The Lover brand archetype: sensuality vs sexuality
Showcasing The Lover brand archetype & how it could be a good fit for your business
Introducing The Lover…
The Lover is the first in our series on Brand Archetypes for businesses. Last time we kicked off by introducing the power of brand archetypes (and if you’d like to check out the rest of the series or other areas, explore branding here).
We’ll be examining why they are so powerful and how you can harness them for maximum impact in your business.
Overall, The Lover archetype falls within the Social group, which we mentioned last time. Types in this group are characterised by their desire for attraction and intimacy.
At their heart, Lovers have a desire to connect and interact with others.
Correspondingly, Lover brands are powerful in their ability to fulfill your repressed or unsatisfied needs, answering those deep questions we have:
‘Am I likeable? Will people accept me? Can I still be myself?’
Here’s what we’ll be covering in our overview of The Lover archetype:
Could be a good fit for you if...
Types of brands that suit The Lover
Customers who like Lover brands
Signs of a strong Lover brand
The Lover done poorly
How does it differ from The Regular?
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1. Could be a good fit for you if...
If you are considering The Lover archetype for your business brand, it could well for you if the following are true:
Your ideal price point is medium to high-end
You want to differentiate your business from lower priced brands
You have an intimate company culture, rather than a heavy hierarchy
2. Types of brands that suit The Lover
Because of the innate desire or drive within the Lover archetype for attraction and intimacy, there are certain brands that find this archetype a particularly good fit.
Airlines, hotels & restaurants
Beauty and ambience matter to these types of hospitality and travel brands. They offer pleasurable experiences around food and travel through which the senses are heightened. A great fit for The Lover which is all about sensuality.
Fashion, cars & clothing brands
Automotive and apparel brands tend to focus on products that reveal our innate beauty and character. You can often see these most prominently in their advertising.
It’s worth noting that Lover brands don’t promise love, as such, but offer its possibility through embracing the process of change.
Spas & wellbeing brands
These brands again focus on sensual experiences that are perfect for The Lover archetype. They promise indulgent, healthy opportunities to get away with time focussed on arousing the senses through massage, essential oils & relaxation.
Please note, this list is not exhaustive and is more to give you a feel for how The Lover archetype can be expressed successfully.
The key to choosing The Lover archetype is to (a) examine your brand values and audience and then (b) compare that with the drivers and aspirations of The Lover archetype.
If there is a good match, then it is irrelevant what industry you are in - you should go for it!
3. Customers who like Lover brands
It’s worth remembering that The Lover brand archetype works both ways round - it resonates with individual customers who are searching for attraction and intimacy.
Equally, The Lover allows brands to connect more deeply with people who are looking to fulfill those higher order emotional needs, as well as express itself in sensual ways.
When going through a Brand Strategy process and identifying your ideal customers, The Lover archetype is perfect for individuals who:
Appreciate deeper connections with others, particularly those that contain a sensual element (again, it doesn’t necessarily have to be sexual)
Have a tendency to develop relationships with products or brands that make them feel special and loved (as an aside, this can include brands that excel at customer service or the customer journey)
Expect quality and particularly for deeper pleasure in life, although not just social status or to get ahead of others
4. Signs of a strong Lover brand
Brands that focus single-mindedly and consistently on The Lover have the potential to become extraordinary, given time to grow and put down deep roots into the archetype.
If there is one thing to look out for when identifying a brand that inhabits The Lover archetype well, it is the following.
A strong Lover brand is focussed on its customers’ passions and pampering, rather than specifically their sex or love life.
5. The Lover done poorly
Taking on a brand archetype is not a silver bullet for success.
Saying you are such-and-such an archetype doesn’t automatically drive profits.
It also doesn’t give you a free pass to skip the deep work that you need to do to clarify your brand in the internal phase of a Brand Strategy process.
It is also possible to corrupt a brand archetype - your greatest strength can become your greatest weakness.
In terms of The Lover archetype, when you misuse or stretch it too far, it can veer into the following:
Superficiality
Promiscuity
Obsession
Envy
This is the dark side of The Lover archetype, as it were, when it has been hollowed out and lost its magic.
As you can see, the strength of The Lover’s sensuality, is that it is not self-centred, but something to be shared.
6. How does it differ from The Regular?
You might wonder what the difference is between The Lover and The Regular Guy/Girl/Person, which is the other brand archetype in the Social group (alongside The Jester).
The key thing to remember here is that The Lover basically takes The Regular Guy/Girl/Person to the next level.
The Lover expresses the core ideals and straits of honesty, vulnerability and passion in a much deeper, more special and more rare way.
5. What’s coming up?
Over the following months, we’re going to be spotlighting each archetype and showing what it can look like in practice.
We’ll be continuing with The Hero which forms part of the Ego group (Wildings also sits here as The Magician archetype). The Hero represents individuals who are driven to make a difference and brands that make that possible.
This is our introduction to The Lover brand archetype, and we’d love to hear any of your thoughts or reflections. Do head over to the corresponding post on Instagram to join the conversation and share your opinion.
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