“Remember, it’s not a TiVo unless it’s a TiVo.”

So says the woman on the radio commercial selling that brand of digital video recorder.

I wonder if her script was Xeroxed on a Toshiba copier, or if she refreshed her throat with a cold glass of something from her GE Frigadaire. Maybe she brought her lunch in one of those new Glad-brand Tupperware containers.

All of the italicised brands had their names turned into commodities - because everyone else sold the same thing!

If a product is not a TiVo unless it’s got certain exclusive features, then every DVR becomes a TiVo. The line should be: “Remember if it’s not a TiVo it doesn’t have Feature-X”.

When product design is lame, the lameness flows through to their marketing. This type of advertising is, well, a Band-Aid.