What Sort of Human Is Your Brand?

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

We think of brands as “cool” or “buttoned-up” or “edgy” and we have very visceral reactions as to whether or not we want to associate with them.

We’re proud of them or avoidant of them or indifferent to them, in all the same ways that we are with people.

This is because, as humans, we connect with other humans, and organizations have figured out that in order for their customers and employees and investors to connect with them beyond the products and services they offer, they need to infuse their brands with as much humanity as they can.

When people perceive brands as having human-like qualities, they tend to form emotional connections that transcend mere product preference.

This psychological bond can lead to increased brand loyalty and some pretty interesting behavior, with customers defending the brands they love as they would an actual human friend.

By humanizing brands, companies create a powerful psychological framework that shapes consumer perceptions, drives loyalty, and influences buying behavior in ways that go far beyond traditional marketing approaches.

When an organization engages in brand strategy work, they embark on a journey of discovery and exploration in search of shared psychological structures that allow their customers, employees, and selves to relate to this thing they’ve created, this company, by which I mean this idea that they spend so much of their time with.

We want our work to be meaningful so we put meaningful work into shaping our brands, so that there’s significance behind our existence that extends beyond simply making a profit.

When we codify aspects of a brand like its brand purpose, brand promise, brand characteristics, and brand values we’re essentially anthropomorphizing the brand so that we can understand it on and emotional level.

We’re making intentional choices as to what type of human we would want our brand to be if it was indeed human.

This is primarily why we use Jungian-inspired archetypes to identify with some of the most well-known companies in the world.

As soon as you understand that brands are ideological constructs, you realize that you can construct your brand as ideologically as you’d like.

Figure out your ideal human, and then shape your brand to be just like them.

It’s the only way for your brand to form true and lasting human connections.