The call to adventure; a short guide to the Explorer archetype

The desire to explore and put curiosity into action is one of the traits that have shaped our civilization. It's a mindset that pushes us to discover and get to know this universe better. It’s this call for adventure that led us to traverse oceans, map continents, pursue scientific inquiry into unchartered territories, and venture into space. It connects us as a global community, breaking down barriers and fostering understanding between people from different places. This call to adventure is universal; but, it’s more deeply ingrained in some people, leading it to be considered a personality archetype in Jungian psychology. Called ‘the Explorer’, we use this archetype in storytelling for businesses. 

The Explorer archetype embodies the spirit of adventure, curiosity, and a thirst for the unknown. It resonates with businesses and people who are eager to discover new horizons, both externally and internally. The Explorer seeks personal growth, freedom, and authentic experiences beyond the ordinary. The Explorer is one of the twelve archetypes of the universally recognized patterns of the human psyche as theorized by Carl Jung—the Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology. We use them for commercial story design. We created a more detailed guide to understand archetypes; it’s recommended as a supporting read to understand why Jungian archetypes provide a great framework to typify business personas.

In this short guide focusing on the Explorer archetype, we cover:

• Explorer businesses

• The Explorer in stories

• Why many businesses relate to the Explorer right now

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Explorer businesses

From our work, we’ve seen certain types of businesses that naturally lend themselves to the Explorer archetype. Businesses in travel, adventure, historical and cultural tourism—like tour operators, museums, heritage locations, and adventure experience companies—are a natural fit for the Explorer archetype. They cater to customers seeking new experiences and the thrill of travel, inviting audiences to explore the richness of the natural world, history, and human heritages. Another closely related business sector is outdoor and sporting gear and wear. With their offer of apparel or equipment giving solutions to outdoor enthusiasts and adventurers, these companies also embody the spirit of adventure and exploration with ease.

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But, the explorer goes beyond these mentioned natural fits. If your business values freedom, authenticity, and adventure, it can successfully project the Explorer archetype in stories and identity. We use a Brand Articulation Framework to identify your business persona, with archetypes being one of the major tools we use.

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Exploration and adventure is an idea that transcends traversing the physical world; it applies to ideas and thinking too. We’ve seen a fair share of businesses that involve scientific, tech or innovation to embody the Explorer archetype in terms of uncovering new possibilities, pushing boundaries, and encouraging curiosity. Other natural projectors of the Explorer archetype are, environmental and conservation organizations dedicated to exploring and protecting the natural world, culinary businesses—such as food tour companies or restaurants offering a variety of international cuisines catering to food explorers seeking authentic taste experiences and travelling retail and pop-up shops including concept stores with a sense of wonder, enticing customers to follow or explore something beyond the ordinary.

1904, The ruined cities of Ceylon. Cave, Henry. Hutchinson & co., London. See the Explorer postcard pairing and story we created from this using PD rights.

The Explorer in stories

When we work with clients that have a prominent Explorer archetype, we often create stories that revolve around adventure, self-discovery, and the quest for the unknown. 

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The classic story arc of adventure where a protagonist embarks on a quest, gains an extraordinary experience, and returns transformed—whether it's a guest experiencing a resort, a yoga retreat, or a dish or beverage that transports them—are great stories for Explorer businesses. For many of our Explorer clients in adventure travel or recreation, we create stories that focus on explorers venturing into uncharted territories; like jungle trails, surf expeditions, lesser-known histories, or navigating major changes through symbolic journeys. 

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When we work with clients who are healers, fitness gurus, or yogis, Explorer narratives centered on an individual's inner journey of self-discovery and personal growth leaving one's comfort zone to explore new aspects of themselves, become particularly useful. Narratives involving journeys through time to explore different past eras or learn about historical figures are particularly effective for Explorer brands that connect to historical locations, resorts and holiday homes.

When we work with artists, musicians, or design studios that embody the Explorer in their brand persona, we often make stories that share their creative processes, staying true to themselves, and seeking inspiration. There are many story arcs and narratives that resonate with the Explorer archetype by capturing curiosity, adventure, and the pursuit of new horizons—whether external, internal or symbolic. They often inspire audiences to embrace their journeys of exploration and growth.

