Brands!

Well.. just a few thoughts that were triggered by my friend, Sats' comments, abt me trying to advertise for Kodak through my previous blog. :-)
Talk about Brand building. Some brands are so tightly coupled with the products, that a similar product of some other brand also ends up being called by the established brand's name! Some brands just monopolize the market, and are the first ones to be referred for a particular product.
Lemme explain.

DALDA. Yeah, the name which is so very synonymous to any vegetable oil being used in thousands of Indian households. Be it any [ read any brand's] vegetable oil, its almost always called and refered to as DALDA. Now thatz some really serious brand building, say laymen :-)

TINOLPOL. This was a famous bleaching agent esp of the yester years, for clothes, . TINOPOL [Calcofluor White] was made synonymous with the degree of whiteness, to the extent of calling sparkling canines Tinopol white! :-)

CADBURY or DAIRYMILK. This ain't as prevelant as the previous one, but many might agree that generally any bar of chocolate is referred as CADBURY . Esp in the LMC and MC households of India. Also, the ubiquitous DAIRYMILK [ its Cadbury's milk chocolate brand. There are plain chocolate bars offered by Cadbury as well, under Cadbury Bournville ]. Any Cadbury's regular bar in India[as in, not the Temptations and Desserts etc] is referred to as DairyMilk.

KODAK. This can be an example of how effective a product is marketed. Many refer the moments to be cherished or recorded as the Kodak Moments.

RASNA. This soft drink concentrate really ruled [and still rules i guess?] the household sector. Come summer and Rasna was omnipresent in most of the Indian households. Such widespread has been its appeal that you can still come across a housewife asking.. "kya loge? chai, coffee, Rasna? "

AMUL BUTTER. This case is similar to the DALDA case. This breadspread has been so popular,that it almost monopolised the pasturised salted butter market. Even recipes used to refer "100 gm of AMUL Butter.. " :-)

Am adding a few more examples,

XEROX. Its so soooo common to say getting a Xerox, when all one means is getting a photocopy of the original document. Things being identical are synonymous to things being Xerox copies..and that says all about the phenomenal success of the Xerox Office Copiers.
PS: Thanks Manoj, this brand is sooo popular that just slipped outta my mind to consider it as a brand at all! :-)

TETRAPAK. The packaging solution provided by Tetrapak [packaging,processing and aseptic technology] became so popular, that this form of packaging has has introduced the brand itself as the commodity.. "stuff being tetrapacked.. " says it all.

GODREJ. The storewells of this brand have gained huge stronghold in Indian households. And any cupboard with a similar look n feel is fortunate enuff to be called a "Godrej" :-)

VOLVO. A luxury bus with A/C, TV and reclining comfortable seats is called a VOLVO. :-)

BISLERI. Bottled/Packaged drinking/mineral water. Be it anything, all is BISLERI.

BANDAID. be it a bruise or a boil, scrape or a cut, one applies a BandAid. The adhesive bandage brand of Johnson & Johnson really seals shut any other competion.
And there are many which are ubiquitous on the home medication front; Vicks, Crocin, Glycodin, Benadryl, Tiger Balm, Iodex, .. and the list goes on...

Many of these brands hail from the yesters, and have maintained their popularity through the passing years. Some brands were popular once, but now one rarely hears of them. [remember the soft drink GoldSpot? or the mini chocolate bar, Fonda? , the Kismi toffees ?]
The olden days had lesser options and markets weren't flooded with brands and products galore. Some brands sustained the flood and are still enjoying a loyal consumer support. Others will just keep coming, and going too..