BrightTag Becomes Signal(.CO)

Yesterday morning, I mentioned that I met someone at a wedding who works at a well-funded startup that is using a .CO domain name for its website. Last night, someone emailed me an article about a company that recently changed its brand, and the company is now using a.CO domain name for its website.

According to the Chicago edition of Tech Cocktail, “Chicago-based BrightTag has changed its name to Signal,” and the company’s website can be found on Signal.CO. In May, Tech Cocktail previously reported that BrightTag had acquired Signal. BrightTag is in the business of  cross channel marketing technology.

I think this decision is interesting for a couple of reasons.

The first is that most companies that acquire other companies keep their corporate branding and identity. In this acquisition, the acquiring company took the name of the acquired company. Personally, I think the Signal brand sounds stronger than BrightTag, but that is personal preference and I am not sure what the brand recognition is like for that company in its market. The Signal brand reflects the company’s “laser-sharp focus on creating stronger signals between brands and their customers and marketing partners.”

Obviously the second interesting aspect to me is that the company eschewed its .com domain name and is now operating on a .CO domain name.

In case you are interested, it appears that DigiMedia is the owner of the Signal.com domain name. I would assume that an acquisiton of Signal.com would be very expensive (probably mid 6 figures or perhaps low 7 figures if I had to guess). Perhaps the company will try to acquire Signal.com down the road, but I would assume they are content with the Signal.CO branding.