The .volkswagen
Dot Brand
Volkswagen
AG is one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers. Its portfolio
of 12 brands include Audi, Porsche, Ducati and Scania. In 2013 it delivered
more than 9.7m vehicles with group sales of 197 billion euros. It also
operates in other business fields. The group operates 106 production
plants in 27 countries and has more than 572,000 employees.
SPECIAL
NOTE: Volkswagen Group of America Inc. is a subsidiary of Volkswagen
AG. Curiously, the group's application for its brand domain extension
expressly states that it will be assigned to serve that subsidiary:
The .volkswagen
top-level domain is intended to serve the needs of the US branch and
to benefit the worldwide Volkswagen Group...
Volkswagen
Group of America hereby states that... ...all domain names in the
.volkswagen top-level domain will be registered to, and maintained
by, Volkswagen Group of America for its own exclusive use...
However
(as described in "Geographic Dot Brands" below) the company
will eventually apply to be able to use geographic descriptors in the
domain string, which implies an international role for the domains beyond
just the American subsidiary.
Also, some
of the proposed domains specifically named in the application similarly
imply an international functionality — names like Maintenance.volkswagen
and Lamborghini.volkswagen.
If Volkswagen
AG restricts its brand string to its US subsidiary, there is a risk
of consumer confusion and annoyance in all other countries — since
hundreds of other forthcoming brand TLDs will very specifically have
an international focus. The brand domains as a group will create a powerful
precedent and convention and it is hard to see Volkswagen resisting
this in the long term.
The internet
is a globalizing force and Volkswagen's application is counter to this.
The report
below uses the company name in a general sense and largely ignores the
Applicant's direct reference to the US subsidiary.
The .volkswagen
string will enhance reliability and authenticity in the online space,
which in turn will increase consumer trust.
The TLD
will differentiate and add value to the company's highly valuable brand.
It will enable the Applicant's goods and services to be further promoted
to consumers and other stakeholders. It will be used to strengthen the
company slogan: "Volkswagen. Das Auto." ("Volkswagen.
The Car.") It will help to continue the upward trajectory of this
powerful brand.
The .volkswagen
top-level domain has the purpose to support the goals of Volkswagen
Group of America and its parent company in becoming the number one
automotive brand through continuous growth and by developing innovative
products, positioning the company as a highly attractive employer
and delivering an outstanding brand experience.
In broad
terms, the .volkswagen string will support the company's activities
in manufacturing, sales, marketing, administration, management and human
resources.
The brand
"Volkswagen" was ranked at Number 47 on Interbrand's list
of the "World‘s Most Valuable Brands" in 2011.
Visitors
will quickly understand that all domains under the brand TLD are authentic
since they can only be operated by Volkswagen. It will become a "trusted
namespace on the Internet" and a symbol of quality that will resonate
with the ideals of the company and enhance its reputation.
The most
important service level of the .volkswagen top-level domain is the
certainty for Internet users that all .volkswagen domain names are
exclusively registered and maintained by a trusted source... ...Aim
is that Internet users will be aware that domain names branded by
the famous brand extension .volkswagen are a hoard of security, stability
and reliability.
Volkswagen
will actively strive to create awareness of its new category of domain
names — as will other brand domain applicants. The company anticipates
that consumers will come to expect that large corporations will own
their own domain extensions. This leads to the expectation that consumers
will often "type-in" their desired destinations rather than
using search engines.
Volkswagen
Group of America invests hundreds of millions of dollars annually
of its products, brands and services to end-customers and Internet
users which means that domain names are included on nearly all promotional
materials.
In the
future after the approval of .volkswagen this marketing power will
be used for the promotion of domain names with the extension .volkswagen
in order to create a quick uptake in awareness of the new .volkswagen
domain names worldwide.
Volkswagen
believes that brand domains will rank highly in search algorithms citing
a 2011 report by Forrester Research which says: "Search engines
will give authority to dot-brand TLDs".
