Organizing avatars, desires, and angles

ATIYO product documentation · Brand Bible · 7 min read

A Brand Bible only pays off if people can find things in it. When avatars, core desires, marketing angles, and ad types are named clearly and structured consistently, briefing gets fast and predictable. When they are a messy pile, your team defaults back to guessing. This guide covers how to organize your Brand Bible so every entry is easy to locate and reuse.

Understand the four building blocks

Your Brand Bible is built from a small set of entry types. Getting the relationship between them right is the whole game.

Avatars: the distinct customers you sell to, described by who they are and what they struggle with
Sub-avatars: meaningful variations of an avatar that behave or buy differently
Core desires: the deeper outcome each avatar actually wants
Marketing angles: the specific framings you use to connect product to desire
Ad types: the formats your team produces, kept consistent for briefing

Rule of thumb: an avatar is a person, a core desire is what they want, and an angle is how you say it. If an entry mixes two of these, split it.

Structure avatars and sub-avatars

Start with a small number of primary avatars. Most DTC brands need three to six, not twenty. Only create a sub-avatar when the difference changes the messaging, not just the demographics.

In Brand Bible, create one entry per primary avatar with a clear, human name your team will recognize.
Write a short description covering their situation and the problem your product solves for them.
Add a sub-avatar only when a segment responds to a genuinely different message or pain point.
Avoid duplicating avatars that differ only by age or location if the message is identical.

Name avatars like your team talks

Names like "Budget-conscious first-time buyer" beat "Segment 3." If your strategists already have nicknames for customers, use those. Findability comes from recognizable names, not clever taxonomy.

Map core desires to avatars

Every avatar should have core desires attached, because the desire is what makes a hook land. Keep desires specific and outcome-focused rather than generic. "Feel confident wearing shorts again" is more useful than "look good."

Tie each core desire to the avatar it belongs to
Phrase desires as outcomes the customer would recognize in their own words
Reuse the same desire across avatars only when it genuinely applies to both

Organize marketing angles for reuse

Angles are where organization pays off most, because a good angle gets reused across dozens of briefs. Treat your angle list like an inventory of proven approaches.

Add each angle as its own entry with a short name and a one-line explanation of the framing.
Note which avatar and core desire the angle serves best.
Keep angles distinct. If two angles say nearly the same thing, merge them.
When you discover a new winning angle in testing, add it to the library so it is not lost.

Pro tip: If you have a spreadsheet of avatars and angles already, use the Excel/CSV bulk import template to load them all at once, then clean up naming inside ATIYO.

Keep the library findable over time

Organization is a habit, not a one-time cleanup. A few lightweight practices keep the Brand Bible usable as it grows.

Use consistent naming conventions so entries sort predictably
Archive avatars, desires, or angles you no longer use instead of leaving them to clutter the list
Do a quarterly review to merge duplicates and retire stale angles
Keep descriptions short so scanning stays fast

Next steps

Once your avatars, desires, and angles are structured, put them to work in new brief and read "Keeping every brief on-brand with your Brand Bible." When the library grows, "Archiving old Brand Bible entries" will help you keep it clean.