How brands can avoid becoming victims of own fame

Businesses should prioritise branding efforts to avoid 'genericide', say experts

- Zenith Wong

Brands can be victims of their own fame, as the line between becoming a household name and losing the exclusive rights to that name is a fine one.

In a phenomenon called "genericide", a company's trademark can become so popular that it turns into a generic term for a service or product, with the company losing its ability to differentiate its products from that of its competitors, leading to a loss of market share.

The term was coined in the 1970s by the then executive director of the US Trademark Association, Ms Dorothy Fey.

Businesses would do well to prioritise their branding efforts, said experts to The Straits Times.

Genericide may have had a hand in Tupperware's descent into bankruptcy, as the name of the American food container company came to be synonymous with all such products.

Tupperware could no longer command a premium as it became harder for consumers to distinguish its containers from others, which likely affected Tupperware's financial stability, said Ms Dorothee Frey, founder and managing director of intellectual property practice IPHub Asia.

When the word Tupperware could be used to describe containers from other brands, consumers no longer associated it with the original brand's products.

This made them more likely to buy alternatives, which are often cheaper, and Tupperware could no longer charge a premium for its branding and reputation for higher-quality products.

Genericide can cause a situation akin to the market being full of counterfeits of one company's product, said associate professor of marketing at the Singapore University of Social Sciences Lau Kong Cheen.