Great audiocast on Slate:

Zombie Brands! Why Tab, the Taurus, and so many other failed products are getting resurrected, by Daniel Gross

Ford Taurus. McRib Sandwich. Commodore computer. Indian motorcycles. Dodge Charger. Polaroid cameras.

I thought these products were dead

What gives? Why kill a product only to resurrect it?

Businessspeople and marketers put great store in the concept of brand equity, the set of intangible factors that account for the value of a brand or a product. Even when products fail or are withdrawn from the marketplace, they still retain vestigial brand equity. Some consumers used the product or will recall the name from advertisements.

And given the cluttered marketplace, any advantage helps.

That’s precisely what Ford recognized in slapping the Taurus name on an existing model, the 500. “Consumer awareness of the Taurus name is double the Five Hundred that it’s replacing,” Ford executive Mark Fields said in February when he announced the re-running of the Taurus. The company also noted that even after its retirement, the Taurus “is one of the top three most recognized Ford nameplates, behind only the F-Series and Mustang.” For a corporation not to use such an intangible asset would be wasteful.

Listen to the MP3 audio version of this story here, or sign up for Slate’s free daily podcast on iTunes.

Attack of the zombie brands! – By Daniel Gross – Slate Magazine

A follow-up post: Attack of the Zombie Brands II