THE RULER
Power isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.
The Ruler seeks to create order in a chaotic world by assuming total control. They are committed to maintaining and imposing the highest standards. They prefer order and stability over innovation and creativity. The Ruler protects and serves its own; it does not try to appeal to or appease the masses. A Ruler brand will often claim market leadership in their category. Their goal is to seize the top position amongst their peers and then demonstrate dominance.
This archetype is also called the Administrator, Aristocrat, Boss, King, Leader, Manager, Parent, Politician, Responsible Citizen, Role Model, or Ruler.
The 12 Brand Archetypes were developed and articulated in "The Hero and The Outlaw" by Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson
RULER MARKETING OPPORTUNITY
The Ruler identity might be right for your brand if you have:
A high-status product used by powerful people to enhance their power
A product that helps people be more organized
A product or service that can offer a lifetime guarantee
Services that offer technical assistance or information that helps maintain or enhance power
An organization with a regulatory or protective function
A product at the moderate to high price range
A brand seeking to differentiate from a more populist (Everyman) one or that is the clear leader in the field
A field that is relatively stable or a product that promises safety and predictability in a chaotic world
MARKETING APPROACH | Offer a sense of security or stability; offer a more orderly and reliable approach. Also offers exclusivity and luxury
TONE | Commanding, Refined, Articulate
VALUE PROPOSITION | Helps people exert control
CUSTOMER FEAR | Financial ruin, ill health, uncontrolled chaos
RULER MINDSET & TRAITS
GOAL | Create a prosperous, successful family, company, or community
STRATEGY | Establish superiority; grow authority and audience
MOTIVATION | Stability & Control
CALL | Lack of resources, order, or harmony
CORE DESIRE | Control
GIFT | Responsibility, leadership
CHAMPIONS | Discipline, security, safety, performance, quality, cohesion, coherence, the greater good
SUPER POWERS | Extraordinary disciple engenders a rule-based culture that is high-performance
SHADOW | Tyrannical or manipulative behaviors
TRAP | Being too controlling; unable to delegate
FEARS | Chaos, Being Overthrown, Insignificance
TURN-OFFS | Excuses, Uncertainty, Frivolousness, Upstarts
LEVELS OF THE RULER
LEVEL 1 Taking responsibility for the state of your own life
LEVEL 2 Exerting leadership in your family, group, organization, or workplace
LEVEL 3 Becoming a leader in your community, field, or society
SIMILAR BRAND ARCHETYPES
SOURCES
Mark, Margaret, Pearson, Carol, (2001). The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes Hardcover - (Amazon Affiliate Link) pages 13, 18, 244-245, 262
The authors developed the 12 Brand Archetypes as a tool for marketing in 1995 and explained their methodology and ideas in their seminal book. Some of the content on this page are ideas cited directly to maintain correctness and some have been paraphrased where possible.