Free Columbia B-School Webinar: “Who Should Invest in a dotBRAND?”

Elliot Silver
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Columbia University Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership will be holding a webinar on October 19th, and it might be of interest to you. The free webinar is entitled, Who Should Invest in a dotBRAND? Evaluating the Business Case for a Top-Level Domain Name, and it will be held from 10am to noon.

The webinar will bring together experts in the fields of marketing, Internet governance, and general business, including Paul Twomey (former ICANN CEO), William Barrett (Global Brand & Communications at Deloitte), Karl Isaac (Executive Director for Digital Branding at Landor), and Roland LaPlante (Chief Marketing Officer at Afilias).

Here are a list of the topics that are expected to be discussed:

  • What types of brands and organizations will most benefit from investing in a gTLD?
  • If I am a .BRAND owner what are some of the use cases to best leverage my .BRAND for marketing and brand building purposes?
  • How are consumers likely to react to these new gTLDs? Will they provide clarity or confusion to their internet experience?
  • How will search engines, social media sites, and other internet properties respond to new .BRANDs?
  • What options are there for defensive action to protect my trademarks?
  • What are the full costs and processes behind applying for and owning a gTLD?

Personally, I think gTLD domain names are going to impact the domain investment market in a pretty big way. Companies and individuals will be talking about gTLD domain names, and while I won’t predict the impact on current domain values, I do expect there will be an impact.

If you make money from domain investing or online marketing, I recommend listening in on this webinar. It doesn’t cost anything and it’s just a couple of hours.  From my perspective, the smart money is already making moves, some behind the scenes and others with more public endeavors.

Thanks to Name.com for letting me know about this.

Using .CO & .ME Locally

Elliot Silver
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I saw this newspaper dispenser in Portland, Maine this morning and thought of you so I snapped a photo and want to share it. A number of companies in Maine (state abbreviation is ME) are using .ME as if it were its own local ccTLD.

This afternoon, I saw the Name.com video I embedded below, and it makes a similar point, but with a focus on Colorado (state abbreviation is CO).

Because Google allows domain owners who own .CO and .ME domain names to target visitors in the US, it makes sense to some companies in Maine and Colorado to use their states’ respective abbreviations. I won’t be surprised to see New York City businesses using .NYC in the near future.

BTW, one of the things I like about Name.com is their videos. It’s a small company and their weekly videos are great for building the brand and allowing customers to get to know the company. I feel like I know many of the people, even though I haven’t met all of them.

Did Warner Bros. Buy Anderson.TV for Anderson Cooper TV Show?

Elliot Silver
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I read an article this morning that discussed a new television show featuring Anderson Cooper, which will be aptly called Anderson.  I did a bit of research to see if there would be a unique website for the show, and I think I may have found one that could be used: Anderson.TV.

Cooper’s management company already appears to own  AndersonCooper.com, which is a fully developed website.  According to a Whois lookup, Anderson.TV is registered to Warner Bros. The company appears to have acquired/taken possession of  the domain name in February of 2011 from a company in Tawain.

According to a September 2010 article appearing on the website, Deadline.com, “Anderson Cooper has signed a deal to host a new one-hour NYC-based daily daytime strip for Warner Bros Domestic Television Distribution, set for national syndication launch in Fall 2011.”

Cooper is known to interact with his television audience online, and it would make sense to me that Warner Bros. may have  acquired  the domain name for the television show.  At the present time, Anderson.TV does not resolve.

If the domain name is used and marketed, it bodes well for .TV investors who look at market usage of domain names to help bolster the aftermarket values of other .TV domain names.

At What Price Will Movies.XXX Sell?

Elliot Silver
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Just learned that Movies.XXX will be one of the premium .XXX domain names up for auction at the TRAFFIC show. We’ve heard that Frank Schilling and Mike Berkens have both invested in .XXX domain names in private, so we don’t really have an idea of their values.

What do you think Movies.XXX will sell for at auction? Keep in mind, there will be no online bidding, so bidders will have to place their bids in person or over the phone. I am not sure if there is a reserve price on the auction.


Mike Berkens Invests in .XXX Domains

Elliot Silver
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A few weeks ago, I wrote about Frank Schilling’s 7 figure investment in .XXX domain names as part of the ICM Registry’s Founders Program. I learned that another domain investor has also made a large investment in .XXX domain names, via the Founders Program.

Mike Berkens paid “into the six figures” for three .XXX domain names. His company acquired FreePorn.xxx, BlowJobs.xxx, and AnalSex.xxx. The actual purchase price isn’t being disclosed by Berkens or the ICM Registry.

The people behind the ICM Registry and their plans for the extension are big reasons for Berkens’ investment. According to Berkens:

“I think when you invest in a new extension your investing the registry as well, the people behind it and their vision and plan.

ICM has some very smart, determined people who also have the budget and desire to make a turn .XXX into one of the better known extensions throughout the world to compete with .com for adult material.

I also think their forthcoming micropayment system will have a big impact on the space.

Moreover I don’t think another adult oriented domain will be approved by ICANN in the new gTLD process and therefore I think .XXX will own the adult domain space.”

Websites on these domain names (not safe for work or those under the age of 18) went live this past week. Berkens used the web development services of DDC to launch these three websites.

It’s likely that FreePorn.xxx is one of the ten most valuable .XXX domain names. It’s a risky investment, but it could certainly pay off down the road, assuming .XXX takes off. In fact, Frank Schilling is hoping for a ten bagger when it comes to his investment (watch the video on Danno’s Blog  3:00 mark).

“King Gavin” .XXX Advertisement (Video)

Elliot Silver
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A friend sent me this video that I want to share with you called “King Gavin Makes it Rain.” It’s an advertisement for the .XXX domain extension that I believe was created by the ICM Registry, to encourage people to learn more about .XXX domain names at About.XXX. The video was uploaded to YouTube just a few days ago, but it already has over 700,000 views. Pretty good viral marketing.

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