Exploring Brand Archetypes: The Explorer

We’ve been exploring the 12 Brand Archetypes.

Archetype 3: The Explorer.

The underlying human desire of an Explorer brand is FREEDOM.

Examples: Patagonia, Lonely Planet, GoPro, Burton Snowboards.

Explorer brands are about getting out and experiencing life, but also about expressing individuality. One of their mottos is “don’t fence me in”.

All of the examples above are tied to adventure, exploration, and some (like Patagonia and Burton) could be said to have cult-level followings.

There’s a definite pattern with all of the examples - outdoor adventure brands of some flavour. Other articles online list brands like Jeep, and characters like Indiana Jones as examples of this too.

Less obvious examples

Bear Grylls - from what I’ve seen of him (a bit, not a tonne) there’s not much he won’t try. I suspect that fencing this guy in would be like torture for him, a true explorer.

Segway - Yep, those weird scooters with two wheels that you stand on. Them being an Adventure brand is a total guess on my part, but it is a fun way to explore a new city!

Louis Theroux - I might be stretching the examples here, he strikes me as more of a journalist than an adventurer, but his attitude of throwing himself into situations very few sane people would, to me that’s an explorer of a very particular kind.

Can anyone become an Explorer brand?

I’m happy to be proven wrong, but I think this Explorer one is almost non-negotiable. My examples got pretty thin, so I think a true Explorer brand has exploration built right into in it's DNA.

Agree? Disagree? Can you think of better examples? Im sure there are better examples.

Hit reply and let’s hash this one out.