PASCAL OPARADA
When looking for diapers for your baby, what name readily pops up in your head? Or when you are craving for noodles, which name do you pin it on?
In 2005, there was a vicious campaign against Indomie noodles, produced by Dufil Prima Foods. It was alleged that a particular noodles batch was contaminated and injurious to health. The campaign was so hot that consumers started avoiding Indomie.
It took serious serious campaigns by Dufil and the then Director-General of National Foods, Drugs and Administration Control (NAFDAC), the late Dr. Dora Akunyili, to counter the negative narrative.
Soon afterwards, Minimie noodles emerged. Produced then by May & Baker and later acquired by Dufil Prima Foods, it tried unsuccessfully to market Minimie noodles separately from Indomie but they were no match for Dufil’s prime brand of noodles.
What happened is that Indomie noodles has taken its pride of place, as the generic brand for noodles in Nigeria.
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‘Bleaching’ out
When Jik came as a bleach of choice in Nigeria, it has to battle to establish itself, as a leading brand in the industry. It battled to upstage others like Parazone bleach. Now, Jik is contending with others like Hypo, a fierce rival.
In trying to drive its value proposition, Jik has tried to tweak its pay-off line from “Never say bleach, say Jik” to “Just Jik it.” But it is difficult for Jik to stand Hypo because Hypo has stuck as the generic name for the brand.
What is driving Hypo’s rise to fame is its demography. It appeals to the lower class. They find it affordable and accessible rather than the ‘elitist’ Jik.
The same thing goes to Harpic and Hypo. While Harpic is trying to upstage Hypo with the ‘ordinary bleach’ commercials, consumers have stuck to Hypo because of affordability.
In designing a product, companies should define the demographic segmentation and it’s always good to have the pyramid approach in mind.
Make sure you establish solid brand identity guidelines.
Brand guidelines can protect your brand – its logo usage, tone, voice, tagline and other assets – across channels.
As companies grow, it’s even more important to have a solid foundation that helps brands avoid fragmenting their identities.
Educate your internal team.
In the face of must-have external marketing campaigns, many companies forget to communicate clearly with internal teams. Your team members are the people on the frontlines – the ones who add character to your brand. It’s vital that they understand proper ways to communicate about your brand externally as it evolves.
Don’t blindly follow successful competitors.
In your brand guidelines, you should have created a clear, differentiated value proposition and positioning statement. While your brand can be valuable in part because of its contrast to competitors, it can also lose value when it becomes too similar. Customers latch onto brands and follow them when they have unique personalities, distinctive core values and a relevant, resonating voice.
Genericide
However, after becoming a household name, which is the pinnacle of marketing goals, a brand could metaphorically burst with continued growth. The result leads to a brand becoming genericide.
Think about what you reach for when you want to brush your teeth. Or what to use for that headache. Or even what to use to stop your baby from pooping and messing up the place.
Maclean’s toothpaste or Pampers diapers are brands that have reached their generic growth and may soon fall victims to genericide
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What is Genericide?
According to Jeff Hetland, the term Genericide is used when a brand legally loses its mark by reaching a point where the product name is no longer differentiated and is, therefore, synonymous with the generic product.
In fact, Minimie had to launch an educational marketing campaign to inform consumers about the potential consequences of using brand names in a generic sense, like Indomie when they meant Minimie.
Recently, Google defended its name from genericisation in a federal court. The court decided against an entrepreneur that had built a case, claiming the term “google” when used as a verb is synonymous with “search the Internet,” thus labeled as generic. This time, Google held onto its brand identity.
According to Hetland, if your brand’s name rolls off the tongue, as a verb as the public uses your brand name when referring to a generic product, you could be in danger of becoming generic. But, to be realistic, this isn’t a huge concern for most companies.
