The Power of Brand Names

The development and marketing of the Vitascope projector is a perfect example of how important product branding is, past and present. Starr details how Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat created and displayed their own projector in 1895/1896 and it was a huge success. The projector would eventually be marketed under the name "Edison's Vitascope" instead of them receiving the credit for two reason. Firstly Thomas Edison was contributing a large amount to finance the mass production of the projector and felt that he should get some credit and mainly because they believed that people would identify with the name Edison. At the time Edison's name was seen as one that was always connected with the new and the cutting edge, as a result their projector would have a better chance of being successful and taking on all of the rival products on the market. This practice continues to this day as small manufacturers with a good idea or product often licence or outright sell their IP's to large companies simply because they have a better chance of being successful if they have a name such as Microsoft or Ford attached to it.