What’s worse than no one talking about you?

Everyone always tells you how important it is to have a strong brand. Like the three rules of real estate (location, location, location), the three rules of branding seem to be repetition, repetition, repetition. But sometimes you can reach a level of too much repetition.

When was the last time you told someone to make a copy of something rather than to Xerox it? Or you asked for an adhesive bandage rather than a Band-Aid? Or for a facial tissue or cotton swab rather than a Kleenex or Q-Tip? And, most surprising to me, for acetylsalicylic acid rather than aspirin? All of these are trademarked, brand names which are fiercely protected by their parent companies. But all of these are in danger of being labeled as a “genericized trademark” (aspirin attained this status in 1921 in the US but still remains a viable trademark in some countries).

Genericized trademarks are those trademarks that have become a part of our everyday language, substituting the brand name for the product. When trademarks become genericized, the company that holds the trademark has to work “sufficiently” to prevent this broad use or else they risk losing their intellectual property rights to that name. This effectively means that they no longer can control how their brand name, which they worked hard to build, is used by others and cannot seek compensation when that name is used inappropriately.

Xerox recently tried to fight this trend with its advertising campaign using the tagline “You cannot xerox a document, but you can copy it on a Xerox brand copying machine.” Advertising campaigns such as this are one way for companies to show that they are trying to prevent people from using their brand name as a substitution for a product. Xerox is not out of the woods yet, as I’m willing to bet you still use xerox as a verb rather than as a reference to the brand. They’ve also lost ground in this fight as multiple dictionaries have defined the word “xerox” as a verb, as well as a noun, for years.

A more recent example of a trademark that is in real danger of being genericized is internet behemoth Google. “Google,” although the company has only been around a few years, has already become synonymous with searching the Internet on any search engine. How many times a day have you told someone they should “Google” it? “Google” has already been added to Webster’s dictionary as “to search for information on the Internet, esp. using the Google search engine.” Note the use of the word “especially” as opposed to “exclusively.” If Google does not start taking steps to protect their name, they will be in real danger of having it declared as a genericized trademark.

So what does this mean for you? Genericization is not a big problem for many small businesses. Not many people in the Triangle area use “Holy Cow” as a replacement for branded (i.e. “Has your company been Holy Cow’d yet?”). But this is a lesson to know how people are talking about you. It’s always important to know what people are saying about your company. This way, you’ll know when misinformation is spreading or a case of mistaken identity happens.