Subscribe

Domain Suprise During English Premier League Game

Elliot Silver
-
16

Growing up, I loved playing soccer, and I played on organized teams through high school. I never really enjoyed watching soccer on television, because I didn’t follow any teams or players. Lately, I’ve been watching English Premier League football games when I catch them on tv here in the US. This morning, I tuned in to the Arsenal vs. Tottenham game on ESPN2 and was surprised about the domain names I saw advertised.

When I was in the UK (and other European cities), I saw many more ccTLD domain names advertised than anything else. In the UK especially, I saw mostly .co.uk domain names used by advertisers. This morning, I didn’t see a single .co.uk domain name used in the stadium signage or uniforms, and I was very surprised. I know the Premier League is global, but I would have thought there would be more local advertising at the stadium.

Some of the domain names I saw advertised were Arsenal.com, Emirates.com, BarclaysTicketOffice.com (forwards to Barclays.co.uk), NikeFootball.com, PaddyPower.com, and Mansion.com.

I am sure that advertising at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium is very costly, and probably too much for most local companies. However, it was still surprising to see the urls that were used. I would have been less surprised if this was a World Cup game, because those will be truly global, but since it was a EPL game, I was surprised.

Unique Ad Buy – Bloomberg on Twitter

Elliot Silver
-
3

Bloomberg on TwitterI was going through my spam email message folder this morning, when I found an email from a colleague asking for an opinion on Twitter user names. I don’t know why it got marked as spam, but it was in there. As you may or may not be aware, Google monetizes all Gmail emails with sponsored links, and I found one that was very interesting when reading this Twitter-related email.

As you can see in the image above, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is encouraging people to follow his account on Twitter. Not only was Gmail detecting my location via IP address (New York City), but it could also tell that the email was related to Twitter, and it placed a targeted advertisement on top of the spam email.

Over the past several months, my wife an I have received a significant amount of mail from Bloomberg, who is looking to become elected for his third term. He has also taken to the airwaves, bought space in print media, and now is advertising on Adwords to encourage people to follow him on Twitter.

Although I find political advertising to be quite annoying, I think it’s cool to see this integrated marketing campaign.

Does Microsoft Need to Watch Out for AOL?

Elliot Silver
-
1

I missed the article in TechCrunch on Tuesday until just now, but AOL’s Sphere, the self-dubbed “next phase in the evolution of AOL News,” is undergoing a rebranding effort. The new name of the brand will be Surphace, and the company will use Surphace.com as its domain name.

Of course, when people tell their buddies to check out “Surphace.com,” many of their friends will inevitably head to Surface.com instead, which happens to be a domain name owned by Microsoft, which redirects to the Microsoft website.

With AOL currently embroiled in a lawsuit against Advertise.com for trademark infringement, one can amusingly ask if AOL will believe that they deserve the Surface.com domain name to go along with their renamed brand. It surely would be a head scratcher, but I wouldn’t exactly be shocked. I wonder what Microsoft thinks of this.

On another note, I still don’t understand why some companies – especially large companies – still create brand names that are difficult to spell. This can only lead to brand confusion, lost traffic, and potentially even litigation. One would think they could find another brand name and buy the .com if they think it’s worthwhile.

Royal Bobbles Offers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Bobblehead

Elliot Silver
-
4

This is not exactly domain-related news, but it’s big news for a domain investor who has become one of the dominant online bobblehead retailers since acquiring Bobblehead.com and Bobbleheads.com for $36,000. Congrats to Warren Royal and his growing bobble empire! This goes to show what you can do when you acquire a category killer domain name in a vertical you like.

From the Royal Bobbles press release:

The officially licensed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Bobblehead will be available for pre-orders in mid-December through Bobbleheads.com and other quality bobblehead dealers.  Produced by Royal Bobbles LLC, this oversized, limited-edition model with exquisite details—crafted in high-quality resin—will come in a colorful collector’s box and be sold at the King Center, museums, gift shops, and through online web stores, like Bobbleheads.com.

“We are honored that the King Estate has granted us the opportunity to produce the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Bobblehead as the first in our series of great ‘American Heroes’,   said Warren Royal, Founder of Royal Bobbles.   “The King Estate is rightly very selective about the products which they authorize, and the outstanding quality of our product line was a major factor in their decision to work with us on this exciting product.”

Best known for his “I Have a Dream” speech—delivered at the 1963 March on Washington—Martin Luther King Jr., the youngest man to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, is considered one of the main leaders of the American civil rights movement.   And since his assassination on April 4, 1968, political, civil rights, and historical memorabilia collectors around the world have grown increasingly interested in preserving his memory.

However, with most of the documents, personal items, and artifacts related to this slain civil-rights leader’s life rightfully gathered in institutional collections, MLK memorabilia collectors will have an exciting opportunity to acquire their own treasured centerpiece of American history with Royal Bobbles targeted release for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Bobblehead on King’s birthday (January 18, 2010), an historically significant time of the year when interest in and the value of King Memorabilia consistently rises.

Microsoft Buys Bing Typos: Bimg.com, Bibg.com, and Others

Elliot Silver
-
6

Microsoft BingIn a shrewd move that many (probably most) companies don’t consider before launching a new product or service, Microsoft went ahead and purchased many Bing related typo domain names prior to launch. Some of the domain names now owned by Microsoft include, Bimg.com, Bibg.com, Bihg.com, and Binf.com.

All of these typo domain names were previously owned by other people and companies before Microsoft acquired them. One common link between these names is that it appears they were acquired by a company known as Media Market of Boise, Idaho between being owned by the former owner and Microsoft. You can see the Whois lookup for Bibg.com from February as an example.

One interesting domain acquisition they made was Bing.com. The reason it’s particularly interesting to me is that it was previously owned by General Mills, another Fortune 500 company.

Unfortunately, there were many Bing typos that Microsoft didn’t and/or couldn’t acquire. Among them include Bong.com, Bingo.com, Bin.com, Big.com, and Ing.com. I don’t know if the traffic increase can be linked directly with the Bing launch, but just look at the Compete scores for   Bong.com, Bung.com and Bin.com after May.

Promote Your Websites Locally & Help Good Causes

Elliot Silver
-
3

Lately, I’ve been running in more races to stay in healthy, and I have completed 5k races, 4 mile runs, and a biathlon. I also run, walk, and bike frequently in Central Park. One thing that I’ve noticed is that half the people working out seem to be wearing high tech workout gear from Under Armor, Nike, Reebok…etc, and the other half are wearing shirts from previous races.

In New York, because most of the races I run in have thousands of participants, the race sponsors listed on the back of the shirts are big companies like Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and other large businesses. There aren’t as many local companies, but those that are local are very large.

Because I own a few city .com domain names, I am tapped into community events taking place in these cities, and there are many smaller races and walks that take place just about every month, many of which have a charitable cause the participants are supporting. These events generally have under 1,000 participants, but almost all of them offer commemorative t-shirts for participants.

If you are looking to promote your website – whether it’s local or national – sponsoring local runs or walks can be a great marketing opportunity for your company. Not only will it help promote your brand on race day, but people will wear these shirts after the race, too. Additionally, you may be able to take some sort of charitable deduction, but you’d have to confer with an accountant on that.

It seems that most events with anywhere from 100 – 1,000 participants charge between $100 – $500 for shirt sponsorships, and this looks like money well-spent. In fact, Lowell.com is sponsoring a Thanksgiving Day race in Lowell. I just wish I was able to be there to run!

1...555657...65Page 56 of 65
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv