Expertise archives: Brand metaphors

If you’re not familiar with the concept of “brand archetypes,” check out our earlier breakdown of the 20 brand archetypes. To help clarify what brand archetypes are all about, here are three examples with which you’re probably already familiar. HARLEY …

In an oversaturated marketplace, brands need the extra edge that comes from having their message and reality in alignment. When that alignment exists, when the promise made by the brand experience is fulfilled by the actual product or service, their …

Brand metaphors work best when the source is radically different from the target. When they’re too close, the viewer’s brain isn’t sure whether to handle the comparison literally or figuratively. A wide difference between the source and target also increases …

OWN (The Oprah Winfrey Network) discovered a brand metaphor in the name itself. Bigsmack, the company responsible for animating the network’s logo for on-air visuals wanted something substantial, and they eventually came to focus on the letter O. In addition to …

The deep brand metaphor is usually based on an abstract concept, which is then fleshed out and represented in a unique and interesting way. While these often don’t provide the same degree of evocativeness that other types do, they have …

Brand metaphors are sometimes confused with themes, which are more overt and direct. A brand metaphor is intended to serve as inspiration and provide an overall direction for the brand, where a theme is a direct emulation of specific look …

Brand metaphors require less mental processing and less resistance than explicit claims because they’re built upon existing knowledge. It’s like saying, “You know that one thing you love and trust already? This is like that.” It requires less cognitive processing …

A metaphor explains the unfamiliar (the target) in terms of the familiar (the source). They take the form “X is Y” (as opposed to “X is like Y”), even when the comparison isn’t actually that direct. We use metaphors all …