“I Only Have Eyes for You”
The Lover archetype revels in the joy of sensory and sensual experiences and seeks to create relationships and evoke emotions. It wants to make people feel special and desired, or at least evoke those feelings for its offerings. The Lover archetype doesn’t only encapsulate sensual or romantic love, but all forms — parental, familial, friendship, spiritual, and beyond. Across the various types of love, The Lover remains passionate and unashamed in fostering relationships and expressing appreciation.
The Lover archetype — encapsulating and embodying all forms of love — has an unbridled appreciation for beauty and intimacy. It is impassioned to foster and nurture relationships through giving, receiving, and nurturing intimate love as it knows love is the highest experience we have to offer one another. Because of the inherent vulnerability in love, the Lover is associated not only with deep affection and the openness needed to facilitate it but also with trust and integrity.
As love knows no bounds, the experience of it can move beyond itself as an emotion to a way of being. In healthy representations, the Lover serves as a catalyst for transformation and rebirth, as love is a transcendent aspect of the human experience. However, the Lover has to be careful that its passion and devotion don’t devolve into obsession and monophobia — the fear of being isolated or alone — or into a sense of promiscuity where what it has isn’t enough.
Core Principles
Pillar: Pursue Connection
Drive: Sensuality, Closeness, Indulgence, Affection, Love
Fear: Rejection, Loneliness, Isolation, Invisibility, Contempt – Being alone or unwanted
Strategy: Reaffirm Beauty, Red Carpet Treatment
At-A-Glance
Goal: To create a relationship with the people and work they love
Voice: Sensual, Empathetic, Soothing – Your Beauty is Impossible to Ignore.
What customers FEEL: Excited, Affection, Spellbound
Audience: Sensitive, Sensual, Empathetic, Excitable
Creativity
Imagination
Nonconformity
Perfectionism
Overdramatization
Impracticality
Fundamental: Lover: The Lover archetype fosters and nurtures relationships through giving, receiving, and nurturing intimate love. It serves as a catalyst for transformation and rebirth, as love is a transcendent aspect of the human experience. The Lover archetype houses different aspects that emerge based on various strengths and expressions, all underpinned by the main characteristics of the fundamental.
Lover consumers crave connection with and want to feel desired by others, brands included. They not only want brands that evoke love in them, but brands they can love back. Brands that help Lover consumers connect or showcase them in the best light to facilitate their own connections have a leg up. The fragrance industry leans into this audience by making it clear its products will make their consumers more desirable through sensual scents, communicated in sensual and sexual abstract commercials. To connect with Lover consumers, address their needs and make them feel special.
In unprecedented turbulent times, the Creator in many consumers may be awakened through our need to control our world by creating our own environment. The more out-of-control the world feels, the more we feel the need to create and express ourselves as a means to achieve stability and peace.
