I was reading about new products at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, and one struck me as something that will probably be very successful and used by many people. The product allows you to charge devices wirelessly on a magnetic pad. I really don’t know the tech details, but it seems very cool.
From a domain POV, this company was very smart. In addition to owning the domain names of their brand, JuicePad.com and JuicePads.com, they also own the generic term for their product, the way consumers will probably come to know them, ChargingMat.com, ChargingMats.com, RechargingMat.com and RechargingMats.com.
The press has been referring to their product as a “charging mat” rather than by their product name, and I think it was a very smart move to buy the generics for this product. Now, whether the public refers to the product directly or via the brand, they have it covered. Additionally, when competitors come on the market with the same or a similar product, the company already owns the .com product vertical.
Smart company, perhaps they have a domainer on staff 🙂
Elliot,
Are you sure they own JuicePad.com?
JuicePads.com was regged on June 16,2007 and uses GoDaddy nameservers and DomainsByProxy WhoIs.
JuicePad.com was regged on Sept.2,2002, uses WorldNic nameservers and does not resolve.
It was regged by NameBase (.com) which apparently is a brand
naming specialist.
If they came up with Juice pad, they kept the domain under their name and control.
The other 4 generics you mention were actually regged 2 days before JuicePads.com on June 14,2007 and use the same Godaddy namesevers and and DomainsByProxy WhoIs..
By the way there is at least one competitor who may have had their product two years earlier.
The product is called Wild Charge.
WildCharge.com was regged June 13,2005.
http://www.wildcharge.com/
Wild Charge folks did not have the sense or foresight to
register the generics.
They could have since they were first.
Juice Pads folk also own:
RechargingPad.com
RechargingPads.com
I found another earlier competitor:
Splash Power
http://www.splashpower.com/
Elliot,
An earlier comment of mine may have gone to the S*P*A*M box.
Cancel that!
They also own
wireless charging pad
wireless charging pads
They were smart to go and reg all the names that were related to there product. and I am sure they have a domainer on staff.Another case of (They Get It)Cheers,K
Regardless of the actual details, I agree it’s a very smart strategy.
Yeah, I am definitely going to have to agree with you on this one Elliot, it was VERY smart! That way when people type those kinds of terms in Google, they will come across this product, which looking at the terms will most likely be what they are looking for.
Hey Elliot, great article. We’ve been cleaning up our portfolio lately and acquiring some generic product domains. Do you have any tips or advice on how to best target end user companies? Cold calls? Emails? We’d love to hear your thoughts and advice.
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
I think emails to companies work, but just make sure the product is undoubtedly generic to avoid any potential TM issue.
Good strategy on thier end and it is nice to see that they do “get it”. Bravo!
That does leave the question open of what depth and breadth does one really want to reg the generic domains? Just a quick check yeilded these three: CHARGER-MAT.COM, CHARGING-MAT.COM, CHARGING-MATS.COM
Plus even the reverse order word placements without the hyphen (MatCharging(dot)com, etc….) How far does everyone think the regs on generics should go out to protect yourself (terms, tlds, etc…)? If I had the budget for an awsome startup like this, personally, I would by out as many as I could…with that potential, what is a couple of hundred a year?
Hi Elliot,
I read about a company with a wireless power supply that was at CES 2007 (and 2008 & 2009) called PowerCast http://www.powercastco.com who have a similar system that can charge devices that are close to it. Very clever stuff!
So I back in March 2007 I registered http://www.wirelesspowersupply.com and will look at developing it in the future when the technology is mainstream.
Cheers
Ed
I don’t see this really being a new invention. Similar has been around for years.
Just think of the electric toothbrush.
But the company getting it as in the online world perspective is another great plus for domainers.
Other companies will learn from the smarts of such firms using and securing the simple generic names and phrases.
I call this STEPPING OUTSIDE and looking at your own product as a unprofessional, simply as a customer searching for a product.
Good post Elliot
Actually, the company that was exhibiting at CES is called PowerMat and it doesn’t look like they own those domains (in fact they seem pretty useless at domaining as they have http://www.pwrmat.com not powermat.com!).
Looks like the JuicePad guys are just a reseller of other different “charging mat” solutions (SplashPower, WildCharge & PowerCastCo). Like some commenters have said above, those solutions seem to predate PowerMat which makes sense because the JuicePad site hasn’t been updated since 2004 (according to Archive.org).
Either way this is the proper domain stragety. Just think if someone had convinced Marriot or Sheraton it was as important to own “Hotel.com”, as it was their own domain name. Just think of the natural traffic that would have been there for them, not to even mention owning their category generic domain name, which would have been the envy of their competitors. Some people get this stragety and some are still trying to figure it out. Thanks for the comments Elliot.
Sincerely,
The G. Man
President of NexMillenia
“An Internet Pioneer & Digital Media Firm into the NexMillenia!”