The Future Of Brand
Domains
It may
take a long time, but powerful new economic forces are about to make
their presence felt on the internet. 680 giant corporations will launch
their own brand domain strings backed by many of the world's most successful
marketing and advertising experts. The budgets will be big.
If the
successful launch of relatively new domain extensions (such as .co)
can be any guide, then the web in 2020 and beyond will be a very different
space.
It is
anticipated by Allstate that changes to the domain name industry,
and particularly the impact of .BRAND gTLDs, will take at least five
years to be realized and assessed.
Allstate.
Application for the .allstate extension.
The new
domains make sense. They have an implacable logic. They are memorable
and short. They are trustworthy.
After you
spend a few days looking at them — they don't seem strange at all.
Tires.bridgestone
Freight.fedex
Cloud.ibm
Camera.nikon
TV.samsung
The brand
domains will present new and unprecedented opportunities for innovation
and differentiation. A new goldrush of communications and ideas.
...one
of the primary goals of the proposed .progressive gTLD is to leverage
the opportunities within this domain structure... ...to position Progressive
at the forefront of the industry in its ability to set and meet future
consumer expectations...
Progressive.
Application for the .progressive extension.
The Internet
is growing at a fast rate with no signs of slowing down. ICANN's new
TLD program will almost certainly accelerate this expansion as individuals
and companies grasp the new opportunities that the brand domains will
offer.
Tata
wants to own a TLD, as it is looking for complete control on the second
level domain names. We see and believe that the Internet is a strong
medium to reach out to its audience and considering the rate at which
the number of Internet users is growing in India (estimated as 30%+
growth per year), this medium is set to be the most powerful.
Tata.
Application for the .tata extension.
NOTE: second
level = left of the dot.
Prestige and Authority
It has
long been the case that any major international company must have the
dot com domain of its name. Apple has to own Apple.com and GeneralElectric
must own GeneralElectric.com.
Somewhere
around half of the world's top 1000 corporations have applied for their
own brand domain. It's entirely possible that the dot brands will begin
to emerge as valuable status symbols for their owners. Just as it became
obligatory to own a dot com at the million dollar level, it may become
obligatory to possess your own dot brand at the multi-million dollar
level.
This presents
a risk for players in some competitive industries. There is no greater
example than in the credit card space. Amex and Visa have applications
pending for .amex and .visa.
However,
Mastercard has no application in place for .mastercard.
Amex and
Visa are certain to exploit this advantage with the rollout of prestigious
domains like Travel.amex and Cash.visa.
The brand
domains are all about trust, and since only large successful companies
will be able to afford the expense of launching one, those who do will
reap a fine dividend of prestige and authority.
Asymmetric Advantage
Many companies
are about to discover that their competitors are gearing up to launch
dedicated brand domains. The new strings will be used in inventive,
unprecedented and eye-catching ways. The dot brands will try to extract
whatever asymmetric advantage they can in the fiercely competitive online
space. For some firms who didn't apply, it will create a very challenging
environment.
Businesses
and organizations that missed this initial round of New gTLDs should
start strategizing now as to how they're going to meet the competitive
challenge of brands that will soon be going live with their own domains.
Roland
LaPlante. Senior Vice President. Afilias.
Afilias is the .info registry and a leading registry provider for many
brand domain applicants.
Want
info on the fourth most popular gTLD in the world? Interview by
Mike Sullivan. Sully's
Blog.
The schedule
for the next round of TLD applications has not been announced and is
expected to be several years away.
Unification
The dot
brands present a unique opportunity for corporations to both distinguish
themselves from their non-brand rivals, and to unify their identity
and communications in a new way. In a sense, the corporations will be
able to create closed ecosystems of content — or private internets.
The applicant's
intention is that users will be unified in the "virtual space"
of the Internet as though they were face to face. Delta's extensive
range of services and large numbers of employees can cohere in a single
web identity and location that utilises the Internet as a tool to
gather unity in diversity.
Delta.
Application for the .delta extension.
Potential
There is
significant inherent potential in the brand domains. The TLD applications
talk about a wide range of innovations that are under evaluation. They
also talk about the unprecedented benefits and potential that they may
be able to deliver.
Currently
there is no Top Level Domain that specifically corresponds to the
Applicant and to its businesses, brands, trade marks, goods and services.
Thus no existing Top Level Domain could conceivably deliver the level
of specialisation which could potentially be achieved by the .ORACLE
TLD...
...It
is anticipated that this drive for specialisation will in the future
become the standard for Internet users, customers and other third
parties.
Oracle.
Application for the .oracle extension.
There are
certain to be innovations on the horizon that no-one has yet dreamed
of.
It has
been suggested that every Canon camera sold could ship with its own
instant domain and website (based on the serial number). These sites
would have automatic photo galleries. Your photos could be sent to the
cloud in a couple of clicks. This is just one hypothetical example of
possible futures that are coming.
