Brand Failures

98 Brand failures
28 Xerox Data Systems
More than copiers
Xerox is one of the branding success stories of the 20th century. As with many
other similar successes, the company didn’t just create a product, it invented
a whole new category. Indeed, such is Xerox’s achievement that its brand
name has become a part of everyday speech. In the United States, xerox is a
verb, used when people are copying paper.
Chester Carlson was the man who started it all. In 1928, he invented plainpaper
copying, a process he referred to as ‘xerography’ (a term based on the
Greek words for ‘dry’ and ‘writing’). But it wasn’t until 1947 that ‘xerography’
became a business, as well as a technological, venture. That was when the
New York-based Haloid Company met with Carlson and acquired the
licence to develop a xerographic machine. One year later the words ‘Xerox’
and ‘xerography’ had been patented.
1949 saw the launch of the first ever Xerox machine, called simply Model
A. A few years later the Haloid company had changed its name to Haloid
Xerox and in 1959 it introduced the product which was to put Xerox on the
map. The Xerox 914 was the first automatic plain-paper copier and, as such,
attracted considerable media attention. Indeed, within months of its launch
Fortune magazine was writing enthusiastically about this machine, which
could make over seven copies a minute, and referred to it as ‘the most
successful product ever marketed in America.’
Word spread about this amazing product, and very soon it was becoming
an office essential. The company, rechristened the Xerox Corporation in
1961, was now listed on the New York Stock Exchange. By 1968, company