Companies measure the penultimate achievement of their brand building and marketing of their product when the public at large adopt the brand-name of that product as a common noun (or in some cases verb).
When people say "pass me the Kleenex" meaning generically 'tissue' of any kind, describe the act of manipulating a digital image as "Photoshoping" or download a "Podcast" regardless of whether its to an I-Pod or not you are seeing the results of the ultimate in brand-awareness.
Seminal documentary maker Ken Burns can lay a little claim to this kind of fame. When a common (and, indeed, old) filmmaking technique of Pan & Scan animation or Document Camera animation - giving motion qualities to still images - becomes generically known throughout both professional and amateur circles as the "Ken Burns Effect" you know you've made a mark.
This fascinating interview from FORA.TV with Ken Burns brings out some thoughtful perspectives on the relationship between image and sound. As Ken says "too often in film, the word is the enemy of the picture"
