Several of today’s popular brands have become “super” brands. That is, their branding has gone beyond just what their product offers and the brand has actually become a part of our everyday life or our everyday speak.
For example:
If you can’t find something just “Google” it
Can you “FedEx” this for me?
Please pass me the “Kleenex”
In these few examples the brands have actually become synonymous with the physical general product. Google-ing something means search for something. FedEx something means ship something and Kleenex means tissue paper.
So what is the future of branding going to look like?
When someone wants to go off-roading are they going to say “jeeping?”
When someone wants a resume are they just going to ask for a “linkedin?”
When someone wants to make phone calls are they just going to say “skype me?”
When someone wants to review something are they just going to say “yelp it?”
I’ve already heard people refer to McJob to mean just an ordinary job
What’s next? Are we going to become so overly branded that our day to day communications are going to be filled with nouns and verbs that are actually brand or product names?
Can you think of any other “super” brands that we use as part of our everyday communication?
Thanks for reading
Hey Jacob,
For some reason this got me walking around my house looking for brand names used as verbs! I think there are (at least) a couple of major factors in moving from brand to “Superbrand”. First the name has to be elegant – short, clear and better than what the “real” name is. Like Frisbee is better than “flying disk” or Sharpie better than “permanent marker”. Second the brand has to be ubiquitous – some combo of first mover and dominant market share.
So I don’t think “jeeping” or “Linkedin” will make it. But I have a feeling that Twitter shall forever trump microblogging…..
Aaron
@aaron
it’s good to hear from you again, it’s been a while since we spoke. don’t feel bad about looking around your house, I did the same thing as well 🙂 I do agree with you, it appears that there are a few characteristics that would make up a “superbrand” and the you mentioned are definitely worth noting.
I really do wonder what branding will look like in 10 years or so.
thanks for reading and for commenting aaron
This will sound weird but I think “Skype me” is already associated with low-cost international calling. About a month ago, a vendor in far-east asked me to “Skype him” instead of making an international call.
@sachendra
interesting, i haven’t heard too many people refer to skype yet, but it looks like its taking over!
thanks for commenting and for reading