When I was a junior in college, I had a marketing internship at a local business. Had I not decided to attend graduate school right away, I would have considered working for this company because I enjoyed working there, and I got along well with the CEO.
Since my internship days 10+ years ago, I have stayed in touch with the CEO, and we exchange emails a couple of times per year give or take. I’ve given him some advice about domain names, and I guided him through the domain name acquisition process once or twice.
It’s been quite some time since the last time we emailed, perhaps a couple of years, but he sent me this email yesterday: “Apparently this .[redacted] is coming online soon. What’s the best way to grab [redacted] and [redacted]” Surprisingly, he was referring to buying two new gTLD domain names for his company. I am not going to reveal the gTLD extension or domain names to protect his privacy, but the names were related to his branding as opposed to being simply good descriptive keyword domain names.
I didn’t ask how (or if) the domain names would be used, but my educated assumption is that the names will simply forward to his website and are being bought for protective reasons. I found it interesting that he learned about the new gTLDs via Facebook, although I don’t know if he learned about a specific extension or the gTLD program in general. I would guess that most people learn about the new domain names via promotions from their domain registrar, but that wasn’t the case this time. It’s quite possible he isn’t the primary contact for domain registrar communications.
I know this is only one example of an end user buyer interested in the new gTLD domain names, but it shows me that the message is slowly getting out. It also shows me that targeted Facebook marketing can work for the new gTLD registries.
Seems a bit stretched, your friend seems to know your in the business, and before they blow some money, why not ask for a return of favor for some advice, nothing new here. I am seeing more reserves, and higher premiums in this weeks releases. Either side of the dot, best of luck to all
All he asked me was how to go about buying the names… didn’t ask me for advice about whether or not he should buy them. As far as I could tell, his buying decision was made but he wasn’t sure about when/where to buy them.
When you look back at when corporations were using gTLD’s, like ,pro and most notably .mobi, you could not get the word out any more than they did with that extension, and users rejected it’s use, BofA.mobi for exmaple was pushed heavily in advertising and banking literature, today it redirects to dot com.. Its examples like this one that prove that just because companies use a gTLD, does NOT mean it will catch on, it does NOT mean that people will use it.
As for the message? messages are more than often short lived, most people have short memories with things that don’t matter to them like gTLD’s, Domainers seem to forget that one of the major reasons why .com is the most popular TLD is because it’s become ingrained in our minds through decades of major advertising, they have a fantasy in their minds that a gTLD can replace it, that users will flock to it and it will be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I just don’t see major corporations hanging their hats on a gTLD when they don’t hold the dot com, and if they do hold the .com, I don’t see them paying a hell of a lot of money for .whatever.
“Seems a bit stretched”
One of the biggest understatements of the year.
On a related note, although there are a few ok but not irresistible .vegas I could register, I am put off by the price and have decided not to reg any. If there were any really excellent ones available I would, but such does not appear to be the case. Next!
What about anyone else? Care to reveal any .vegas regged, especially if they are not just the creme of the crop?