Do you remember these? I got mine in 2005. The sleek design, the click wheel, the 12-hour battery life, and the ability to listen to thousands of songs! Boy, was that a big deal at the time?
I loved my iPod and took it everywhere with me. But there was a problem. Although I had 5,000 songs on it, it would start playing similar songs after a while when I used shuffle. Sure, it wasn’t repeating a particular song, album, or playlist constantly. But after a few dozen songs, it would eventually play the same songs again and again and again. I wondered why.
A strange idea attracts me
My then-operations management professor told me that it was normal for the iPod to stumble on similar songs because sooner or later any algorithm that generates random numbers would start following a particular pattern. That’s how I was introduced to the strange concept called “Strange Attractors.”
Think of a mathematical rule that keeps producing numbers forever. If you put those numbers on a graph and draw a line through them, you would start to see a pattern. It looks like it’s circling around a particular shape again and again, almost as if the numbers are being “pulled” toward it.
Here’s the weird part: the pattern seems to repeat, but it never actually does. It keeps the same overall shape, yet it never shows the exact same line twice. It’s complex, but still recognizable — like a snowflake that keeps growing in familiar ways without ever copying itself. That kind of pattern is called a strange attractor. And the “random” shuffle algorithm on your iPod behaves just like that.
There is order -even in chaos!
Complex systems, like the weather and the economy, have hidden patterns that create things like hurricanes or business cycles. However, even though these events happen randomly, they always follow certain rules.
For example, every hurricane has an eye, a spiral, and a path. Similarly, every economy goes through periods of growth (boom) and contraction (bust) over time. During a boom, people tend to spend more on luxury goods and travel, while during a bust, they cut back on these expenses and focus on more essential purchases. We cannot predict the future of those patterns with complete accuracy, but we can anticipate how those systems will behave over time.
Self-similar yet never-identical narratives
The best way to understand strange attractors is to think of them as magnets that pull things toward them in a system. For example, my iPod’s “shuffle algorithm” eventually pulled 5,000 songs towards a few hundred songs. What is true for weather and the economy also applies to the psyche.
Psychologist Carl Jung discovered universal patterns, symbols, and images in myths, dreams, and stories. He called them archetypes. Jung believed these archetypes are not learned but are part of the collective unconscious, a shared pool of symbolic images and patterns inherited by all humans from our ancestors. In a way, the psyche creates strange attractors – magnets of psyche- which we refer to as archetypes.
For example, every culture that was, is, or ever will be has theity trait but a complex thought pattern that triggers certain words like courage, determination, and selflessness. Additionally, it usually follows a universal story where a character embarks on a journey, faces challenges and obstacles, and finally overcomes them to reach a goal. We can say the psyche is drawn to the hero archetype!
The key idea behind “strange attractors” is simple: they repeat a style, not an exact shape. They look familiar, but they never copy themselves. Cultures work the same way with archetypes. Every culture has a “hero,” but each version is different:
- Gilgamesh (Mesopotamia) — a powerful warrior who relies on strength, like a myth-era Captain America.
- Maui (Polynesia) — a clever trickster who wins through wit and mischief.
- Sun Wukong (China) — a magical rebel who rises from underdog to legendary figure.
Same pattern. Different expression every time. That means— even though each culture works with the same concept —the hero archetype manifests itself differently. After all, the values and the imagination of the imaginer are part of the psyche, too!
Limitation or a source of endless inspiration
Let’s switch to marketing. Some marketers discredit Carol Pearson’s 12-archetype framework, saying it is too limiting. They say that the model goes against the fundamental premise of brand strategy: differentiation. After all, how can you differentiate your brand if you have only 12 options? The self-similar yet never-identical property of strange attractors could help.
By embracing the idea that archetypes can be self-similar yet never identical, marketers can find inspiration in these fundamental patterns without being confined to a rigid framework.
For instance, the heroic narrative can take the shape of a warrior, an underdog, or an anti-hero. Likewise, the archetypal narrative of the innocent can be interpreted as a magical child, a dreamer, or a survivor. These are just a few of the endless possibilities. Such an approach would allow for infinite creativity and innovation, as each brand can express a unique version of an archetype that shares the DNA of its creator’s imagination.
Today’s actionable tip: Archetypes are like strange attractors: they are self-similar yet never-identical. Instead of dismissing archetypes as limiting, marketers could embrace them as a launchpad for creativity. You can unleash your imagination, dive into the endless pool of subcategories, and weave a brand story that stands the test of time. Here’s more on that subject.