Personifying the company
The common view on this issue, is that personifying or personalizing a company is a modern innovation that came with mass-marketing and branding. But actually, the basis for the personified company came about much earlier.
From a legal point of view, it started with the Companies Acts of 1862 in UK which became a popular model copied throughout the world. With the introduction of Companies Acts you could create separate legal entities (just in the same way as individuals are separate legal entities) making it possible for an organization to get a life of its own, working in its own interest and being responsible for its actions in such a manner that it also could be sued by its owners (for example as Ericsson are being today).
From a communications point of view, it started earlier. Although critics during the late 1800s regarded companies as “soulless institutions” - which critics still do - the personifying of offerings had been around for an even longer period. In his book “The Art of Rhetoric”, Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) pointed out that when convincing someone it is always easier to make people identify with a problem or a solution if you are creating an example (a paradigm or a parable) instead of making a deduction or an inductive reasoning (an enthymem).
So how modern is this innovation?