Band-Aid, Chapstick, Kleenex, Q-tip, Vaseline, and Wite-out, are a few examples of companies that possess marketing brilliance and genius business strategy.
What do these companies all have in common you ask?
They have the strongest brand identity out there; as a result, they are the market leaders in their respective industries. Their brand name is synonymous with a general class of product or service and has a loss of secondary meaning. These brand names are known as genericized trademarks, and consumer’s that purchase products such as adhesive bandages, lip balm, facial tissues, petroleum jelly or correction fluid would more than likely be referring to these products by their colloquial name.
Below are some more examples of genericized trademark (AKA generic trademark, proprietary eponym):
Frisbee –> flying disk
Jacuzzi –> whirlpool bath/ hot tub
JELL-O –> gelatin dessert/jelly
Ping-Pong –> table tennis
Polaroid –> instant film
Popsicle –> ice pop/ ice lolly
Post-it –> sticky notes
Rollerblade –> inline skate
Velcro –> Hook-and-loop fastener
Windex –> hard surface cleaner
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