This blog is in response to Lara Hon’s blog post about recognizable brand names.
After reading the blog post, I partially agree with Lara Hon opinions. A brand(like Kleenex) that has become synonyms with a product(like facial tissue) might suffer. It could become victim to “identity theft”. A competitor could benefit from the marketing and product promotion carried out by the prolific brand, which will result in the competitors gaining market share. Moreover, since consumers strongly associate a product with the brand, it might be difficult for a company to control its public perception because it cannot control what its competitors are doing. For example, if Kleenex’s competitor lets defect facial tissue into the market, Kleenex could suffer because consumers associate Kleenex strongly with facial tissue.
However, in my opinion brands like Kleenex also immensely benefit from their strong association with a product. For example, consumers will be more willing to purchase Kleenex facial tissue simply because they are more familiar with the brand. Additionally, competitors are limited in the ways they can market their product. For example, Kleenex’s competitors cannot use the word Kleenex to refer to facial tissue, while most consumers do, so they will not be able to connect with consumers as well as Kleenex.