New business world boast: We're the Tesla of...

(FILES) This January 14, 2014 firl photo shows the Tesla P85+ all electric car and its charging station displayed at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Electric carmaker Tesla announced June 12, 2014 it was giving up its patents to "the open source movement" to help spur electric vehicle technology. The unusual move comes with Tesla enjoying huge success, but against a backdrop of multiplying legal squabbles among technology firms over patents."All our patents belong to you," Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said in a blog post. "Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology." AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDASTAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images less (FILES) This January 14, 2014 firl photo shows the Tesla P85+ all electric car and its charging station displayed at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Electric carmaker Tesla announced ... more Photo: STAN HONDA / AFP/Getty Images Photo: STAN HONDA / AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close New business world boast: We're the Tesla of... 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

There's no better gauge of branding success than seeing a company's name become a buzzword, used in contexts that have virtually nothing to do with the company itself.

So let's congratulate Tesla Motors, the latest business to achieve touchstone status.

Tesla has made such a name for itself with its posh electric cars that writers and public relations people can't stop using its moniker to describe other things - many of them far, far removed from electric vehicles.

Veteran tech journalist David Pogue recently described a piece of office furniture as "the Tesla of powered desks."

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Entrepreneur magazine this spring proclaimed startup Casper as "the Tesla of mattresses."

Various other young businesses have been described, some perhaps fittingly, as the Tesla of scooters, skateboards, vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers.

This week, publicists namedropped Tesla while inviting the press to a San Francisco media event promoting an electric motorcycle.

"The Energica EGO Superbike has been called the Tesla of motorcycles - it is not only 100% electric," the press release reads, "but utilizes the most advanced Formula 1 and 3D printing technologies in its design and manufacture."

It's easy to see why companies making any kind of electric transportation would want to compare themselves to Tesla, whose Model S sedan has become an international success, piling up auto industry awards along the way.

With all due respect to Mitsubishi, no one's trying to label its new, plug-in motorcycle the i-MiEV of bikes.

But the word "Tesla" has also become shorthand for any advanced, craveable technology tricked out with cool features.

Tech reporters can toss it around with confidence that their readers will understand the reference and the image it conveys, in much the same way celebrity journalists refer to select supermodels and actresses by one name.

Tesla has now joined a small pantheon of tech companies with the same, one-word cachet. Sharing-economy startups love to call themselves the Airbnb of (insert whatever it is you're trying to share here).

Apple, Facebook, Google and Netflix have similar buzzword status - instantly recognizable references that can help the public understand the products or services of other companies they've never heard of before. Even if the comparison is sometimes a stretch.

This kind of deep brand recognition is all the more remarkable in Tesla's case considering the Palo Alto automaker doesn't advertise. (Tesla spent $9 million last year on promotion and marketing. Apple, in its most recent fiscal year, spent almost $1.3 billion.)

Tesla has built its brand on media coverage and word of mouth, its customers spreading the Model S gospel with evangelical fervor. Most companies can only dream of engendering such loyalty.

Who will achieve this rarefied status next? Will we someday speak of the Pinterest of cookbooks or the Clinkle of anything? I'll be counting down to that day on my Tesla of wristwatches.