How did they know they were doing 8mph?
Did they follow them for an hour and measure 8miles?
Hiding around the bend with a hand-held laser speed gun, I imagine!
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I didn’t have time to read through everyone’s responses but just wanted to chime in that I don’t think the idea of brand archetypes should be dismissed. The Brings Myers personality types stuff has been crazy accurate for everyone I know that’s done one. I don’t see why the same sort of thing couldn’t be applied to brand personas. My question is do you start with the persona and work towards the archetype or do you develop a persona and then identify which archetype it most closely matches and use that as further creative inspiration.
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It should be completely dismissed.
It’s a codswallop.
I was watching ‘The Commuter’ last night with Liam Neeson, and the opening scene starts off with the woman on the train offering money to Liam Neeson to find the one type of person that shouldn’t be on the train.
Started saying about 16 personality types - and I instantly thought of this thread.
The article is more about fitting a logo/brand to a personality.
Than a personality fitting a logo/brand.
A bit like the horse before the cart.
I’d describe it as backward engineering.
Or simpler term
But what we’re looking at here is not how the logos fit an archetype but rather the brand.
There’s no way to discern or shoehorn a brand into a personality.
It’s easy with established brands.
Harley Davidson could easily be seen as ‘Journey’ rather than ‘Outlaw’.
But as an established brand one can easily associate it to motorbike ‘clubs’.
And why?
Husqvarna are known for motorcycles - but more recently lawnmowers.
Where do they fit in?
Hero? Everyman? Journey? Explorer?
I mean - shoehorning brands into 1 personality type is just silly.
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I only knew them as chainsaw makers. It’s all my Dad would use. 
That’s from the late 60’s until he bought his last one in the 80’s
No idea they made motorcycles too … or lawn mowers lol 
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The 16 Myers–Briggs personality categories tend to accurately categorize many people (not all) who take their tests. Even so, those categorizations are only accurate within the context of the questions asked in the Myers-Briggs tests. For example, when I’ve taken the Myers-Briggs tests, I’m consistently categorized as INTJ, and that category accurately reflects those aspects of my personality traits measured by their test questions.
However, what’s important to remember is that the tests only measure a small, pre-determined set of personality traits, not someone’s entire persona, which is vastly more complex. So, yes, within the context of the Myers-Briggs categories, I’m an INTJ, but that categorization fails to account for the majority of my personality traits that lie outside their system.
This limitation doesn’t make the test useless, but it does mean the categorizations are only relevant for those things the test questions measure. The test questions also require false binary answers, but that’s another issue.
Similarly, here are the 12 company brand categorizations mentioned in the article linked to by @Pluto.
On the surface, these categories are more or less accurate — just like Myers-Briggs. Harley Davidson accurately fits within the Outlaw category. Disney (or at least Disneyland) self-describes itself as the Magic Kingdom, so the Magician category seems accurate. The World Wildlife Fund can arguably lie within the Caregiver category.
However, Harley Davidson could just as easily fit within the Explorer category or a not-mentioned Belonging category. Disney would also work nicely within the Creator category or a non-listed Greed category. The World Wildlife Fund might fit better with the Hero category but would also fit within an Advocacy category that isn’t mentioned.
For that matter, if these companies took the Myers-Briggs test (if it were possible for companies to take tests), each would likely fit within one of the 16 Myers-Briggs categories. Likewise, people could be more or less accurately categorized within the 12 so-called brand archetype categories.
So again, the categorizations might seem accurate, but their accuracy is relevant only within the confines of the limited and pre-determined categories within each system.
Harley Davidson obviously fits within an outlaw category and Apple into a creator category, but that’s no more insightful or nuanced than placing a seven-year-old into a child category.
Another example is Yamaha. They make great motorcycles, musical instruments, audio equipment, electronics, and golfing equipment. Each of these companies’ diverse sub-brands has (or needs) a separate brand personality.
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I think you’re right in that this system of categorizing brands into 12 generic categories is an oversimplification of the brands personality.
That said, I do think you need to be able to encapsulate the personality of a brand in a format that can be passed off to other units within the business and easily understood and implemented consistently (like in the marketing efforts for instance) - obviously 1 word is not sufficient for this, but what do you think is?
I agree, but I think it depends on the audience.
Using Harley Davidson as an example, this web page sums up the company’s desired brand personality in the U.S. fairly well. Even so, it’s still necessary to experience the brand before the words resonate.
On the other hand, for many other people, Harley Davidson’s image is one of overweight, middle-aged clowns who dress up in silly outfits while pretending to be cool, even though they’re anything but that.
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For me - Harley Davidson is a journey/explorer/nomad. In the same category as Jeep etc.
It’s been a dream of mine to one day buy a Harley and travel the coast of Europe, down past Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Sevila, into Portugal, up past Lisbon, Porto, around the coast of France and then towards the Nordic countries.
I’d also love to take the Harley to the US and hit the open coast roads.
Some day.
But I don’t put Harley in the ‘outlaw’ personality. Not at all.
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