I’m Twitting: When a brand name becomes a verb

Mar 03, 2018 — Branding

“I don’t know the meaning of aphrodisiac and when it is used?” “Just Google it, nah!”

“What are you doing on your phone?” “I’m tweeting the quote I just came across.”

These are common conversations stating how the technology has become a crucial part of our daily lives. But these examples convey one significant thing about branding. Google is a search engine which comes to rescue to users when they want to search for something such as the meaning of words, best restaurants in the city, or any other information. But when someone advises about getting any information, they say, Google it. The brand name Google has become a verb. Similar is the case with tweeting. Twitter is a social media platform used for microblogging. The content posted on the platform Twitter is known as a “tweet”. So, whenever someone is posting something on the platform, a quote, opinion, or thought, they say, I’m tweeting. Again, the brand name Twitter has become a verb. Businesses have been trying to make their brand name a verb due to fear of losing the identity in a long run. The same is the case with Facebooking, Instagramming, Tindering, and WhatsApp.

The famous example of making the brand name a verb is Xerox. When someone wants to photocopy something, they use the term “Xerox”. It has become a default way to ask for a photocopy. It became so popular that the brand can lose its differentiation among the competitors. So, the company trademarked the term to prevent the similar products from using them to grow their businesses. But the scenario has been changed now. The era of internet has arrived and “verbing up” your brand name give a differentiability and provides an advantage. Businesses have been opting for this way to grow their brand presence and gain more market share in the global market. The mouth publicity is helping them stay ahead of competitors and secure a long-term future for business growth. The “verbing up” have given an immense popularity and helped in making the brand global.

Businesses are coming up with ideas and popularizing their brand name in terms of a verb. The social media platform Twitter trademarked the term “tweet” in 2009. However, the Twitter is taking careful steps control their brand verbing. The company announced that it will not take any legal action for using the term Twitter or Tweet for the third party related applications and services. However, the firm would take action against those who will use the terms in a confusing or damaging project. Twitter is not concerned about the term “Tweet” being immensely popular, rather the company put some control over what is expected of firms, products, and applications that are associated with it. This helps companies in getting popularity, increasing brand awareness, and preventing misuse of its name.

Branding and advertising agencies can use their creative intellect to help companies find a new brand name that can be “verbed up” and steps to be taken to encourage the use of “verbing” to grow a brand presence. Being one of the leading branding agencies in Pune , Kaizen Design Studio will help in the creative process of finding a name that can be verbed up and create further brand awareness.