Executive Summary

Archetype Discoveries Worldwide has been successfully guiding its clients' interests in marketing, advertising, research and development, and personnel since 1976. The reputation earned as the premier firm in breaking the code of the Cultural Archetype has come as a direct result of our commitment to customer satisfaction in implementing this unique process.

Archetype Discoveries Worldwide was founded by Dr. G. C. Rapaille to provide answers to the question: Why do people do what they do? Our goal is to provide you and your organization with the process and expertise necessary to discover the Archetype related to your product or service. We will continue to help implement this new found knowledge as necessary. At the conclusion of the discovery, the client retains ownership of the discovery, and has a detailed Action Plan based upon the discovery.

Archetype Discoveries Worldwide is unique. We are not consultants and do not charge by the hour or day. We do not conduct market research, and do not write reports. Our commitment to the client is that at the end of the process, you will thoroughly understand the Archetype studied. The Archetype Team will speak a common language, the unconscious Logic of Emotion of your customers.

Archetype Discoveries Worldwide is committed to increasing the client's competitive edge by providing you with a unique process, and by improving the skill and productivity of your staff people, they will perceive their customers in a completely new way.

The Archetype Discovery is a discovery and an education process. The Archetype Team and Archetype Manager become experts on the Archetype. They will gain in-depth knowledge of the Logic of Emotions which has been discovered.

At the end of the process, the importance of the discovery will be self-evident. We spend most of our time helping the members of the Archetype Team put the knowledge of the Archetype into practical application.

Archetype Discoveries Worldwide is committed to your satisfaction. Our fee guarantees that a discovery does not stop at the end of the research. We remain available as long as you need us to implement the Archetype Action Plan (and ask only that current expenses be reimbursed).

Once we have, together, discovered an Archetype, it is YOURS. Archetype Discoveries Worldwide will not duplicate your discovery in the same culture, and will always give you priority to explore it in another culture.

Business Implications of…

Once an archetype is discovered we can understand the behavior of a particular group or culture and we can therefore correctly anticipate the reaction of people.  The process of understanding an archetype brings into awareness the unconscious dimension of a product, project, service, concept or corporate culture.  At the same time, it also provides vital information about people's attitudes, behavior and motivation and is therefore suited to analysis of a wide variety of situations, which includes but is not limited to the following:

• The effectiveness of any specific brand name or generic product in a particular culture (country) or many different cultures (countries).
• Advertising campaigns or communication strategies related to a brand name, type of product, person, concept or issue including the identification of "words   to lose" "words to use."
• Examining the essence of a particular category of product, i.e. wine, cars, toothpaste, in order to develop more effective advertising campaigns..
• Examining the use of a particular media communications strategy and its effectiveness with a particular product.
• Examining the evaluation of the consumer - their unspoken needs and the implications for sales and marketing.
• The value of a "tired" brand name and developing the necessary action plan to revive it.
• Developing new products to add to an existing line.
• Changing an existing product or concept to increase market share.
• Examining a generic concept such as "beauty" to understand its implications for product design packaging as well as for distribution in multiple global markets.  

The Three Brains

I would like to share with you my proven theory concerning the three brains.

The Three Brain Theory is something absolutely fantastic. It is a new way to look at why people do what they do, how they do it, why they do it, at different levels of interpretation of their behavior, and what they're going to say about it. Once you understand the 3 brain theory it will change your life and the way you look at advertising, product management, leadership, reward, recognition and loyalty.

The three brains are:

The Reptilian Brain

The most important part of the brain is the Reptilian, meaning like "reptile." Why do we call it the reptilian brain?
First of all, it looks like a reptile. Within the embryo, even before actual flesh and blood, it already has a serpentine-like quality to it.
Second, we might have this in common with a reptile. If evolution can be believed, it appears that we were all once reptiles. And, because of this evolution, we still have this part - this reptilian - aspect of the brain. We were born with it - it is not acquired, it is something inherited, congenital.

Because we have this reptilian brain, we are programmed for two major things:
Survival
Reproduction

These key elements are absolutely crucial and fundamental in understanding the survival of the species. If we cannot survive and reproduce, it would be the end of our species.

