Building an Archetype Selection Worksheet for a New Product Launch
Objective: Apply the lesson's core-desire framework to select one Jungian archetype for a real product launch, then document its voice words and guardrails.
You're the brand manager launching Swiggy Instamart as a standalone consumer brand. Marketing wants a documented personality before the ad agency starts producing creative.
Identify the core desire your target grocery shopper has, select one matching archetype, and write the 3-5 word voice plus guardrails that will govern all creative.
Before you start
What you'll need
Free path (everything below is enough to finish)
Free, shareable, version history
The process
2 steps
Step 01 of 02
The lesson groups the 12 archetypes under four core drives: safety and order, belonging and love, mastery and achievement, freedom and discovery.
Instamart's target shopper wants groceries delivered in 10 minutes without thinking about it. Which drive group does that serve, and which archetype in that group fits a fast, no-friction, dependable brand best?
Procedure
- Write one sentence describing what the Instamart shopper actually wants to feel after ordering
- Match that feeling against the 4 drive groups: safety/order, belonging, mastery, freedom/discovery
- Shortlist the 3 archetypes inside the matching group and rule out any that require a personality trait Instamart doesn't have (e.g. Ruler's prestige)
- Pick one archetype and write the one-sentence reason it fits both the customer's desire and the brand's actual character
Drive: Safety and order Shortlist: Innocent, Caregiver, Ruler Ruled out: Ruler (prestige/control doesn't fit a 10-min grocery app) Selected: Caregiver — Instamart's whole promise is removing the anxiety of an empty fridge, fast, dependable, no drama.
Healthy
The chosen archetype maps directly to a specific customer emotional outcome, not a mood board aesthetic.
Unhealthy
Picking 'Explorer' because adventurous photography looks good in the deck, with no link to what a grocery shopper actually wants.
What this means
If you can't state the customer's core desire in one sentence before picking, the archetype choice isn't grounded yet.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Team disagrees on Instamart's brand personality in every creative review | Force the core-desire sentence exercise before revisiting the archetype | 30 min |
Step 02 of 02
The lesson's Step 3 and Step 4 turn the archetype into a usable filter: 3-5 voice words, plus 'always/never/never under any circumstances' guardrails.
Given Caregiver as the selected archetype, what 3-5 voice words and 3 guardrails would keep every copywriter and agency aligned without a briefing call?
Procedure
- Write 3-5 adjectives that describe how a Caregiver brand talks (e.g. gentle, reassuring, dependable)
- Write one 'We will always...' guardrail tied to the archetype
- Write one 'We will never...' guardrail
- Write one 'We never, under any circumstances...' guardrail
- Test the guardrails against 2 real ad headline drafts and flag any that violate them
Voice: gentle, dependable, reassuring, unpretentious
Always: speak like a neighbor who noticed you're out of milk
Never: use urgency or scarcity language ('Hurry, offer ends!')
Never under any circumstances: mock a customer for forgetting to shop aheadHealthy
Guardrails are specific enough that two different writers would flag the same headline as off-brand.
Unhealthy
Guardrails so vague ('be nice') that no one can point to a violation.
What this means
A guardrail that can't reject a real headline draft isn't a guardrail yet, it's a wish.
So what do I do about it?
| Symptom | Action | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| New agency copy doesn't sound like Instamart | Hand them the voice words plus guardrails doc before any brief, not after revisions | 5 min |
Final deliverable
A one-page archetype selection worksheet: core desire sentence, selected archetype with reasoning, 3-5 voice words, and 3 guardrails.
See a reference example
Zomato Instant, Archetype Worksheet (excerpt) Core desire: 'I don't want to think about dinner, I just want it handled.' Drive: Mastery and achievement Selected: Hero — the brand takes on the chore of dinner logistics so the customer doesn't have to fight it themselves Voice: capable, fast, no-nonsense, warm Always: show the order actually arriving, not just the app screen Never: shame a customer for ordering instead of cooking
Success criteria
You're done when you can:
- States the customer's core desire in one sentence before naming an archetype
- Selected archetype traces to a specific drive group, not an aesthetic preference
- 3-5 voice words and all 3 guardrail types are present and specific enough to reject a real headline