Twitter, Quora, and many other brands asked their communities to describe 2020 in one word and published the best of those responses.

The words ranged from “exhausting” to “apocalyptic” while the phrases ranged from “I can’t breathe” to “never-ending nightmare”.

It’s not easy to describe an entire concept in one word, but people churned out many responses that made sense and were easily understood and widely appreciated.

Yet, when we think of concepts closer to home such as our brands, do we describe them in one word?

Amazon makes most people think of e-commerce or online shopping. 

Apple is synonymous with innovation, Volvo with safety, and Disney with magic.

Nike won the game of making us think about them as sports rather than just shoes.

Meanwhile, Google got us to replace the words “online searching” with “Googling”!

In fact, brands like Xerox, Sharpie, and Frisbee have become so synonymous with our lives that these one-worded brand names own us.