Thursday, March 16, 2006

BrandVerbs!

I've always been facinated how certain brands replace product names, such as Coke=soda, Kleenex=tissue paper, sharpie=permanent marker, ipod=mp3 player, etc. I've noticed in todays tech world that powerful brands also replace our everyday verbs. When a brand replaces a noun or verb in our mindsets, then it becomes a brand Sneezer (a brand that spreads fast and becomes ridiculously powerful!)
Here's my short list of brands that have replaced a few of my everyday verbs!

I'll ____ it!
Google= search/find
Tivo= record
Xerox= copy
Ebay= sell(maybe buy or advertise)
Fedex= mail (with quality)
Kazaa= download
?= shop (maybe amazon someday)
?= email (maybe gmail soon)

posted by tango! at Thursday, March 16, 2006 | permalink

5 Comments:

  • This is what we call monopoly in certain industry I guess.

    Although it makes life simple,but sometimes is not a good thing to consumers.

    Microsoft was a good example.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3/16/2006 10:05:00 PM  

  • it's not a monopoly, its brand recognition. Microsoft, Nike, Ikea, AT&T, Wal-Mart, etc are all huge compnaies, if not monopolies, but I have rarely, if ever, heard them used in such a way to replace a noun, or verb. Microsoft is a monopoly in software. Have you ever heard anyone say, I'm going to get some Microsoft?

    By Blogger tango!, at 3/17/2006 08:54:00 AM  

  • Sorry,I mean Windows when I say Microsoft.

    I like your point on "sneezer"! But it surprises me that BLOG,such a cool platform,was not branded.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3/17/2006 11:00:00 AM  

  • brands that directly say what they do don't seem to work. tickets.com, email.com, buy.com, sell.com, mail.com, search.com, etc

    A brand replacement name needs to create a new name, not define what is already known, otherwise, it's boring. Would you trust a compnay called, "notebooks" to buy your next laptop. Would you buy a car branded "Car". buy water from compnay "water"....a brand enhances a word. dasani is enhanced water. lexus, is a luxuary car, but not just a car. etc

    By Blogger tango!, at 3/17/2006 11:53:00 AM  

  • Good point.

    But my point is that no one was able to brand its name on the blog platform and milked the market(became a sneezer)when it first came out.Flikr has done a great job on sharing photo,but other branded blog services such as Typepad and Wordpress are far less than impressive.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3/17/2006 04:48:00 PM  

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