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If you think you are having flashbacks every now and then, you are right. So are manufacturers, who grab onto every advantage—even a dubious one—to make their products stand out in a crowded marketplace. Thus, Ford pulls the 500 badge and revives Taurus. Coca-Cola revives Tab as Tab Energy, and Life magazine is demoted to a newspaper insert. From Slate's Daniel Gross:

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 Even when products fail or are withdrawn from the marketplace, they still retain vestigial brand equity.

— SAM GLOVER

(Photo: joelf)