Category: Domain names

New extensions: The first signs of a (R)evolution?

Domain names registration strategies follow reasoning sometimes hard to understand. However “sheep-like” reasoning is the one we can easily observe.

When Alphabet (Google) used for the first time its domain name ABC.XYZ, a sensitive rise of registrations for this extension has been observed. More than a simple registration, ABC.XYZ has created for the public, informed or not, an interrogation on the extension used: “they aren’t in .COM?”

 

New extension - abc.xyz Alphabet Google

 

New gTLDs’s program by ICANN has generated many thoughts on naming politic on the web. Until now, these extensions weren’t well known by the general public, despite the real concern of the brands to communicate on this subject: BNP Paribas, Leclerc and AXA for French examples, which have chosen a dedicated extension.

New gTLDs creation allows to register domain name by searching to give a meaning to the associated activity: be it geographical or by sector.

That way, the following sentence makes more sense: “When I look at the domain name, I know what’s behind it”.

Today, despite this opportunity, few companies of big scale have chosen to use a new extension. And none to my knowledge, suppress its former address to go on the new one. Which can be quite logical. But things which seem unchanging, are changing.

DXC an American company, present in NYSE, has changed its short domain name, three characters, dxc.com to dxc.technology. It was our colleagues of DNW who announced this news. However the email addresses service didn’t move to the new extension yet.

 

New extension - dxc.technology
Example of dxc.technology

 

This information may seem of little importance, but have in mind the impact it will have on the process of new extensions use. Simply put, it begins with the importance and the safety of the extension for a company to change. Wait for the next step! It may only be the beginning of an underlying trend on communication and naming strategy on Internet.

Technology revolution growth is usually slower than the one planned, but its impact is often more important… To be continued.

The launch of .AFRICA

After more than five years of legal dealings and battles, South African organization .ZA Central Registry (ZACR) is now designed to commercialize the internet extension “.AFRICA” which will be opened to all. As presented by Koffi Djossou, member of UNIFORUM ZACR, future domain names in .AFRICA will “promote African companies, people and culture on Internet”. President of the African Union Commission Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, has already saluted the end of this battle as the moment when Africa “has finally acquired its own digital identity”.

 

new gTLD .africa

 

We will go back to present the facts: in the application call for new extensions launched by ICANN, they were two to claim the .AFRICA. On one side, we have South African national extension operator .ZA (ZACR). On the other side, we have an African/American business woman Sophia Bekele, the DotConnectAfrica (DCA) founder.

With the geographical and cultural nature of the .AFRICA, the extension couldn’t be sold by bidding. So ICANN has required the participants to obtain the support of at last 60% of the concerned region governments. After this, ZA Central Registry (ZACR) has benefited from many official supports (39 African governments) like the African Union. While DotConnectAfrica (DCA), has been the object of many mails opposed to this “dissident application”.

In early 2014, ICANN has finally given the delegation of the .africa domain to ZA Central Registry (ZACR). At that time begins this unprecedented judicial marathon, after DotConnectAfrica (DCA) submits a claim against ICANN for fraud and unfair business practices. DotConnectAfrica (DCA) has requested to the United States Federal Court to stop ICANN from giving the delegation of .africa domain to ZA Central Registry (ZACR) during the trial.  Even if the last request was finally denied, the claim against ICANN is still ongoing…

This highly political saga has ended in February 15th, 2017 but for ZA Central Registry (ZACR), the work begins now: to make of .Africa a real banner of the African continent.

Find more information on http://nic.africa/ or contact Nameshield regarding the conditions and the open period for the registration of your .AFRICA.

Why are Dot Brands dragging their feet?

Ok so here’s the thing, we’re over 2 years into the new gTLD rollout now, a new era of the Internet, and everything seems to be going swimmingly…. Or is it?

On the face of it, momentum is building. Over 16 million domain names registered in the past 2 years and 60% of them would still have been available under a .com e.g. nameshield.website and its .com equivalent nameshieldwebsite.com. That’s great because it means that New gTLD domain names are being registered instead of the equivalent .com.

But there is still one thing lacking, something I have been quite vocal about in the past, and that is the fact that very few people actually know that there has been a fundamental shift in the naming infrastructure on the Internet.

To put in another way – the general public don’t know about new gTLDs.

Two years down the line and society is still living in the dot com age and will continue to do so until the .BRAND applicants start to use their gTLDs in their marketing, promotional and operational activities.

“WWW, shhhh, dot com, dot org.”

                      Dr. Evil, Austin Powers Goldmember 2002

What has changed in 14 years?

A new .brand of concern

Here is where things start to get a bit more worrying. Of the 589 .BRAND applications received, 558 of them have signed their ICANN contracts, 289 of them have been delegated and are live on the Internet but only 64 of them are in active use and most of those still redirect to the corporate homepage, usually a .COM!

One of the most prolific .BRAND registrants is Bradesco (a Brazilian Bank) and that has an underwhelming 90 .bradesco names under management. Despite this poor showing, it is the banking sector which is leading the way. BNP Paribas, for example, has been very active promoting its .bnpparibas domain extension e.g www.histoire.bnpparibas and www.mabanque.bnpparibas

www.Epic.Fail?

One notable, and unfortunately a rather embarrassing, example of how the .BRANDs should be promoting their domain extensions is www.booking.com which spent a fortune on its highly successful booking.yeah advertising campaign.booking.yeah-pr-still-5

The booking.yeah campaign is a shining beacon to .BRAND owners, lighting the way with a clear, concise and powerful example on how to use your new gTLD to maximum effect.

Unfortunately, no-one thought to inform the Booking.com marketing department that they could actually own the .YEAH domain extension and so this multi-million dollar advertising campaign, which is centred around a really great and very memorable domain name ‘booking.yeah’, does not and cannot resolve to a website because no one actually applied for .YEAH.

use it or lose it!

The clock is ticking for those that own a .BRAND. Not simply because there is a time limit before the registry has to be operational, nor because domain extensions have to be operated for a minimum of 10 years, but because there will undoubtedly be another round of applications.

At present owners of a .BRAND are in a privileged competitive position online when compared to counterparts which failed to apply for a .BRAND. For example, Nike owns .NIKE whereas Adidas did not apply for .ADIDAS.

There is a limited window of opportunity to steal a march on the competition in a big way by ushering in the Not Com era.

.BRAND owners know that while they procrastinate, dither and generally do nothing with their expensive and highly valuable Internet asset they are frittering away the opportunity to put clear water between themselves and their competitors online.

So why then aren’t more .BRAND owners rushing to promote their new internet address?

If I’m honest, I believe it is because to date, the champions in the majority of .BRANDs applicants have been those that understand and are responsible for the legal, technical and risk reduction benefits of owning and operating a Top Level Domain rather than the outward facing sales, marketing and strategic positioning benefits that operating a .BRAND can bring.

In my experience, when the Sales and Marketing functions truly understand what you can actually do with a .BRAND, when it is closely aligned with marketing campaigns and business development strategies, the real power of the Not Com era becomes blindingly obvious.

Andy Churley,
CMO Nameshield Group