There has been a lot of speculation in the domain channel on what exactly big brands are going to do with their new gTLD’s.
While many think that brands just applied for their TLD’s as defensive registrations or to point to their .com, according to Phil Lodico, managing partner for FairWinds Partners which handled more than 100 .Brand new gTLD’scompanies such as Calvin Klein, Nike, Staples, Gap, and Walmart say big brands have big plans for their new gTLD’s
The quotes first appeared in prweekus.com:
“Client strategies for brand gTLDs run the gamut, from geographic domain name opportunities (Brooklyn.Brand for a retailer’s Brooklyn location) to new ways of leveraging customer loyalty programs (JohnDoe.Marriott)”.
“Some plans, he adds, are particularly aggressive and innovative”.
“Companies are exploring ways to offer customized portals for their customers and adding social and sharing elements to their pages. Others are looking into ways to offer unique content (Drive.BMW) that they haven’t previously offered.”
“In migrating users from dot-com to branded gTLDs, Lodico says marketers need to educate consumers on the benefits of branded domains”.
“To illustrate the advantages, he references NikeRunning.com”.
“From a very simple branding perspective, the Nike address will be shorter, will more clearly convey they are the source of authentic Nike content, and are likely to be more memorable to consumers,”
“In addition, Nike can make its .Nike gTLD more secure by leveraging new technologies and controlling all access points to the domain.”
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When you spend $185,000 to apply, plus $25,000 in annual fees, you have to try and find something (anything) to justify that expense.
Since ideas here lean towards advertising, (drive a BMW, run in Nike shoes), I’m not sure if consumers will really care to be educated on the so-called ‘benefits’ of branded domains. Especially when that information isn’t exactly coming from an objective source. And for the ‘social’ aspects, well, we know where most people already go for that.
While some smart companies already do, more companies would be better off creating free mobile apps instead, that both entertain and educate users about their products. $185,000 on a great fun app that could be updated whenever a company wanted would be money far better spent than on a gTLD (or anything for that matter) that you have to ‘educate’ users about.