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It’s interesting to create stories that speak to the Explorer archetype in the audience too; we once created a series of written and visual stories for a merchandise collection designed specifically to help travellers take back the memories of the places they experienced in Sri Lanka; see this collection in our client’s store, and read this story about how we created the city story series. Another time, we created a story series as a series of postcards that considered the traveller audience of a hospitality business with a dominant Explorer archetype.

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Why many businesses relate to the Explorer right now

In our work, the Explorer is one of the most popular archetypes that we encounter among businesses. The Explorer has always held the fascination of the collective psyche; the volumes of pop culture and media, films, books, television shows, and documentaries with exploratory themes, adventure, and self-discovery through the ages tell us that the Explorer has been a beloved facet of the human mind for a very long time. 

However, after 2022, there’s a notable and significant resonance with this archetype among businesses—particularly, new ones. We think this Explorer archetype's relevance in the general business mindset has much to do with the start-up culture and entrepreneurial mindset of the time. Most decision-makers, particularly entrepreneurs, are Explorers themselves. It’s natural for business founders’ and custodians' personalities to influence the brand, allowing their desire for personal growth, fascination with diverse cultures, and a longing for adventure and discovery to seep into the business persona as well. There is also a renewed interest in travel and a desire to explore beyond one's immediate surroundings in contemporary culture; particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic which prompted reflection on the importance of rich life experiences. Societal shifts toward embracing diversity and inclusivity encourage people to explore and appreciate different cultures while growing awareness of climate change and environmental issues prompting exploration and appreciation of our planet, and the rise of remote work and digital nomadism have also contributed to the rising popularity of the Explorer.

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Our most frequent Explorer brand clients are in hospitality, food and beverages, health and mental well-being, and the creative industry. When we create stories for them, we make sure we bring out the traits that highlight their sense of adventure, resourcefulness and ability to stay authentic despite shifts in time and place. See how we helped a resort with an Explorer identity communicate how they stayed true to their offer during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis; this was a story designed to show how an Explorer persona used its superpower to stay true to self in the thick of changes within a seriously challenging context where the government had imposed strict import restrictions leading to ingredient limitations for their eclectic menu based on recipes around the world. To find out how we can tell your Explorer stories, get in touch.

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Why creatives should travel and forget about vacations

Years ago, I went on a vacation to recover from a stressful work period. It was a nice hotel close to a national park, and I had hoped being ‘somewhere nice’ would make me feel better. But in the hotel, I only felt the same urge I felt in the city, only stronger—which was to escape. I remember ditching barbecue plans with friends to go into the jungle, where I finally found what I needed. Walking into the jungle was like entering a sphere of tingling instinct. It was a world of supreme and honest danger. I needed the danger of the jungle because my mind was numb from the normalcy. And I needed a world that raged with life and reminded me of death being possible any minute. And in a way, I did die that evening in the jungle; because I returned as a new person. For the first time in a long time, I had actually travelled. This was probably the beginning of my now firmly-rooted aversion to vacations, and a growing reverence for real travel. 

Just like TV is boring if it just presents a cheap reproduction of life, vacations are dull if they’re just extravagant versions of the everyday. Vacations do little for the creative mind. But travel, on the other hand—that is, real travel into new experiences—challenges you and makes you new, doing wonders to your creative capacity.

When I say vacation, I mean those extravagant renditions of life, where you simply go somewhere else to do what you do every day (eat, drink, chat, scroll aimlessly, pee, poop, stare, scroll some more, sit, sleep); it’s your normal life, except with a giant price tag, obligatory pictures and different scenery. When an experience mimics everyday life, no matter how extravagantly, it’s just an embellished version of the mundane. I think we should question if the point of taking time off is to do the same things at a different location, in more beautiful or interesting surroundings. Doesn't travel have potential to do so much more than just jolt the same neuropaths? 

I find real travel is when you go somewhere that shakes you out of your everyday narrative. This kind of travel makes you a new person. It effortlessly chips away at your old selves that have grown irrelevant and in that process, you adopt new selves that are far more interesting, useful, and most definitely, good for your creativity. 

