"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer" – What Brands Can Learn From The Godfather

Whether you love, hate, or are entirely ambivalent to them — (almost) everyone’s heard of Brand Archetypes.

They help brands feel more relatable, but we wanted a model that worked harder. One that was less ‘cookie cutter’ and helped us connect with consumers in a more targeted way. To help us clearly define a brand’s point of view.

Enter stage left: Brand Enemies.

We’ve spoken before about how flawed characters drive attention. Enemies help us create more authentic, distinctive brands by basing them on an emotional challenge people face in a particular product category.

Taking inspiration from storytelling greats in books, films and theatre, we’ve created 9 enemy archetypes that elevate brands beyond product by taking a stance against something specific.

You can’t fight multiple enemies at once — so it forces you to be single-minded.

Some examples:

• The Machine wants people to feel overlooked, left out, or underestimated: the perfect brand enemy for the likes of Nike who empower everyone to ‘just do it’
• The Killjoy is lifeless and bland: the brand enemy of unapologetically fabulous Fabulosa who turn cleaning jobs into joys

Brand enemies help us build brands that share the beliefs of our consumers. Acknowledging whatever they dislike about the category. Not everyone will agree, but those who do will help you build brand love.

Take a look at our Brand Enemies below — and let us know who your brand is taking a stand against.

Interested in defining your own brand enemy and using it to grow your brand? 

Get in touch to learn more about our Brand Enemies workshop.