If you've watched television at all in the past few months, you've likely seen the commercial for dishwashing soap, Electrasol, in which they show a lot of sparkling (plastic) diamonds and announce that "Finish is the new name for Electrasol."
Huh? Does this mean that good ol' Electrasol, that's been around since automatic dishwashers were invented, has been improved? Nope, they just decided to change the name. Period. End of story.
But why would they do that? Electrasol is practically the generic for automatic dishwashing soap and if it's not the leading brand, I'd be very surprised. My wife tried another "store" brand a few months back and the stuff just wouldn't clean the dishes. So she went right out and bought a new pack of Electrasol—problem solved!
Now I know that the name "Electrasol" kinda reeks of retro, but is that bad if the product sells well and has a name that is known and remembered for quality?
Finish is the name that the manufacturer uses for the product in other areas of the world—did they just want to consolidate? Personally, I don't care what they call it in France, I just like clean dishes.
Branding takes a lot of time and effort to develop. But once a strong brand is established, why mess with it? I had a difficult time remembering Electrasol's "New" name in order write this. After all, "Electrasol" means clean dishes. "Finish" means to complete something (what? ...dishes?) …or a native of Finland.
Point is: if the branding image is strong, why would you want to start over?
What's a good new name for Kleenex? How 'bout "Sneezex? …or V8 Juice? Could become V6 Juice with all the high gas prices. Wonder Bread …hmmmm?
Gotta go now, the dishes need to be done. Where's the Electrasol?
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