Science of Swarms

Measuring Attributes of Brands

Combining attributes with the brand name in a degree-of-separation query permits a researcher to measure and compare the strength of a particular attribute with different brands. Figure 9 investigates whether Lexus or Mercedes "own" the attribute "modern".

Figure 9 . Tracking the association of brands "Lexus" and "Mercedes" with attribute "modern"

As figure 9 illustrates, "Mercedes" has a much stronger association with "modern" than "Lexus". Looking at the key terms in context, it turns out that "Lexus and modern" are close to "Toyota, 4×4, Ferrari, and Dodge RAM", while "Mercedes and modern" are associated with Ford, Motorcycles, Accessories, and BMW", giving valuable hints to the marketing and brand manager on how to position Lexus to increase the association of the Lexus brand with the attribute "modern".

Figure 10 shows how which topics of daily American care most about. Four degree-of-separation queries about "rising oil price", "war in Iraq", "terrorist London airplaine" and "Mel Gibson Jew" were taken immediately after the attempted terrorist attack on airplanes by Islamic terrorists in London.

Figure 10. What the US citizens care about most

As it turns out, the topic generating the most buzz on the Web beginning of August was Mel Gibson badmouthing the Jews. (The previous week Mel Gibson had gotten lots of negative press for making anti-Semitic remarks in Hollywood).

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