We have a very broad product portfolio, we have an extensive network and a great brand name.

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Marketing can shape consumers' reactions to goods and services: for instance, a product with a known brand name is judged to taste better than the same product with a generic brand.

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In fact, though, it started with a product originally dreamed up by the hyperactive Will King (hence the brand name) and produced in his kitchen in 1993.

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Brand-name drugmakers, though, can update warnings and precautions on product labeling before obtaining FDA approval.

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Its cosmetics product segment provides various products under the brand name of OHUI, Whoo, ISA KNOX and LacVert.

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According to the 2010 RBC Capital Markets study, when trial victories, settlements between drugmakers and dropped cases are combined, generic companies were able to bring their product to market before the brand-name drug's patent expired in 76 percent of the 371 drug patent suits decided from 2000 through 2009.

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Mike Kostoff, a brokerage consultant and managing partner at Kostoff Group, says the strategy seems sound, and using the Merrill Lynch brand instead of Bank of America's name could help the online product succeed.

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