Brand Tags: Word association reveals attitudes toward tech brands

This is mildly interesting: Brand Tags, a site that asks visitors to play word association with commercial brands. You see a brand name and logo, and type in the first thing that comes to your mind. (In other words: Just what does "Clorox" mean to you, bub?)

Chukking in the responses is fun for a while, but then you want to see what everyone else has said about those brands. You can do that, selecting a name from a big alphabetical list; the page returned shows a "cloud view" of all tags that visitors have input, with size showing frequency of the tag. Big letters = popular tag.

As an amusing diversion on this fine day, let's look at three big names in tech. Scan the big-letter words in the shrunken images below to get a sense of how people view the brand:

(click on an image to go to the original and updated page)

Google	Apple	Microsoft

Hmm, what've we got? For Google, "evil" catches the eye; is that a genuinely negative view of Google, or a positive association with the company's famous "don't be evil" mantra, or just some funnin'? (What? People goofing around on the Internet?) Otherwise, there are plenty of positive word associations for the search giant.

Apple? Again, some positive words, especially "innovation" and "innovative", though "expensive" and "overpriced" sneak in there too. It's not a secret any more that Macs fare well against other makers' high-end PCs, but nor is that fact widely known, and the company's lack of low-end offerings keeps that "expensive" perception going strong.

And Microsoft? Well, "computers" came up big, and that isn't a bad brand association... but beyond that, methinks the company's PR team has some big, big work to do. I see one word writ large that's really a low blow. (I meant "s**t", not "windows".)

Interesting stuff, though I wouldn't read too much into it all. There's obviously some snarky "ballot-stuffing" going on in there; the site's creator laments as much. It's a clever idea, though, and if the jokesters could be weeded out, Brand Tags would be a nifty (and sometimes painful!) tool for marketers to see how their brands are perceived.