.CO

I read an article today, and I thought it might interest you. Business Insider interviewed Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne about the company’s turnaround, and among the topics in this wide ranging interview is the O.CO re-branding effort, which is has been covered at length by domain industry outlets.

I highlighted what I believe might be of interest to domain investors, particularly those who own or are thinking about buying .CO domain names:

“O.co is a shortcut to Overstock.com, with a different logo and layout. It has become our international name too.

“In television ads, we’ve introduced it as a shortcut to our domestic site, and if you type it in, you get free shipping.
The percentage of people who are typing it in is going up substantially, so you might see a new brand emerge. Or, you might see a brand morph from Overstock to O.co depending on how receptive the public is to it.”

“O.co is more consistent with how we’re trying to brand ourselves now, as a savings engine. It’s the simplest way to explain what we do.”

It’s an interesting interview that you should check out when you get a chance. It really digs into Overstock’s growth strategy and business history.

I just got back home on a red eye after a ski weekend in Breckenridge, Colorado. I highly recommend a trip out there if you ski… Conditions were great and the weather was perfect, with snow for two of the three days. (Tip: if you drive from Denver to Breck, make sure you rent a SUV or mid-size care with all wheel drive – we lucked out!)

After skiing on the last day, we went to a friend’s house for some drinks and some hot tub rehab. A friend of a friend who we met last year was at the house, and after saying hi and catching up for a minute, he asked me a surprising question, knowing that I am a domain investor:

“What do you think about .CO?”

This person is not in the domain name business, although he does work as a graphic designer. He didn’t know anything about the new gTLDs that are likely coming (.XXX for instance), but he did know about .CO.

I should have asked him his thoughts on .CO, as well as how he learned about it, because that would have been more interesting to know, but I was on vacation and didn’t want to upset my wife by talking business. Anyway, it looks like the .CO advertising and marketing campaign is paying off.

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