Where we are in building Cadence
In b2 you decided what Cadence stands for - its positioning and its strategy house. That is the what. Tonight is the who: if Cadence were a person walking into the room, who are they? Personality is what makes a brand recognizable across a tweet, a support reply, and an onboarding screen, even before you see the logo. And it is the direct input to voice - you cannot write a voice guide in b4 without deciding a character first.
Archetype + personality 6 min live
The twelve brand archetypes - Sage, Caregiver, Creator, Ruler, Everyman, and the rest - are a shortcut to a consistent personality. Pick one as your backbone and a hundred small decisions get easier, because you can always ask "what would our archetype do here?" From the archetype flow traits, and from traits flows a tone spectrum: where you sit between formal and casual, serious and playful. That spectrum is what drives voice in b4.
LiveWhy an archetype is a shortcut, not a cage3 min▶
An archetype is a well-worn human character - the wise Sage, the nurturing Caregiver, the daring Creator. It gives you a consistent instinct for how the brand behaves, so you are not re-deciding tone from scratch every time.
- It makes personality consistent. One backbone character keeps a support reply, an ad, and an error message sounding like the same brand.
- It speeds decisions. "What would a Sage do here?" is faster and more reliable than debating tone by feel.
- It is a starting point, not a straitjacket. You pick one primary archetype, maybe a secondary flavour, then make it specifically yours with traits and a tone spectrum.
Self-studyTraits and the tone spectrum2 min read▶
From the archetype you draw two things you can actually write with:
- Traits. Four or five adjectives that describe the character - but only if each comes with behaviour. "Calm" means nothing until you say "we never use exclamation marks in error states".
- Tone spectrum. A set of dials - formal-casual, serious-playful, reserved-expressive, complex-simple - with a mark showing where you sit on each. A spectrum is more useful than a single label because it captures nuance and gives AI a precise target.
Together the archetype, traits, and spectrum are a character sheet. In b4 you turn that sheet into voice rules and sample copy the AI must obey.
Choosing Cadence's archetype with AI 5 min live
This is a textbook AI-assists-you-decide moment. AI can explore which archetypes fit your b2 positioning and lay out the trade-offs faster than you could alone. But the choice is judgement - it depends on your audience, your competitors' archetypes, and the brand you actually want to be. AI narrows the field; you pick.
LiveFit against positioning, then a human call3 min▶
Feed the AI your b2 house and ask it to reason from it, not from the average brand. Cadence's positioning - calm presence, decisions ready when the call ends - points somewhere specific:
- Fit to the promise. A brand that pledges calm and presence is unlikely to be the loud Jester or the aspirational Hero. The Sage (clear, trusted expertise) and Caregiver (quietly on your side) fit far better.
- Fit to the audience. Consultants in back-to-back calls want competence and calm, not entertainment. That steers the choice.
- Fit to the whitespace. If every rival is a shouty Hero, a calm Sage stands out - archetype is also a differentiation lever.
The Sage in a category of Heroes. A calm, explain-it-clearly brand entered a market where every competitor was "unleash your potential". By owning the Sage - measured, trustworthy, never hype - it became the obvious choice for buyers exhausted by the noise. The archetype was the difference, and it was a human who chose it against the grain.
Self-studyArchetype - what it sounds like2 min read▶
| Archetype | What it sounds like |
|---|---|
| The Sage | Clear, measured, evidence-first. Explains, never hypes. "Here is what the call decided." |
| The Caregiver | Warm, reassuring, on your side. "We have got the notes - you stay present." |
| The Creator | Imaginative, expressive, craft-proud. "Build the meeting you wish you had." |
| The Ruler | Authoritative, premium, in control. "The standard for how teams remember." |
| The Everyman | Plain, friendly, down-to-earth. "Notes that just work, for the rest of us." |
Traits turn into behaviours: a Sage's "measured" means short declarative sentences and no exclamation marks; a Caregiver's "warm" means second-person and reassurance in error states. That behaviour link is what b4 formalizes.
Tone spectrum + behaviour 4 min live
A personality that lives only in adjectives is decoration. The test is behaviour: what the brand does and does not do in a real moment. So for each tone dimension you place Cadence on the dial and, more importantly, say why - and what that means for how it writes.
