I recently heard an interesting anecdote. The head of the consumer division of Xerox was visiting a developing economy, accompanied by a local manager. Travelling by car between two small towns, he noticed a sign on a dilapidated store advertising ‘Xerox Copies– 30 pesos a page’. The executive couldn’t believe his eyes. Literally in the back and beyond, here was a business using a Xerox product. He excitedly stopped the taxi, and before the local manager could react, leapt out and went running into the store. He was confused when the only photocopier he saw in the store was a Canon. Before he started grilling the store owner on this deception, the local sales manager intervened explaining that the words Xerox and Photocopying were very often used interchangeably in the country.

How often have we said; Do you have a Kleenex, give me an Aspirin, hand me the Scotch Tape These are called Genericized trademarks, where the brand name becomes synonymous with the product  or service class and usually happens when the product has sustained market dominance.

As a marketing executive, I would have been wildly ecstatic if my product became a household name. You would think that companies spending millions of dollars creating a brand would be happy with this outcome. But that is not the case. Companies want consumers to reach a fine balance of awareness and appreciation for the specifics of only their brand. Companies would not want us to ‘Xerox’ a few copies on someone else’s copier. They wouldn’t want us to Hoover with some other vacuum cleaner. A trademark can lose the right to registration and protection if it becomes generic and then it becomes fair game for any other company to exploit. Success does have its own set of challenges.