A key concept for understanding the role of brands in societies is the positioning. According to Ries and Trout (1986), the focus of the position is not essential in creating something new or different, but to recognize what's inside the mind of consumers and positioning the product taking advantage of existing connections. One approach that has attracted attention is the paradigm of the archetype, which postulates the existence of the collective unconscious, a structure of the psyche that would contain the "collective images" common to mankind that represents an innate tendency to perceive reality in a certain way. In this sense, researchers suggest that the use of celebrity endorsers is a powerful way to transfer symbolic meanings for brands. Thus, this study integrates the concepts of the Theory of Archetypes of Jung and brand positioning aiming to understand how a company performs the transfer process of the symbolic meaning from a celebrity endorser for the brand image, providing them with the archetypal elements that enable the connection between the brand image and psychological consumers' inclinations, resulting in an effective brand positioning. For this purpose, was developed an exploratory research related to the strategies adopted for positioning the brand Ipanema Gisele Bündchen, whereby it was possible to understand how occurs the transfer of the symbolic meaning related to a celebrity for the brand image, resulting in theoretical and empirical considerations that could support the strategic and managerial processes of brand positioning.
celebrity endorsement; brand image management; Theory of Archetypes
