The new "Coke"

When you get a cut and need to put something over it to keep it from getting infected, what do you use? In the UK you probably use a "plaster". If you live in the US, I really doubt the word that came to mind was "adhesive bandage strip". You probably immediately thought Band-Aid - which is certainly not the only brand of adhesive bandage strip.

When you want a cold carbonated beverage, what do you want? In much of the US, you would say either "pop" or "soda", but if you live in Texas, your answer is Coke - even though there are certainly other brands of cold carbonated beverages. And in fact, the discussion in Texas becomes somewhat funny:

"You want a Coke?"
"Sure!"
"What kind?"
"Pepsi"

But these cases of a product name taking over the market are rare. In fact, I had intended to use the "minivan" as another example, thinking that the original Dodge Caravan was indeed marketed as the "Dodge Minivan", but alas, I can't find any history saying that anybody had ever copyrighted the term.

These things are so rare to happen that you've got to wonder if they will again. There are so many choices in any kind of product that even the most ubiquitous of companies can't seem to make their brand name synonymous with the category of product itself. If people still say "coffee" and not "Starbucks", then this must be an exceedingly difficult thing to achieve. (Brand name meme-hood?)

So here are a few ideas I have for "the next Coke" (or "the next Band-Aid")

• iPod (will all MP3-players just become iPod's?)
• Google (referring to any search)

And some honorable mentions:

• Tivo - although they have almost as much market dominance with DVR/PVR's as Apple with iPods that even 50% of all DVR's being called a Tivo is a shortcoming
• Craig's List - can't be on the true list because there's really just no comparison
• Linux - I think it's just funny that products are released for "Linux/Unix" as if they're different things
• Ultimate Fighting - UFC is Ultimate Fighting Championship and is a specific set of rules for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Honorable mention on two counts: it's not like the whole world uses the term every day, and second, many within UFC use the term MMA

So which ones am I missing?