Matthew Peterson developed his personal brand around his career journey of overcoming challenges with autism. His brand follows the hero's journey archetype by embracing his autism diagnosis after years of struggle. He chose colors, fonts, and imagery to elicit trust and dependability in clients while subtly representing autism. Telling the story of how he triumphed over adversity to pursue his dreams of college and entrepreneurship aims to inspire clients to support him.

1. PERSONAL CAREER JOURNEY
Storytelling for Marketing (MKT163-0
)
October 202
0
Matthew Peterson

2. SELF
REFLECTION
After graduating from high school in 2007, I worked as a cashier at
PetSmart. I attempted to begin college at Pikes Peak Community
College in 2008 where I was unable to complete the semester. I
continued working at PetSmart until I was not being scheduled for
enough hours. I decided to then apply for a job with G4S, a major
international security company. I was assigned to Memorial Hospital
(Central location) which is one of the busiest trauma centers in
Colorado Springs. In 2014 UC Health found that our in-house security
team was too expensive as we had transitioned into becoming city
employees at the point
.
Once our entire department got laid off, I applied for a job as a
driver for Transwest Freightliner Dealership and worked there for 5
years. I met my wife and got married in June of 2018. My wife motivated
me to pursue a formal diagnosis. In November of 2019, I was formally
diagnosed as high functioning Autistic. She then convinced me to find
what I was passionate about for work, leading me to transition back to
working in security. In April of 2019, I was hired with Pal American
security and in less than 90 days became a Night Shift supervisor. In
January of 2020, I was fired due to my challenges with socializing. My
wife then encouraged me to accomplish my dream of earning a
Bachelor’s degree and extensively researched a program that would
work for me. In February of 2020, I enrolled at Full Sail.

3. TIMELINE
After my diagnosis and later, my decision to return to school, I
reflected on what my interests were. I realized that through out
the years, television had become an escape of mine. I found that
focusing on what is on tv was a method I used to cope with too
much sensory input. I am very creative as well, which is what
lead me to my decision to go for Digital Marketing. I felt that my
escape had provided me with plenty of examples of both
successful and unsuccessful marketing strategies. I also feel that
my Autism gives me an advantage in a way, as I can see things
from certain perspectives that other people cannot.

4. PERSONAL
ARCHETYPE
• The hero archetype seems
fitting for my story as I
have had to overcome
challenges from my Autism
that not every individual on
the Autism spectrum, can.

5. PERSONAL
LOGO
• I chose this as my logo for
several reasons. I felt that having
a puzzle piece would represent
my Autism, without making that
obvious
.
• I chose the arrow because I
wanted to give the client the
feeling that part of the value that I
bring to them includes forward
movement. An example of
successful marketing that
includes an arrow in order to
inspire the thought of moving
forward can be found in the logo
for the brand Fedex, as there is
an arrow that can be spotted in
the negative space between the
E and the X in their logo.

6. COLORS
• I chose the colors orange to
represent the Hero archetype,
while also including blue to
include the aspects of the
Creator archetype as well
.
• I also wanted to connect to
(as seen in the image) to
thoughts of clarity,
friendliness, trust and
dependability.

7. FONT
• I chose the font Barlow
Light because I felt it was
easy to read, concise and
connects back to the
concept of dependability,
strength, clarity and yet
maintains a friendly image
at the same time.

8. BRAND STATEMENT
• The brand statement: Bringing innovation
and clarity to help customers solve the
puzzle of digital marketing
.
• I felt that it was important to mention two
of the most important aspects of my
values while connecting back to the
puzzle piece image in my logo
.
• I also felt including the puzzle piece would
be a subtle nod to my Autism as well.

9. STORYTELLING ELEMENTS
• The story telling elements used in the presentation of my career journey include a
classic version of The Hero’s Journey
.
• This presentation aligns with the hero’s journey as I had to become the “hero” of
my own story: After failing at my first attempt at college, I felt defeated and gave
up on that dream. I spent more than a decade suppressing my embarrassment
over never completing a college education
.
• Through overcoming the adversity of having an undiagnosed developmental
disability for most of my life, I was able to accept my new identity and instead of
giving up, decided to embrace the positive aspects of my Autism
.
• In doing so, I was able to overcome my fear and doubt in order to finally go for my
dreams and eventually develop a successful business venture with a product that
is meant to help others with sensory issues.

10. CONCLUSION
• My brand follows the hero’s journey and uses colors and fonts to elicit
emotions from the client that would excite them to work with me
.
• Using the emotional story of overcoming adversity combined with the
colors, fonts and images I chose is meant to have the client essentially
become someone who wants to “be in my corner”
.
• Including the story of my Autism is a crucial aspect of my brand as it is
the source of the potential emotional response mentioned above.