Site addresses
will be more intuitive. The need to navigate through often complex hierarchies
will be reduced.
Volkswagen
will use the architecture of its brand TLD as part of its brand strategy.
With
a .volkswagen top-level domain VOLKSWAGEN will be able to setup an
umbrella brand strategy with .volkswagen acting as the umbrella and
all VOLKSWAGEN trademarks underneath on the second level.
Examples
like Audi.volkswagen and Bugatti.volkswagen are given. These new domains
will give customers exciting new ways to connect with the company.
The Applicant
will work in association with Afilias, its registry back-end services
provider, to maintain the security of the .volkswagen space and limit
any possible domain name abuse. The broad aim is to preserve the integrity
of the .volkswagen string.
The policy
is designed to address the malicious use of domain names. The registry
operator and its registrars will make reasonable attempts to limit
significant harm to Internet users...
...Malicious
use of domain names will not be tolerated.
Security
policies will include protection against undesirable outcomes such as
illegal or fraudulent activities, spam, phishing, malware distribution
(eg. viruses and keyloggers), botnet command & control and hacking.
Afilias
is also the highly experienced registry operator of the .info domain
string and the back-end registry provider of .org and other TLDs.
Afilias
has included security in every element of its service... The Afilias
registry system employs a number of multi-layered measures to prevent
unauthorized access to its network and internal systems.
 Geographic
Dot Brands
Volkswagen
will reserve from registration names with national or geographic significance
to world governments as per the requirements of the New TLD Registry
Agreement. This is in accord with GAC advice. A comprehensive list of
these names will be published prior to the launch of the company's brand
domains.
We will
define a procedure so that governments can request the above reserved
domain(s) if they would like to take possession of them. This procedure
will be based on existing methodology developed for the release of
country names in the .INFO TLD.
However,
Volkswagen notes that this type of geographic domain name may be released
in the event that the registry reaches an agreement with its applicable
government. Hence, it will likely further explore this option.
Registry
operator will work with respective GAC representatives of the country's
relevant Ministry or Department to obtain their release of the names
to the Registry Operator...
...If
we find it advisable and practical, we will confer with relevant language
authorities so that we can reserve the IDN domains properly along
with their variants.
NOTE: IDN
= internationalized domains names
Possible .volkswagen
Brand Domains
Car.volkswagen
DasAuto.volkswagen
Services.volkswagen (specifically mentioned in application)
City.volkswagen (specifically mentioned)
Maintenance.volkswagen (specifically mentioned)
Audi.volkswagen (specifically mentioned)
Lamborghini.volkswagen (specifically mentioned)
ThinkBlue.volkswagen
Sales.volkswagen
Sports.volkswagen
Search.volkswagen
Electric.volkswagen
Beetle.volkswagen
Environment.volkswagen
Home.volkswagen
Notes
Brand
names mentioned on this site are registered trademarks or trademarks
of their respective corporations. This site claims no association
with or endorsement by any of these corporations and their marks are
mentioned only to illustrate opinion presented in the public interest.
All quotations
on this page are from the respective companies' official ICANN brand
TLD applications unless otherwise stated.
Many possible
theoretical dot brands are mentioned (in English). There are also countless
possibilities in other languages. This has significant potential value
for international navigation.
This site
is focused on reporting the strategic impact of the brand domains on
internet communication, competition and commerce, and some comment is
speculative.
It is not
a comprehensive overview of what some of the world's largest corporations
have chosen to reveal about their plans for the implementation of their
proprietary domain strings.
ICANN is
particularly concerned with the technical, financial, security and legal
issues associated with the new TLDs. These issues are beyond the scope
of this website.
For a comprehensive
overview of the brand domains and their impact on the web, refer to
ICANN's website and the individual applications (large parts of which
are publicly published).
If you
have a particular interest in an individual company, the public aspects
of their applications are available for download via these ICANN links:
You can also search a complete list of applicants there.
ICANN
new gTLD applications
ICANN
official website
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