Brands that have become nominal
If the brand name has become a household name, this phenomenon can have both positive sides for the company and negative ones. On the one hand, consumers are beginning to correlate the name of the company with a certain group of goods. Another aspect of such a transition from the name of a brand to the name of a particular product is that over time the brand will lose its copyright and any company that produces one type of product or another will be able to use it.
Perhaps, many people know that the word “Xerox” was originally the name of the company that produces copiers. Now we perceive it not as the name of the company, but as a designation for a group of goods. But Xerox is not the only company who managed to turn a brand into a very specific product in people’s minds.
1. Sneakers.
In 1916, a shoe manufacturing company called Keds appeared in America. The company quickly achieved success in the production and sale of its products. Initially, the founders of Keds conceived the production of sports shoes, but it was so much loved by customers that many began to wear sneakers as casual shoes.
Brands that have become nominal
2. Hair dryer.
The German company “Foen” began producing hair drying equipment in the early 1900s. In German, the word “foen” (pronounced “fen”) means the warm wind of the Alps. And in many languages of the world, including Russian, this word began to call the well-known products for hair drying – hair dryers.
3. Diapers.
Pampers is part of Procter & Gamble. Previously, these same products were called diapers, but the overwhelming success of “Pampers” almost completely supplanted this word from the modern lexicon, replacing it with diapers.
Brands that have become nominal
4. Scotch tape
“Scotch Tape” (translated as “Scotch tape”) is the name of the adhesive tape company owned by 3M Corporation. Officially, scotch tape can only be called products of this company. However, there are a lot of adhesive tapes of different types, and all of it is called scotch, regardless of the manufacturer.
5. Jeep.
The company “Willys” during the Second World War produced a car called “Willys JP”. The second part of the name – JP – with time began to be pronounced not as “dj pi”, but as “jeep”, and to designate an off-road vehicle – a high-traffic vehicle.
6. Thermos.
The vessel designed to preserve food at the required temperature, in fact, became so called because of the company Thermos GmbH, which was the first to produce such goods. In a large number of countries, people call this thing on the road a thermos, and do not even suspect that it is a registered trademark.
Brands that have become nominal
7. Jacuzzi.
Italian immigrant Candido Jacuzzi in 1917 invented and established the production of hydraulic baths. It should be noted that the familiar word “jacuzzi” began to sound that way thanks to the Americans, who mispronounced the surname Jacuzzi (the Italian version sounds like Yakuzzi).
