Only a few spots left to join us for the Digiday Publishing Summit

Join us Sept. 14-16 in Miami to connect with top publishing leaders

SECURE YOUR SEAT

Manchester United is Evil, and Other Things Footy Tags Tell Us

Ever wondered what pops into people’s heads when they see the brand for English soccer team Manchester United? Of course you have. Turns out the words “assholes,” “bandwagon,” “champions” and “evil” come to mind first for many.

This is, at least, according to Footy Tags, a side project from social content technology firm Percolate. The company created the fun tool in celebration of its London launch, hence the focus on English soccer teams. It prompts users to type the first word that comes to mind when see the logos of Premier League football (sorry, “soccer”) teams as quickly as possible. The data are then aggregated and displayed on a tag page to visualize trends. It’s a refresh of the Brand Tags site Percolate co-founder Noah Brier created back in 2008, and later sold to Solve Media.

The results of Footy Tags are interesting. Alongside the obvious player and manager names that bubble to the top for each team, tags like “cheats”, “scum” and “money” also prove popular across the board, as well as a few racist slurs, unfortunately. Check out the results for Chelsea in the image below.

“Our aim is to determine the perception associated with every Premier League Club globally,” Brier wrote in a blog post announcing the site. He added that the company has already started to talk to sports teams and leagues about using the service.

Screen shot 2013-09-17 at 11.10.17 AM

More in Marketing

Ad Tech Briefing: Regulatory storm clouds gather and scatter over Big Tech, and indies count the cost

The FTC’s Amazon charges presage Google’s second antitrust let-off in a year, while The Trade Desk sheds hundreds.

Anthropologie is launching Nike as sneaker shoppers increase nearly 30%

The retailer is planning a full digital campaign to accompany the launch. The first of nine styles launched on Monday, with the rest rolling out by September 21.

Future of Marketing: Brands want creators who can win over humans and machines at once

Why creator briefs are starting to look like a map of AI search queries.