Can Porsche be construed as a successful and dynamic man in his 1940s? Research on person–object relations shows that consumers can anthropomorphize brands, thinking about them as if they were human characters (Belk 1988; Plummer 2000; Puzakova et al. 2009). They show no difficulty in assigning human characteristics to brands (Aaker 1997) as if they would describe other people (Azar 2015). Even more, they tend to maintain relationships with brands similar to the way they interact with other people (Fournier 1998). MacInnis and Folkes (2017) consider brand anthropomorphism as a contemporary phenomenon driven by societal changes such as the advent of digital avatars and robots that cue human knowledge schemas. Brand managers often also encourage consumers to attribute human qualities to their brands. They implement brand anthropomorphization techniques using brand characters, mascots and spokespeople to create symbolic meaning and improve brand differentiation. This, in turn, helps consumers with their identity maintenance and enhancement (Wee 2004). In addition, a humanized brand can have ‘quasi social influence’ triggering effects on consumers previously seen for responses to other people (Aggarwal and McGill 2012, p. 307). Although not fully understood (Freling and Forbes 2005), brand anthropomorphization can strengthen consumer–brand relationships, which ultimately affects consumer preferences, purchase, loyalty and brand love (Rauschnabel and Ahuvia 2014). Paradoxically, anecdotal evidence suggests that many brand managers do not believe their brand to be a person themselves, even though they aim at creating anthropomorphized brands in the minds of consumers (Puzakova et al. 2009). The reason lies in their approach of brand management. Since about a decade, identity-driven brand management has been getting increasingly popular. Compared with positioning-based branding, the main source of inspiration for brand-building has shifted from consumer and competitor analyses to the brand’s inner beliefs and vision (Kapferer 2012). Although brand personality is seen as a key component of brand identity, often it still does not consist of more than a set of traits used for brand personification in the minds of consumers.