized players, public and private.

We are intentionally a small agency, with a dedicated core team and a large, exclusive network of specialists. This means you always work with senior experts. Every project is different, and for each one we bring in the right specialists: trusted partners we know well and rely on. This allows us to deliver high quality and truly bespoke work for every assignment.

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We’ve been working in regulated sectors for years and know the people, the organisations and the dynamics. Where relevant, we leverage that network for our clients

English and Dutch. For campaigns with a broader rollout, we collaborate with certified translators and local professionals.