What does reproduction mean? It means that instinctively, we know what to do. The word "instinct" is crucial here. There is a reptilian intelligence and it is a program for survival. We know what to do, we know what the priority is. The second element is, reproduction. It might sound very surprising, but beauty is a reptilian dimension.

Let me explain: Beautiful means that my genes, combined with the genes of someone from the opposite sex, have a better chance to survive. If I am in a country populated by Eskimos, a beautiful woman is going to be very round, overweight and tough. Why? Because she is more likely to survive the harsh winters and brutal living conditions. If I combine my genes with hers, my children will have a better chance at survival. This notion of beauty can be understood with the reptilian brain. Unconsciously, we are programmed to be attracted to people that permit our genes to survive. 

The Limbic Brain

The second brain is the limbic brain. The limbic is the emotional brain. Emotions have dimensions that we have a hard time understanding. According to the American culture, men have more difficulty with emotions than women. In many ways, there is a feminine and masculine approach to emotions. What is this brain?

Emotions are never simple - they are always contradictory.It's the same between husbands and wives and among friends, this dimension is very complex. When customers tell you they love you, is it good? Well, we think it is. We want people to love us. What if they love your products and never buy them? Is it good? Would you rather have them hate your products and buy them all the time? This is not simple nor is it logical, it is emotional. Even if it is emotional, there is logic. I call this the "Logic of Emotion." It is a bit like seduction, you follow a critical path. You have to do one thing at a time. This order of things varies from culture to culture. What is fascinating is that all of this is imprinted, acquired.

If I go back to the Reptilian brain - we are born it - the Limbic brain, on the other hand, is acquired. It is the relationship with the mother that creates a shape, a structure from 0 to around 5 for this brain. Because of this relationship with the mother, this emotional dimension is very feminine. In most cultures, the father is outside seeking food and providing for his family. The mother, however, is a continuum of the womb in some ways. Going back to biology, we all have one thing in common: We all come from a woman. Our first experience of "inside" is inside a woman when we are still attached to the mother. At that point we still have her hugging us, we might go a bit further but we come back to be breast fed, so it's like being inside a circle, we went outside but we're trying to get in contact with the circle again. Through that, we have warmth, love and  roundness which are absolutely key. It's very rare to experience that with the father. The father is always absent, outside, doing other things. That's why this emotional brain has a strong feminine side.

The Cortex Brain

The third brain is the Cortex and it is mainly intellectual.

This part of the brain is not in place before we are seven. Before seven, children do not have the conservation of quantity. Take two identical balls of clay and ask the child: "Are they same?" The child will say: "Yes." Now, turn one into a snake and ask the child: "Is there more quantity now?" If the child is less that seven, he does not have the mental tools needed to understand that the shape of the clay did not change in quantity, but rather in shape. Ask the same question to a child older than seven and they will ask you: "Do you think I'm dumb or something?"

Everything imprinted at an early age is imprinted before the intellectual dimension, and is a lot more powerful. Hence, the message, "the reptilian always wins." What is the cortex all about? The cortex is about trying to understand and make rational choices and also deals with numbers, verification, and order (which is not very natural).

If we now try to understand the connection between the 3 brains:

• The reptilian is very quick, reflex.
• The limbic is energy, a lot of energy and emotions (we know there is no imprint in the brain without emotion)
• The cortex is control.

I would like to go back to the notion of imprinting. It is a key element during the creation in our minds - the cultural mental structures we are going to use again and again. I call these mental highways. We create connections in the brain that we will use for the rest of out lives.

Your very first experiences as a child are strongly imprinted in the reptilian brain as it is the only part of the brain that is really active at the time. Our program is already there. We know that "inside" means "mother;" we know that warmth is important to survive; that we have to breathe at the reptilian level. If the program doesn't work,  we are dead.

The cortex, is supposed to bring you the rational dimension to help you have more chances to survive and to reproduce. The problem is that it goes too far into the control of the reptilian, so we lose out on spontaneity. When people say "give me a good reason to love you," do mothers need a good reason to love their children? No, they just do.

