Jousting for the Top Brands

What's in a name? If the name has a familiar ring to it, like Jell-O and Oreo or NyQuil and Clearasil, it can be worth millions of dollars. Companies that sell household products with well-known brand names have become the hottest targets in the latest round of merger wars. Last week two big packaged-goods firms--Richardson-Vicks and Revlon--escaped hostile takeovers, but only by rushing into the arms of other suitors.

Richardson-Vicks, which sells such popular products as NyQuil cough syrup and Clearasil acne cream, agreed to sell out to Procter & Gamble for $1.24 billion and thus avoid a bid from Unilever....