Hi, my name is Pouya Siadat and this is my first marketing blog for Comm 296. I will be discussing and sharing things that I find interesting in the expanding marketing world.

Last friday, while ordering food at Triple O’s something intriguing caught my attention, the server asked if we needed any “Kleenex.” I soon realized that she had replaced a noun, for a brand name that sells a specific object, in this case facial tissues. I proceeded by asking if the tissues were actually Kleenex and after a few seconds of confusion she confessed she did not know. This seemed like a great marketing technique because it made people associate an object with a brand name and it had become so popular that people accidentally participate in marketing Kleenex to others.

Kleenex was first to market facial tissue products in 1924, and has basically had market share dominance since then, with its main direct competitors being Puffs and Scotts. Kleenex does not necessarily have more advertising than Puffs, it does not necessarily have better facial tissues, but one thing it has for sure is genericized trademarking which will forever remain.

This got me thinking about the various other brands that had basically have taken over the generic names due to either market control or first to market. Me and my friend, Arde came up with a few more including: Walkman, Tide and Vaseline. After a quick google session,  we found a lot more interesting ones such as Chapstick, Stotch Tape which had taken over their respective market.

There is a longer list here: http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0768920.html

EDIT:  After looking over my writing I noticed I used another genericized term ” google” inadvertently, instead of saying search engine.