Genericide is when a brand gets so famous its name becomes the category. Escalator and aspirin were trademarks once. Both died of fame. Xerox and Velcro campaign against the same fate, Velcro with its own music video, hoping the lawyers sing well enough to save the mark. Big brand problems, for sure.

Almost none of the businesses I work with will ever have that problem, though. Theirs is the ugly twin.

Generiphylactic

Genericide is when people stop hearing a trademark as a brand and start hearing it as the product itself. Generiphylactic is what I'm gonna call the reverse: a brand guarding its own genericness. Every choice comes out predictable: safety-first brick stacked into a wall built around sameness. The name never separates from the category because it's quarantined inside it. It's genericism protecting itself.

What I get tapped for is usually this side. A business whose name nobody repeats, whose logo could trade places with a competitor's. Not one customer would notice the trade.

One Question Settles It

In 2017, a federal appeals court looked at "google" as a verb. It asked whether people still connected the word to one company. They resoundingly did, so the trademark survived. That's Elliott v. Google, Ninth Circuit. The test the court applied comes from trademark law itself, and it comes down to one question. Does the name bring one source to mind?

Read that question again from the trailhead instead of the summit. Google's problem was being the only thing people think of. Yours is being one of six things people can't tell apart. Same question, opposite failure.

The Self-Test

Run your brand through the same question, honestly. There's no benefit to convincing yourself it's distinct because you want that to be true. Four checks, ten minutes:

1. Cover the name on your website's homepage. Would a customer still know it's you, or could it be anyone in your category?
2. Ask your last five customers what they'd describe your company as looking like. Count how many describe the category instead.
3. Put your logo in a row with four competitors'. Ask somebody outside the company to pick yours in two seconds.
4. Read your own tagline out loud. Could a competitor use it tomorrow without changing a word?

Fail two or more, and your brand blends right in. That sameness is already costing you. It shows up in vague referrals and prospects who can't remember which firm they meant to call.

The View From the Trailhead

Fortune 500 brands have to defend the top of the mountain. Everyone else is standing in the trailhead parking lot wondering why no one recognizes 'em. The cure at the trailhead runs opposite to the cure at the summit. Google protects one meaning. You have to build one first.

The word for what you're building is ownable. An identity system so specifically yours that nobody could confuse it for anyone else in the category. Start with what brand design covers, then find which elements already carry your recognition.

That sameness didn't happen by accident, and it comes out the same way. Cover your name on everything you shipped this month. Would your best customer still know it was you?

Common Questions

What is genericide?

Genericide is when a trademark gets so famous it becomes the category's generic word and loses legal protection. Escalator and aspirin both died this way in US courts. It's a problem reserved for brands at the very top of their categories.

What is the primary significance test?

It's the legal test for whether a trademark has gone generic, from 15 U.S.C. §1064(3). Courts ask what the word's primary significance is to the public: one source, or the product category itself. In Elliott v. Google, "google" survived because people still connected it to one company.

Does a small business risk genericide?

Almost never. Genericide requires the kind of fame that makes your name the category's word. Small and mid-sized businesses face the opposite risk. A brand so careful to fit the category that customers can't tell it from competitors. That problem costs revenue without ever involving a court.

How do I tell if my brand blends in?

Cover the name and see if anybody knows it's you. Line your logo up with four competitors and time how long picking yours takes. Ask recent customers to describe what you look like. Answers that describe your category instead of your company mean the sameness is already costing you.

This Was Originally a LinkedIn Post

This article started as a LinkedIn post. If you're into that kind of thing, I post a few times a week. The link's just below.