We all FaceTime/Skype but we generally don't Facebook or Youtube. Similarly we Google & don't Bing (at least not me :D) The usage of 'Google it' subliminally cues the market leadership of Google.
So, why are some popular brands used in our daily conversations as verbs and other are not? Is it really a good idea to 'Verbify' a brand (Remember, not everyone is Google :P). Many may think that it's an ultimate compliment for a brand to be used as a verb and demonstrates the personal connection between the consumer & the company. However the 'intellectual attorneys' contend that using a brand name this way risks the 'Genricide', meaning losing the legal power to trademark.
Some prominent brand names that have been verbified:
Bikni: Trademark previously owned by the creator of Bikni- Louis Reard.
Xerox: A company that first introduced photo-copying machines in 1949, became synonyms to the word 'Photo-copy'. There are many reasons why Xerox lost it's market share to competitors, but they invested millions of dollars in fruitless campaigns to persuade people not to use Xerox as verb. Xerox did win the battle (Not in India though ) but lost the market!
FedEx: A US- phenomenon to indicate sending parcels via courier.
Photoshop: A software by adobe. But many people use it to indicate any modification of images.
Escalator: Product of Otis, which owned the trademark previously.
Harpic: A substitute used to refer to toilet cleaners. The trademark is owned by Reckitt Benckiser Group plc
From what we have seen from the above examples, some brands have become so 'Genricized' that we no longer associate them as brand names in our mind. From the example of Google, it would be safe to say that brand name as verb in a virtual monopoly situation actually beneficial. However, Google has repeatedly warned people against using their trademark as a verb, for if google becomes synonyms to 'search' (which it already has) Microsoft could advertise "Use Bing for all your complicated googling" :P.
When the verbification happens in a segment consisting of many small players, there is no benefit as seen with cases of Xerox & Bikni. The verb usage doesn't really matter, as the brand name connotation has well & truly disappeared, indicating that the branding managers did not do enough to protect their trademark from becoming generic.
Any more examples of beneficial or detrimental brand names as verbs?
Nice Anna well said... ��
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