This is reptilian, and you don't need a reason.

When the reptilian is up against the cortex, the reptilian always wins. Reality and numbers don't matter. If you do not have a reptilian dimension, you'll never win. Understanding the reptilian dimension is absolutely crucial.

Every communication strategy should have a reptilian, limbic and a cortex aspect. 

Why an Archetype Discovery ?

Why do organizations like AT&T explore the Archetype of quality; Seagram's, the Archetype of whiskey; P & G, the Archetype of mouthwash; Security Pacific Bank, the Archetype of a bank; and the French Government, the Archetype of nuclear energy? Because they want to gain the competitive edge of knowing the Archetype associated with their activity.

When you know the Archetype, you suddenly have the key which gives meaning to what people say and do. Now you understand why. Suddenly, everything makes sense, even what sounded contradictory before.

Why are the French in favor of nuclear energy, when the Germans are against it? Why is the Japanese definition of quality unintelligible for Americans? Why is an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) not a bank (a branch, or element of a bank)? Why should a door never be pictured from inside and closed?

When your organization decides to perform an Archetype Discovery, you will gain:

• Understanding - of the unspoken needs of your customer.
• Knowledge - of the unconscious code related to your product, the Logic of Emotion. You know the consumers' unconscious language. You speak " Archetype."
• Ownership - Within your organization, the Archetype Managers, the Core Team, and the Archetype Team, own the results. They made the discovery, did the presentation. They are the experts.
• Alignment - Your staff now all speak the same language, and they understand it at the gut level. They know the unconscious meaning of the words they use; they share and bring into awareness the Logic of Emotion.
• Team Building - One of the results of your ownership and alignment is to create a team that is highly motivated to use the knowledge of the Archetype, and to succeed in doing so. The relationship between your Product Managers and the Advertising Agency, for example, is transformed.
• Action Plan - The purpose of the study is not to produce a report or a book, but to learn a language, and to use it. The Action Plan becomes a living thing. Before the end of the third phase, the staff starts using some of the findings and we usually have success stories before the end of the ten Imprinting Groups.
• Coaching - and permanent support from the Archetype Studies team. You are the Champions; we are the coaches.
• Short-Term Results - that you can measure, because we need to convince the rest of your organization of the importance of the code. These short-term results are crucial. Long-Term Vision - of what you have to do, the short term can be evaluated in terms of the long term goal.
• Long-Term Vision - of what you have to do, the short term can be evaluated in terms of the long-term goal.
• Answer to the Question: What business are we in?
• Integrated Strategy.
• Consistency with the Archetype.

What is an Archetype?

An Archetype can be thought of as a model after which other things can be patterned, a prototype or a permanent underlying structure.  We can discover archetypes by analyzing and understanding what Dr. G. C. Rapaille, Chairman of Archetype Discoveries Worldwide™, has identified as the "collective cultural unconscious".  This collective cultural unconscious can be further defined as a pool of shared imprinting experiences that unconsciously pre-organize and influence the behavior of a culture.

To further understand the imprinting concept, we look at the human brain, which has billions of potential connections, similar to that of a worldwide telephone communications network.  Put very simply by Dr. Rapaille, "You have all the potential connections of the network, but you don't have the telephone number.  The first imprint is pre-organized by the culture.  Emotion is the energy that is necessary to create the imprint and produce the neurotransmitters in the brain."

Once the first experience creates an imprint, it must be repeated and reinforced.  Because language is the first level of crystallization of the imprint, we can see that these first imprints, which are inherited, are essentially pre-organized by the culture.  Of course, there is a window in time for the first imprint to occur.  This occasionally varies from one culture to another just as the emotion (energy) varies from one culture to another.

The primary objective of the Archetype Discovery process is to go back to the first imprint and decode the "logic of emotion" which created the imprint.  The analysis process then looks for the patterns and commonalties of the culture being studied.  Once the pattern is found, we have discovered the archetype.   

Decoding the Human Message

There is, however, a logic in these emotional responses which can be understood by using the right tool - an Archetype Discovery.