In its
application for the .ibm string, IBM mentions that it currently holds
259 names in its domain name portfolio. Then, it goes on to mention
that there are more than 17,000 named IBM products and services available.
There is a big difference between the numbers.
Once again — there is enormous potential on the horizon.
The role
of the brand is to establish a powerful and enduring "source
of value" that maintains relevance with customers, differentiates
us from competitors, and resonates across the entire enterprise.
IBM.
Application for the .ibm extension.
Microsoft
is very aware that its new company string has great potential to leverage
and augment the existing prestige and power of its brand. Domains like
Cloud.microsoft and Xbox.microsoft have great potential as virtual trademarks
if the company chooses to implement them this way.
Because
the .microsoft gTLD is the gTLD counterpart to our world-famous Microsoft
brand, the importance of maintaining and strengthening this brand
dictates that we operate the .microsoft registry to the highest service
levels...
...The
opportunity to operate a new gTLD that exactly matches our primary
brand – one of the most globally recognized brands in the world
-- may help us to assist our customers in interacting securely across
devices and services.
Microsoft.
Application for the .microsoft extension.
Some Applicants
are wise enough to acknowledge that they do not yet know the full scope
and every potential use of their brand domains. Hence it would be hard
to believe that there won't be some dramatic but unpredictable innovations
coming soon in this new space.
The ".MERCK"
TLD will allow the companies of the Merck Community to develop uses
for domain names which today are too complicated or completely unforeseen.
Merck
KGaA. Application for the .merck extension.
Trust And Authenticity
A feature
common to many of the brand domain applicants is their recognition that
the brand strings — which by their nature means they are all operated
by a sole registrant — have a potential intrinsic high level of
trust and authenticity. With nobody else permitted to own a domain under
the unbrella of a brand TLD, consumers will quickly come to understand
that every website is a genuine corporate site.
In this
regard, the brand domains will have a big advantage over the dot com
space. Some may come to prefer the dot brand space over the dot com
space when shopping, for example.
Some applicants
specifically state that they hope to attain the trusted status of extensions
like .edu and .gov.
The proposed
.hughes gTLD will enable customers and other business partners and
Internet users to distinguish on the face of the domain name alone
whether the site is an authorized company site.
Hughes.
Application for the .hughes extension.
String Confusion
And Branding
ICANN's
new TLD program has generated many controversies. One of these is string
confusion. For example, Verisign as the registry that operates the .com
string has objected to the .cam string. The rationale is that users
may be misled by confusingly similar domain names. There have been similar
objections to .game V .games and so on.
Is it in
the public interest for there to be two sites — Online.game and
Online.games — operated by two different companies?
Sport.com
V Sport.cam?
The situation
is not unique to generic domain names. It might also be an issue in
the future with some of the brand domains. If your company has a brand
(like "Ontel" or "Phillips" with two "l"s)
that is similar to an existing dot brand — its possible that you
may not be able to transition over to right of the dot.
Some companies
may have to consider re-branding themselves if the dot brands become
a great success. This principle may also apply to companies with long,
hard to spell names like Lamborghini, which is an applicant for a brand
TLD.
Northwestern
Mutual has not chosen to shorten its .northwesternmutual TLD. The German
operator of .allfinanzberatung will face a challenge if it wishes to
operate outside Germany.
If brand
domains do become de rigueur for large corporations, then various advertising,
investment and legal companies with long-tail names like Bloggs Shmoe
Jones White Black Corp. will face a challenge.
The program
may ultimately lead to some serious re-branding.
Conventions
Many of
the applicants for the brand domains are planning to proceed cautiously.
They are keeping a close watchful eye on what initiatives the other
corporations implement.
It is very
probable that over time, various conventions will emerge that will characterize
the brand domains. Given the magnitude and number of the dot brand applicants,
the significance is likely to be great.
As it
seems there will be many other .BRAND TLDs presented to internet users,
it is expected that the outreach, communications and media relating
to each of them, individually, will lead to collective benefit insofar
as many internet users will quickly grasp the concept behind these
TLDs, and will expect many companies to operate them in generally
consistent ways.
Bridgestone.
Application for .bridgestone TLD.
One question
that is difficult to answer is — what will be the name of the flagship
in each domain string?
Names like
Microsoft.microsoft and Ferrari.ferrari sound a bit crazy, though they
are unmistakeable.
Names like
Home.microsoft and Home.ferrari are logical, but a little unexciting.
Of course,
the companies will all retain their dot com flagship domains like Microsoft.com
and Ferrari.com into the foreseeable future.
Some companies
state in their applications that they will trial redirecting content
to their new TLDs.
A number
of applications specifically mention using "search" at the
second level in their domains — for example Search.honda, Search.bridgestone
and Search.fujitsu.
Various
conventions are sure to emerge as the Applicants observe consumer interaction
and analyse traffic data as they seek the best solutions.
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.
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 the following ICANN
links: You can also search a complete list of applicants there.
ICANN
new gTLD applications
ICANN
official website
ICANN
list of new TLDs launched to date
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