A brand enters a world of meaning before it appears on a company’s premises. A name can prompt recognition, trust or distance before anyone explains the offer. In my understanding of brand, that encounter cannot be understood through product information alone. People arrive with memories, expectations and stories of their own.
An interpretive lens, not a predictive formula
Jung’s account of the collective unconscious describes recurring psychological forms that find expression in myth. An archetype is not identical to a particular fictional character: different cultural figures can give it different expressions. This belongs to analytical psychology as a theoretical framework; it is not an established law for predicting consumer choice.
I find its value in the questions it makes possible. Where does a brand’s claim to wisdom become visible in a decision? What happens to care when interests conflict? What does a promise of creativity enable a customer to do? An archetypal label earns its place when it leads to this level of enquiry. Otherwise, it adds little more than an adjective to a presentation.
Myth and the person we aspire to become
Myths can provide a culture with ways of giving form to its ambitions, anxieties and judgements. A mythical figure may become a reference point for the person someone hopes to be. In his discussion of Iranian king-heroes, Shervin Vakili connects these figures with the formulation of an ideal self and the organisation of self-image. That offers a useful starting point for considering the relationship between cultural narrative and identity.
My application to brand is a further interpretation: before choosing a symbol, ask what conception of a person it invites. Greater independence? Responsibility? Understanding? Capability? A prestigious name cannot establish that relationship on its own. The business has to make it possible through what it offers and how it behaves.
The Simurgh: knowledge expressed through care
In the Shahnameh’s account of Zal, the Simurgh is associated with nurture and assistance. Read in a brand context, this invites consideration of knowledge that proves its value by helping another person. For an advisory practice, such an association would need to appear in clearer problem definition, the transfer of understanding and stronger client decision-making. A feather in a visual identity would be insufficient.
This is a selective interpretation, not an attempt to reduce the Simurgh to a marketing category. The cultural narrative exceeds the needs of any particular project. A practice might draw on the relationship between knowledge and care, while acknowledging that its relevance must be tested against the audience’s context and the actual experience of working together.
Taking cultural roots into a wider conversation
A brand operating across cultures cannot assume that a symbol carries the same meaning everywhere. What feels familiar in one setting may require explanation in another. Moving from a national myth towards international communication therefore calls for translation of meaning: identify the human value being expressed, then establish which language and experiences make it intelligible in the new context.
Roots need not disappear in that process. They can be made accessible. Nor should two heroes, birds or stories be treated as equivalent because they share a visual feature. Differences carry meaning too, and may provide a more credible source of distinction than a supposedly universal motif.
From inspiration to decisions
I would work through three questions. Which value or tension in this story matters to the brand challenge? Which organisational capability can support it? At what moment will an audience experience it? Until the final question has a practical answer, the work remains inspiration rather than an identity that can be sustained.
Consider a narrative organised around care. It should influence response standards, the limits of a promise, complaint handling and the acceptance of new work. It should also expose a potential failure: care can become interference or create dependency. A mature identity needs rules for managing these risks as well as language for expressing its strengths.
For me, myth is a resource for enquiry and imagination. Conduct establishes credibility. A brand drawing on an old story takes responsibility for giving its meaning a useful, human expression in contemporary life. That is where a narrative begins to live beyond its image.
Sources and interpretation
The theoretical references are identified below. Their application to brand decisions is the interpretation developed in this article.
- C. G. Jung — The Concept of the Collective Unconscious
- شروین وکیلی — اسطورهشناسی پهلوانان ایرانی، شکوه شاهپهلوانان
- فردوسی — شاهنامه، منوچهر، داستان زال و سیمرغ
This reflection connects with Brand Philosophy, Brand Identity, Luxury & Premium Branding, where these ideas are considered in the context of practical decisions.
Mohammadreza Mehran Jalil