Corporate Brand Mind Survey from Harvard University

August 27, 2008

Harvard University’s Department of Psychology is conducting some interesting research related to corporate brand reputations, and you can participate by taking a 10-minute survey on the Mind Survey website.

The tests are broken down into 19 categories related to emotional triggers, and each test references the same collection of corporate brands .

The 19 surveys included in the Mind Survey project focus on:

Harm
Memory
Planning
Guilt
Familiarity
Punishment
Support
Pleasure
Communication
Morality
Investing
Pain
Desire
Action
Self-control
Worth
Fear
Liking
Accountability

The coporations included in the Mind Survey are:

Phillip Morris
Whole Foods
Google
Starbucks
Toys R Us
Exxon
Enron
Playtex
Ben & Jerry’s
Wal-mart
TWA
Apple
Disney

I’m curious to see the results of this study, and I’ll be interested to learn more about the methodology, including why some defunct companies were included. More importantly, I think an interesting brand test would be to take the 19 words used by Harvard University to help identify consumers’ perceptions of brands and apply them to your own brand. How does your brand rate in consumers’ minds? How does it stack up against the competition? Is your brand the one that’s, “more capable of putting plans into action” (action) or “more capable of exercising self-restraint over desires or impulses” (self control)?

The blogosphere is buzzing about the Mind Survey. Give it a try when you have some free time. You’ll get a ranking of your responses immediately along with a comparison of your responses to the average respondent. You can follow the link to take the Mind Survey and start rating corporate brands!

Image: Flickr

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