Before you answer the question posed in the title of this post, your initial question might be: What is an App-Based Ride Service?

The Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport is using a handy sign directing passengers on where to go to access their favorite one, does that help?

App-BasedRideSign

I’m thinking the designated area in the airport is where passengers can hail Uber or some alternative brand to Uber, as opposed to a traditional taxi and/or cab, right?

As you know, we love to write about signs, and the one above sparked a thought and reminder about the importance of a frequent topic on this blog: Brand owners launching a new category of product or service do well to design a simple generic category name too.

Remember how it took Rollerblade an entire decade to come up with “in-line skates”?  Before that, the generic name it adopted at the USPTO was “boots equipped with longitudinally aligned rollers used for skating and skiing,” leading to a multitude of generic Rollerblading misuses.

We covered this topic in the fitness tracker category too, so let’s not forget the insights we covered in: A Missed Step in Branding Fitness Trackers?

Why the concern about having a bite size consumer-friendly generic category name? Besides risking a loss of rights, taking this step can help avoid appearing on our Genericide Watch list.

So, back to App-Based Ride Services, what say our marketing types, does this name appearing on the sign accurately, efficiently, and generically name the category created by Uber?