And take a chill… Popsicle.

Can you name a brand that has been genericized?

Inspired by the recent events #microgrid2020 by Microgrid Knowledge* and #Greenbuild2020* by Greenbuild, I found an interesting article with a nice marketing twist.

A new solar company created a new affordable concept for microgrid that requires some assembly.
They said in an article: “We jokingly call ourselves the Ikea of microgrids.”

Now what is most fascinating is that this is how big brand names start turning into generic words.

When a brand gets so famous that we use it in a sentence as a noun or even a verb, you can imagine the marketing impact, and best, organically spread! The downside is these brands may lose their trademark. It is called: Genericization.

While Ikea is not on this list… yet, Kleenex and Xerox are famous examples.

But how many more are there?

I decided to “Google” it. 😉

I found a great article in Business Insider with a surprising list including #Escalator, #Thermos, #Chapstick, and many more…

Check out the article by Mark Abadi here

If you like a fun challenge, can you name a brand that has been genericized?

*You can read more about the Microgrid 2020 conference, Greenbuild 2020 and other green events at GreenWorldAlliance.org

Roxane RB.