The best thing about real travel is that it’s way more accessible than a vacation; because it doesn’t necessarily involve resort bills or faraway journeys. Travel is accessible in our own backyard, in the next town, down the back alley, in the woods, on the beach, across the country or just across the neighbourhood—as long as it offers you a different story, there’s potential to travel there. 

Discovering the story of a place is not as easy as picking up a book and reading, or watching a documentary about it. You have to find it. You have to wait for it. You have to feel it in its people, nature, buildings, patterns, sounds, and most importantly, in its silences.

When you travel, you find stories in places. The language of place-stories is layered. Discovering the story of a place is not as easy as picking up a book and reading, or watching a documentary about it. You have to find it. You have to wait for it. To understand its story, you have to see a place unfold as you watch its people wake up and go about making their morning. You have to pick it up through bits and pieces in conversations overheard on the street. You have to catch it in the nostalgia of someone who was born in that place, but had to leave. You have to dig it out of someone who hated it. You have to taste it in a tea shop frequented by its street labourers. You have to feel it seeping in through your pores while sitting alone at dusk, in its oldest quarter. You have to hear it in its silence.

For minds that need to be creative on demand, as professionals, on a regular basis, this kind of travel gives access to the reservoirs of newness that we need. I find real travel experiences help me improvise, think beyond the echo chamber, and most importantly, to be open to stories that are not my own.

“Travel and tell no one, live a true love story and tell no one, live happily and tell no one, people ruin beautiful things.” 

– Kahlil Gibran

I leave you with this quote by Khalil Gibran, whose genius accurately penned the dilemma of today’s wanderlust epidemic about a century ago. I find this quote says everything about how travel should be a treasured experience that feeds our inner reservoirs.

To see how we translate travel experiences into stories, check this set of stories we made for the Colombo retailer Urban Island and these mini-stories on our former hometown Bambalapitiya.

Strong enough to hold them all; analyzing the Caregiver

One of the most frequently met archetypes in our work is the Caregiver. It leads to characters and brands that can inspire trust and loyalty in the audience. There is a fascinating duality to this archetype typified by its capacity to care. Whenever those under its care are threatened, from the same warm core that holds its kindness, rises a relentless protector.

In this short report, we cover:

• Caregiver brands

• The Caregiver in stories

• Understanding the archetype

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Caregiver brands

The Caregiver archetype resonates well with businesses that prioritize its nurturing and caring qualities. Healthcare and wellness industry brands looking to emphasize how they focus on the well-being and care of their patients or customers are easily linked to the Caregiver. We’ve also noticed brands that offer personal care products, like skincare, body care, or beauty products, naturally gravitate toward the Caregiver archetype.

With the Caregiver archetype closely associated with the nurturing and guidance of children, brands in childcare, and education also take to this archetype. Agriculture is another industry that fits seamlessly with the Caregiver archetype. Organizations focused on social services, environmental protection, humanitarian aid, or non-profit initiatives also embody the Caregiver archetype often enough. These brands can emphasize their commitment to making a positive impact on nature, individuals or communities, promoting compassion, and addressing social and environmental needs. Businesses in the pet care industry or those dedicated to animal welfare can embody this archetype for their brands by focusing on the safety, health, and happiness of animals as well. We’ve encountered the Caregiver archetype most often through the hospitality and service industry. Brands in hotels, resorts, restaurants, or travel experience-oriented businesses can emphasize how they take care of their guests creating safe, welcoming and comforting experiences; it’s a perfect fit. This doesn’t mean that a motorcycle manufacturer, for example, cannot be a Caregiver brand. It all boils down to what the business values and aims to bring into this world.

If caring for this world is how you approach your mission, there is a Caregiver in your brand. We use a Brand Articulation Framework to figure this out.

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When we work with Caregiver brands, we help them emulate the archetype through what they really do out there as a business—real stories of how the business is affecting communities or places, how processes and raw materials are handled with care, and how a place is loved and cared for.

