Play on Name recognition

Oct. 27, 2008
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Dear Readers:

It is always amusing that particular product names become synonymous with every product in that category. For instance, when you ask, “Do you have any Windex?,” you are presumably referring to a bottle of window cleaner. However, Windex is a universally accepted and understood word for window cleaner.
Now, I don’t do windows, yet when I need a vacuum flask to keep my coffee warm, it’s a Thermos. Any small little die-cast car is a Matchbox. A flying disc is a Frisbee. Even though these items could be made by other manufacturers that call them by their own brand names, more often than not people define them by the generic reference. When you cut yourself, it is not an adhesive bandage you seek. It is a Band Aid. For a stomach disorder, you reach for ExLax. By the way, are you planning to Xerox this article to make copies for all of your employees to read?

Such is the case with a security company that is making news. Mace Security International, Inc., Mount Laurel, NJ, owns the highly recognized name, Mace. When you talk about a personal defense spray, the popular reference made is always Mace. In addition to personal defense sprays, in security, the company’s products include digital video recorders, cameras, multi-purpose monitors, counter surveillance systems and receivers and other surveillance devices.
The electronic surveillance products are produced out of its Fort Lauderdale, FL location. Mace plans to continue developing and marketing cutting-edge security products and recently announced the acquisition of Securetek, a Miami, FL-based producer of electronic security surveillance products. The purchase price was approximately $1.9 million in cash. It included the acquisition of approximately $500,000 of inventory and the moving of the Securetek staff to Fort Lauderdale.
Mace Vice President of Marketing, Eduardo Nieves, Jr,, explains how the company plans to capitalize on its famous name. “The name Mace is as well known as Kleenex and Q-Tip,” he says. “We figured we have this great name in security, let’s grow our business. The Mace professional security products division acquisitions started back in 2001. Today, the division is doing over $7 million in sales, according to Nieves, Jr.

With its widening inventory line and added staff support, Mace is offering dealers an Authorized Dealer Program. “In addition to training and tech support, we will provide dealers with certain uses of the word Mace as an Authorized Mace Dealer, and help them with advertising and marketing on the local level,” Nieves, Jr. comments.

I wanted to see if the name held up. I hit the streets. When I took an informal survey of a few dozen adults (average age 45), every single person I questioned knew Mace, so the company’s brand recognition holds up here.

Susan A. Brady
Editor In Chief