The emotional energy created during your first experience with a given product determines a pattern of behavior to be used throughout your entire life in relation to this product. These experiences, which are the essence of all our behavior, vary from culture to culture. The permanent underlying structure of these experiences, deeply rooted in our unconscious, is the key to understanding fully what people do and why. This structure is the Archetype.

If we can understand the Archetype, we can meet people's unspoken needs when we are creating new products, advertising campaigns, designing training programs, or predicting how people are going to respond to political issues.  

Every market has an Archetype

To know the Archetype, or logic of emotions, is to have crucial information on what motivates people from different cultures to act the way they do. Just as Champollion, the nineteenth century French scholar, decoded hieroglyphics and revealed their message, and just as the microscope has revealed a world that formerly was not known to exist, Archetype Discoveries, by examining the collective unconscious, reveals the unspoken needs of people in a given culture.

It is obvious that people cannot tell you about their unconscious needs, but it is also obvious that this unconscious is the most important factor in their decision making process. Companies that do a lot of market research, and rely on opinion polls, admit the results are often confusing and contradictory.

People often say one thing and do another. Companies communicate rationally, often creatively, within their markets, but people respond emotionally and unpredictably. It somehow doesn't make sense.

The Archetype Discovery Process ©

Cultural archetypes pre-determine how members of a culture perceive their world and react to it.  Every element of a culture has an archetype; how the members of a culture interpret that archetype is called a code.  The cultural archetype and its code can be thought of as a lock and the combination to open it.  One must have all of the right numbers in the proper order (the code) to open the lock (the archetype).  Since archetypes and their codes are unconscious, a three-phase process to decode them is needed.

Each phase consists of imprinting sessions and team analysis sessions.  Each imprinting session is a three-hour process that helps participants to remember their imprinting of the subject being studied.  Approximately 20-25 respondents are recruited for each imprinting session.  These people are chosen based on the culture being studied.  For example, if an American archetype is being studied, the 250 people would be at least, second-generation Americans, who spent the first 15 years of their lives in the United States and whose mother or primary caregiver spoke American English.  Other screening criteria are applied based on the archetype being studied.  If an American archetype is being studied, the sessions are conducted in various cities across the United States.

During the first hour of the imprinting session, participants discuss their ideas and feelings about the topic.  In the second hour, free association and storytelling exercises are used to learn about the unconscious dimensions, or latent structures of the topic.  In the last hour, relaxation techniques are used to help participants remember their imprinting experiences.

The information from the imprinting sessions is analyzed for structure rather than content.  In the structural analysis, the elements are not studied; but rather, the forces that bind the different elements together are carefully examined.  The structure transcends the individual experiences and uncovers the cultural code.

The Archetype team participates in the process as active members not as observers.  Clients are part of the research process.  Results aren't generated by feeding quantitative data into a "black box"; results are discovered through participating team members and are directly embedded in the culture - moving clients from understanding to action.

Pyramid of the Unconscious

This diagram represents the divisions of the unconscious and conscious mind.

The broad base of the pyramid is occupied by biology, which pre-organizes human life according to common structures or schemata, which are permanent and unchanging.

The next level is occupied by Culture, which provides the pre-existing structures or patterns that enable us to meet our biological needs. Archetypes reside at this level of the unconscious. Together they form the collective unconscious described by Jung. Cultures last for centuries and charge almost imperceptibly.

The next level of the pyramid represents the Person, the individual unconscious. As we assimilate language and archetypal structures, and the emotions associated with them, our personality gives these different weights and values. Part of these experiences will slip from memory but linger in our individual unconscious. Each individual unconscious is unique, and it is accessible only through psychoanalysis. The individual unconscious lasts the length of a person's life.

The part of the pyramid above this level represents the emergence of the superego and the beginning of consciousness, which comprises Behavior (how we act, what we do) and Opinion (what we think, what we say). Both are sustained and shaped by the unconscious forces that underlie them. Behavior can change readily (how we act is subject to continuous revision) but Opinion, which has the shortest life of all, can change in the blink of an eye (whenever new information is presented).