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Ask.com has gotten a lot of flack over its “algorithm” ad campaign, and it seemed possible that the publicity might hurt, rather than help, the company.  Now one survey has revealed that many people didn’t even associate the ads with Ask.com - instead, they believed those strange and controversial messages were coming from Google.

Ask.com Ad Campaign Associated With Google

This discovery comes courtesy of Barry Schwartz (posting under the name “rustybrick”), who found that 78 percent of his Digg respondents thought Google was behind the ads.  Now, for all you statisticians out there, I should note that only 27 people answered Schwartz’s question, and Schwartz himself admits, “This also only reflects the Digg market and does not reflect normal people who work in schools, in doctor offices, legal offices and so on.”

Still, for Ask.com to run a campaign that so many people think is the work of another company . . . well, if it weren’t for the poor response to the ads, I’d call it disastrous.  Yet random references to Jesus and the Unabomber didn’t go over well, so, as things stand, perhaps having people think Google’s behind it will help Ask.com, after all.

Let’s just pretend, though, that Ask might want to claim ownership of its commercials - this doesn’t seem like a huge leap.  Schwartz points to John Mueller, a veteran member of the Cre8asite Forum, who thinks it may still require a huge effort.  “Google is constantly doing something with [its] ‘algorithm’.  It even ranks #4 for ‘algorithm’ (on Google),” Mueller writes.

“Getting a ‘new’ company associated with a term like that is going to be a long, hard journey,” he concludes.

Well, at least, according to Schwartz’s numbers, 24 percent of people have already made the connection.