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The Caregiver in stories

A caregiver brand would focus on telling stories that highlight its nurturing qualities. Themes like healing and growth are natural arcs for the Caregiver. Wherever it’s available, we try to draw out stories where businesses contribute to bettering and developing an individual, like a staff member or a sponsored talent, or their community at large. Stories of discovering one's own inner resilience and becoming a strength to others, or inspiring others to lean on their own are also great story narratives for Caregiver brands, showing how they walk their talk in a very authentic sense. Caregiver brands can also focus on stories that involve mentorship and guidance, imparting wisdom, knowledge, and lessons to others; these stories help them establish themselves as pastoral figures who play an active role in consumers’ personal and collective growth. A story theme that we always stress on Caregiver brands to incorporate are those demonstrating how they preserve, contribute or grow; without these stories that evidence the real work of the Caregiver, businesses may come across as disingenuous. We encourage and help our Caregiver clients to tell these stories authentically, sharing the outcomes of their work. In our experience, such stories reinforce Caregiver brands.

Like all archetypes, the Caregiver also has its shadow which is controlling, suffocating and hovering over, preventing the independent development of those under its care. In brand storytelling, we don’t usually bring in these negative aspects of archetypes for obvious reasons; but in our creative work for the Public Works monthly stories subscription, we sometimes delve into the shadow and different Caregiver perspectives like this story of a young woman finding comfort in a place.

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If your business takes pride in how its consumers are well taken care of, how its work changes the world for the better or how it builds a place where others can find refuge, the Caregiver resonates with your story. To find out how to tell the story of your Caregiver brand to build a deeper connection with your audience, get in touch with us.

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Understanding the archetype

The archetypes we use to model brand personas are from the works of Carl Jung—the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst known as the father of analytical psychology for his work on the collective unconscious and individuation. The Caregiver archetype is one of the first archetypes described by Jung. The Caregiver archetype represents the nurturing and caring parental aspect of the human psyche. It embodies the qualities of compassion, kindness, selflessness, and a desire to support and care for others and alleviate their suffering.

According to Jung, archetypes are universal, primordial patterns or images that are inherent in the collective unconscious of all humans. They are innate and play a significant role in shaping our thoughts, behaviours, and interactions with the world. Archetypes manifest in various forms, such as myths, symbols, and recurring patterns in human experiences.

The Caregiver archetype is seen in characters in popular culture, through different works of art and fiction, religion and as brands of businesses built on providing service, care or help to people. As humans whose first experience of the world was shaped through our parents, grandparents or other carers whose nurturing and mentorship shaped us, many respond to the Caregiver archetype with a sense of nostalgia, affection and trust, making it very effective for brands that want to establish deep connections with their audience.

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Is the Caregiver a gendered archetype?

We don’t think so.

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The Caregiver archetype can manifest as masculine, feminine, or non-binary, as it represents a fundamental aspect of human nature that extends beyond gender roles. It’s often associated with the maternal figure who provides comfort, support, and protection. However, the Caregiver archetype also has a paternal aspect that offers guidance, relief and strength. We considered Carl Jung's views on the Mother and Father symbols to get a glimpse into what the Caregiver archetype means to the human mind in its full breadth.

"The mother archetype corresponds to a power that is intimately related to life, that lays down the laws of our whole psychic structure, that seems to determine the course of our lives in advance, and that seems to prepare the way for our future ahead of time."

"The father archetype is responsible for the process of consciousness, for the overcoming of inertia and unconsciousness."

—Carl Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious

In classical Jungian terms, the mother symbol is characterized by nurturing, containing, and generative qualities of motherhood—like nourishing, warmth, comfort, fertility and growth. Parallely, the father symbol is a more active and assertive principle dominated by intellect and will, shaping and guiding the mind. We found the mother symbolism connecting the idea of a supreme protector and nourisher, source of life and growth to the Caregiver archetype, while the father adds the strengthening, guiding, and pastoral functions. We think that by understanding the traditionally feminine and masculine parent symbolism and their consolidation, the Caregiver is an archetype that can easily lend itself to masculine, feminine or non-binary personas.

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This balance is particularly interesting to understand how the Caregiver archetype is not limited to biological caregiving but also exists as teachers, spaces, growers, healers, guardians, and community figures. To find out how to tell the story of your Caregiver brand to build a deeper connection with your audience, get in touch with us.

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