LiveWhere Cadence sits, and why2 min▶
Reading the dial from Part 1, each placement is a decision with a reason:
- Formal-casual: leaning casual, but grounded. Approachable and human, never stiff - but it earns trust, so no slang that undercuts competence.
- Serious-playful: mostly serious. These are people's real decisions and commitments. A light touch is welcome; jokes at the wrong moment are not.
- Reserved-expressive: measured. Confident without exclamation marks. The Sage does not shout.
- Complex-simple: firmly simple. Plain language always. If a sentence needs re-reading, rewrite it. Clarity is the promise made audible.
Self-studyThe do / don't per trait2 min read▶
The cleanest way to make a trait real is a do and a don't. A few for Cadence:
- Calm - do: state things plainly, one idea per sentence. Don't: pile on exclamation marks or urgency.
- Trustworthy - do: say "still summarizing" when unsure. Don't: show a confident answer you cannot stand behind.
- Quietly capable - do: let the result speak. Don't: brag about the technology.
- Human - do: write to one person, second-person. Don't: hide behind corporate "we are pleased to".
Do this for every trait and you have a character sheet a teammate - or an AI - can act on without asking you. That is the whole point: personality you can hand off without it drifting to the average.
Map three archetypes to Cadence, then choose ★ 13 min · everyone builds
AI does the exploration - three candidate archetypes mapped to your b2 positioning with honest pros and cons. Then you do the one thing AI cannot: pick, and write down why.
Open any chat AI. Paste Cadence's positioning and strategy house from b2 so the model reasons from your brand, not the average.
Ask for three candidate archetypes that fit the positioning, each with what it would sound like, its pros, and its risks for Cadence.
Ask how each fits the audience and where competitors already sit - archetype is a differentiation lever, not just a vibe.
Choose one primary archetype (and at most one secondary flavour). Write two sentences on why - tie it to the promise and the audience.
Sanity check: would this archetype ever say something your b2 values forbid? If yes, you picked the wrong one. Adjust.
Define traits + tone-spectrum placement ★ 8 min · build your own
Turn the chosen archetype into a working character sheet: four to five traits, each with a do and a don't, and a placement on every tone dial with a one-line reason.
Give the AI your chosen archetype and the b2 house. Ask for five candidate personality traits that flow from both.
For each trait, ask for a concrete do and don't in Cadence's real contexts - onboarding, an error message, a marketing line.
Ask it to place Cadence on four tone dials (formal-casual, serious-playful, reserved-expressive, complex-simple) and justify each in one line.
Edit hard. Cut to four or five traits, rewrite any do/don't that is vague, and adjust the dials until they feel like Cadence, not a generic calm brand.
Save the character sheet. It is the direct input to the voice guide you build in b4.
The trait that finally had teeth. A brand listed "friendly" for years and every writer interpreted it differently, so the voice wandered. Rewriting it as "friendly = second-person, one contraction per sentence, never corporate 'we are pleased to'" made it enforceable overnight - by people and by their brand GPT. A trait is only real when it tells you what not to do.
Try it yourself - this week ◐ 30-45 min total
- Lock Cadence's primary archetype (and optional secondary) with a two-sentence written reason tied to the b2 promise.
- Finalise four to five personality traits, each with a do and a don't in a real context.
- Place Cadence on all four tone dials and write one line of reasoning per dial.
- Write the first three "never say / never do" lines your personality implies - you will fold them into the voice guide in b4.
- Optional: map your own brand's archetype, and notice which archetype your top competitor occupies.
Official sources covered
Taught from the widely taught brand-archetype canon and public brand-AI curricula. Certificates and paid tooling stay official. This session covers:
Three questions before you go 🎯 ◐ 90 seconds
1 · What does choosing a brand archetype give you?
An archetype is a shortcut to a consistent personality - "what would our archetype do here?" keeps a support reply, an ad, and an error message sounding like one brand.
2 · What is the relationship between personality and voice?
Word choice, sentence length, and what you never say are all downstream of the character. Decide the who now and the how-it-speaks in b4 gets far easier.
3 · Who picks the archetype, and how?
AI narrows the field and lays out trade-offs; the choice depends on audience, competitors, and the brand you want to be. Rail one - humans decide.