Moving from brand to generic name

My good friend in Oslo is making Waldorff-salad to go with the turkey at our New Years-dinner tonight. I wonder who this Waldorff-person was. Would he/she know in advance that a salad would be branded with his/her name?

There are many products where the brands have turned into generic names. I wouldn´t say that the Waldorff-salad is, but melitta-filters and thermoses certainly are. Wettex might be on its´way. Google is already there. One of the conditions for this phenomenon is that there is one unique and specific product that is connected with the brandname. And it takes time. If there are copies coming up on the market too soon, the effect of the original product may not be strong enough.

I wouldn´t say that this phenomenon is something to aim for, but if you do - go for a very unique product which will be alone on the market for a while. Then you may succeed and your original brand will eventually turn into a wellknown generic product or service.