Brand Archetype Series: The Magician
Mar 16, 2024When it comes to building a business that you love showing up in each day and that naturally attracts your soulmate clients, understanding brand archetypes can be incredibly helpful.
The twelve archetypes, first introduced by psychologist Carl Jung, provide a framework for understanding the different personalities that brands can adopt to build faster connection and trust with their audiences.
Using archetypes in branding goes far beyond the surface. By adopting a specific archetype, you’re inviting your audience into a story where they can see themselves; and showing them the role you’ll play in their journey – will you be the supportive and nurturing Caregiver, the adventurous Explorer, or the awe-inspiring Magician?
This narrative approach to branding taps into universal truths, stories we’re all familiar with, and emotions everyone understands, making your message so much more relatable and memorable.
When you align your brand with an archetype, you’re essentially creating a living, breathing entity that speaks directly to the heart of your audience. And in today’s busier-than-ever online world, having a brand that feels like a friend or role model can make all the difference in grabbing your audience’s attention
For an overview of all 12 archetypes, check out this blog post. Otherwise, keep reading to discover more about the Magician.
What is the Magician Brand Archetype?
The Magician archetype, also known as the Alchemist, Visionary, Shaman, or Catalyst, is all about transformation, imagination, and the belief that anything is possible with the right knowledge or skills.
Brands that embody the Magician archetype aim to inspire wonder and awe, offering solutions that transform customers' lives in meaningful ways. They're seen as visionary, often at the cutting edge of innovation and change, providing products, services, or experiences that transcend ordinary limitations.
By leveraging this archetype, brands can create a compelling narrative that attracts those looking for change and transformation in their lives.
The Magician’s personality is clever, imaginative, passionate, and influential. They are usually not insecure, careless, pessimistic or closed minded.
The Magician’s core desire is to know the fundamental laws of the world and how the universe works. They are also motivated by achieving the impossible, social or institutional transformation or healing, and self-improvement. They make this happen by taking action and using their powers for good.
They value science and spirituality, innovation, interconnectedness, synchronicity, making dreams come true, and the power of intention.
Their strengths include trusting intuition, creating win-win situations, transforming dreams into reality, and deeply understanding human consciousness. However, their weaknesses include the potential to become manipulative or disconnected from reality.
No matter what, the Magician does not tolerate carelessness, being stuck in your ways, naysayers, poor quality, small thinking, or being untrusting.
The Magician Archetype in Branding
Through their brand, the Magician promises to make dreams come true.
They make their clients and audience feel inspired to dream bigger and empowered to manifest those dreams into reality, which is exactly why the Magician is so loved!
They achieve this through a unique brand voice that is ethereal, expressive, articulate, and thought-provoking. Their voice inspires their audience to tap into their potential, see a bigger picture, and find flow.
This voice includes brand messaging such as phrases like, “trust your intuition,” “change starts from within,” and “trust the universe.” She may also use words like, “alchemy,” “flow,” “catalyst,” “believe,” “transform” and “transcendent.”
The Magician’s brand visuals are typically free-flowing, expansive and magical, communicating feelings of mystery, miracles, possibility and transformation. Common colors are blue, purple, or silver; however the Magician can be expressed through a variety of colors which should ultimately be chosen with color psychology in mind.
Images portray related themes, activities, and motifs, such as owls, crystals, sage, galaxies, and sparkle. Below is an example of a Magician brand moodboard from our Magician Brand Bundle, so you can get a feel for the visuals.
In practice, you’ll find Magician brands creating transformative experiences, leading the way with cutting edge programs, products and services and empowering their communities and clients to achieve the impossible.
Magician Brand Examples
Disney
Step into any Disney theme park and you’re immediately transported into a world where imagination comes to life, magic is tangible, and every corner is filled with wonder and possibility.
In addition, Disney stories often involve magic or fantasy elements. Think of Cinderella's fairy godmother transforming her rags into a beautiful gown, or the magical abilities of characters like Elsa in Frozen. This theme of transformation is a key aspect of the Magician archetype.
Make a Wish Foundation
Just like a magician who has the power to make dreams come true, the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with critical illnesses. These wishes can range from meeting a favorite celebrity to visiting a Disney theme park to becoming a superhero for a day. In this sense, the foundation acts as a powerful force that can transform a child's life and bring their dreams to reality.
The way Make-A-Wish operates often involves an element of mystery and surprise. Just like a magician's tricks are often shrouded in mystery until the reveal, the foundation plans and executes these wishes with care and secrecy, adding to the magic of the experience for the children involved.
Alchemy Face Bar
Step into this beautiful spa or take one look at their website and you’ll immediately feel the magic behind this brand.
From their use of words like “alchemy”, “magic”, “ritual” “luminous” and “spirit”, to their ethereal, shimmery and free-flowing imagery, Alchemy Facebar makes caring for your skin a healing and transformative experience.
Magician Pop Culture Examples
Oprah Winfrey
Using her influence for the greater good and her platform to inspire her audience to believe in their own power to transform their lives, Oprah is a shining example of the Magician archetype (with a sprinkle of Sage archetype too).
From her “aha moments”, to her favorite things (you get a car, you get a car and YOU get a car!) to her magical ability to turn a book into a bestseller, to her awe-inspiring story of personal transformation, Oprah has been sprinkling the world with magic for decades.
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs was a visionary leader who transformed industries with innovative products like the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. He had a knack for anticipating what consumers wanted before they even knew they wanted it, much like a magician who surprises and delights with their creations.
Magicians are masters of transformation, and Jobs transformed multiple industries with Apple's products. The iPod revolutionized the music industry, the iPhone transformed the smartphone market, and the iPad created a new category of tablets. Jobs' ability to disrupt and reshape entire industries is a hallmark of the Magician archetype.
Maleficent
Maleficent embodies the Magician archetype through her powerful magic, transformative journey, mastery over nature, wisdom and knowledge, complexity and depth, emotional healing and growth, and symbolism of fear and power.
Maleficent's character undergoes a physical transformation in the film. Originally depicted as a villain in Disney's "Sleeping Beauty," the movie “Maleficent” explores her backstory, showing her transformation from a fairy filled with love and light to a vengeful, dark sorceress after a betrayal. This transformation reflects the archetype's theme of metamorphosis and change.
Cirque Du Soleil
From gravity-defying acrobatics, to enchanting set designs, to innovative lighting and sound effects, Cirque du Soleil has been WOWING audiences across the globe since 1984. The Magician archetype is all about achieving the impossible and there's nothing that demonstrates this better than performers gracefully executing extraordinary stunts as audiences sit amazed at the edge of their seats.
Although Cirque du Soleil leads with the Magician archetype, it's also influenced two other archetypes. If you've ever been to a show, you might be able to guess ... the Jester and Creator!
Check out The Rest of This Series
Find Your Brand Archetype
Recognizing your archetype is just the beginning. From there, it’s important to integrate it into every facet of your brand, your messaging, and your visuals in a way that resonates with those you aim to serve.
If you're ready to dive deeper and uncover the archetype that reflects YOUR brand's personality, I invite you to take my brand personality quiz today. Discover which archetype aligns with your brand's essence and how you can leverage this understanding to craft a brand that stands out and speaks directly to the hearts of your audience.
Don't stop here, though. I’m here to support you in creating a purposeful, archetypal brand that makes money AND makes a difference. Explore how we can work together here.
