Brands aren’t people, and yet we relate to them as if they are.

We think of brands as cool, buttoned-up, or edgy. We feel proud of them, indifferent to them, or even avoid them altogether—in the same ways we react to actual people.

That’s because humans connect with humans. Organizations have learned that if they want customers, employees, and investors to engage with them beyond the products and services they sell, they need to infuse their brands with as much humanity as possible.

When people perceive brands as having human-like qualities, they form emotional connections that transcend product preference. Customers defend the brands they love as if they were friends. Employees rally around them with loyalty that goes beyond a paycheck.

By humanizing brands, companies create a psychological framework that shapes perceptions, drives loyalty, and influences behavior in ways traditional marketing cannot.

Anthropomorphizing the Brand

When an organization engages in brand strategy work, it’s not just a design or messaging exercise. It’s a journey of discovery—an attempt to create shared psychological structures that let customers and employees relate to the company as if it were a person.

Codifying elements like brand purpose, brand promise, brand characteristics, and brand values is, at its core, an act of anthropomorphizing. These choices answer the question: If this brand were human, what type of person would it be?

This is why Jungian archetypes are so enduring in branding. They give us shorthand for human qualities that brands can embody—whether it’s the Hero, the Sage, or the Caregiver. We project those qualities onto companies the same way we do with people, and the associations stick.

The Ideological Construct

As soon as you understand that brands are ideological constructs, you realize they can be constructed with intent. You’re not simply reflecting reality—you’re shaping it.

The question then becomes simple but profound: What sort of human should your brand be?

Define that clearly, and you’ll give your brand the only chance it has to form real, lasting human connections.