Usually when I see a newly-created, branded domain name in a commercial using a non-.com extension, I find that the .com was purchased after the commercial went live, frequently by domain speculators hoping to cash in on user errors. Although the lost traffic is arguably light, it’s still enough to warrent purchasing the .com of the domain name for around $7 and forwarding any traffic to the intended website.
I saw a commercial tonight for Volkswagen, and it encouraged viewers to visit the website, RoutanBoom.org. I was curious to see if they purchased the .com as well, since this was obviously a uniquely created domain name specifically for this campaign. The good news for Volkswagen is that their advertising agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, seem to “get it” when it comes to domain names, and they purchased the .com and .net on behalf of VW.
Thumbs up to CP+B on this smart domain purchase, and also for the new VW campaign, which is receiving positive reviews.
Crispin Porter & Bogusky "Gets It" for Volkswagen
Now if we could only get them to stop with that slow, user-unfriendly, browser-unfriendly, iPhone flash/java deficient FLASH. I know they do it so they can charge more, pretend it’s an agency fashion statement look- but the main reason is self-serving- to put a walled garden up so no one one can repurpose their content, images or videos. That’s web 1.0 thinking and consumers are even rebelling.
I want to illustrate how important this is. This morning, I searched Google for “routanboom” and it returned this result:
http://canipleasejustsay.blogspot.com/
“I went to the website, RoutanBoom.com and there they have the entire mocumentary (which is also embedded up above). And it’s actually really funny”
The website they suggested on tv was .org, which shows just how easy it is to mix these up.
The only problem is that this domain is too difficult to spell without looking at it. In my on opinion. It kinda sucks.
purchasing the dot com is a good move – as far as naming, i agree /w frankie – reminds me of vw’s failed suv, the “tourag”.
DOT ORG? CP+B would get it if 1) routanboom.org did not automatically redirect to vw.com (.coms are for commercial ventures. .orgs are more for NPOs and the like), and 2) had they created routanboom.ORG to be a fun, viral-like site, and really gone for it. But that I landed on a deep VW page, forget it, now I’m in corporate land, and that is straight up dullsville, ya dig? To sum up, CP+B DOES NOT GET IT.
So if you would like a cool viral site you should have waited for the second half of the campaign.
check out babymaker3000.com and you will see. Although it redirects to a vw.com domain, it is anything but corporate.
or go to routanbabymaker.com or routanbabymaker3000.com or .net, your choice.