When you cut yourself, what do you do? You reach for a Band-Aid, not a bandage. This is called 'genericization', and it is something that Apple is dealing with now. Making a company's product synonymous with the actual product poses both benefits and hazards.
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| Can you name all these tablets? Probably not. |
On one side, the product becomes a household name. Asprin, Band-Aid, and Kleenex are all examples of this. Their products have come to define entire market for pain killers, bandages, and tissues, respectively. The same is happening to Apple's iPad. When people think of tablets, the first one they think of is the iPad. This gives Apple an instant advantage over competitors.
The downfall comes when a product becomes too generic, and competitors can use the product name to their benefit; zipper, yo-yo, and escalator are all examples of this.
The biggest issues that companies like Apple face is in the balance. They must get their brand to become a household name, while at the same time distinguishing it from competitors and generic knockoffs. What other products have fallen prey to this generification? How can companies increase brand awareness while not becoming overexposed or generic?
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