Kim Kardashian announced a new brand that was set to be called Kimono. Smartly, the brand had acquired the brand match Kimono.com domain name in advance of the announcement. As a result of the backlash about the Kimono brand name, Kardashian announced that she would rebrand the company.
Now that Kimono.com will not be used for Kardashian’s brand, I would like to ask readers if they think the Kimono.com domain name is worth more or less (or the same) as before Kardashian had announced her branding. Some might say more because Kimono is now a more recognizable name with the provenance belonging to a Kardashian. On the flip side, people now know what a lightning rod that could be as a brand.
Vote in the poll below. I also invite you to share your thoughts about why in the comment section.
Thanks to Ivan Rasskazov for the idea for this poll question.
I think the bigger question is how much is the domain Kimono.com worth?
Kimono.org is for sale right now on one of the auction sites.
She probably paid an enduser price and if she just keeps the domain kimono.com will keep its value..
The real question here though is with her keynote speech at Domainfest and her obvious understanding of the value of generic .com domains, why is Kim Kardashian not in the Domain HOF?? Sad.
I voted more because plenty of people just became aware of ‘kimono’. If someone started an online store (selling kimonos, obviously) at Kimono.com right now, it would have a good headstart trafficwise.
People should look at the USPTO database at http://tmsearch.uspto.gov to see that there is a full page of live TM’s for Kimono. Then realize that her branding her products Kimono doesn’t disrespect Japanese culture or the hurt historical value or the domain valuation at least imho.
I don’t know what they paid for the domain but if they decide to sell it and can’t get at minimum what they have into it … just keep it as an asset. Not like whatever it cost them is going to hurt more than her pride after having to bow to pressure of “faux social outrage” since it would affect her social footprint. I’m curious how many more “protests” over domains/brands are going to pop up after the success of this …
For her, money is not the issue, she could buy any freaking generic domains she wants to.
Now Kimodo.com is well publicized, it is going to worth more for now but later on, it will decrease in value an maybe she will let it drop.
The cultural sensitivity conversation around the name is already out there, prior to the conversation I thought it made a great brand, now it’s use feels really limited.
Thank you for the mention. I would probably lean toward less only because I would see Kim wanting to dispose of the asset as quickly as possible, to distance herself from the controversy that arose.
I’d say less, a big company is unlikely to touch it now.
Iam a bit neutral about it, though the word kimono has generated more curiosity than before, which can benefit it but the opposition from japanese side will also drive away people who want to use the name for something unrelevant to the words meaning. any thing can happen domain industry is unpredictable.
Another classic example of how a one word domain is worth far less than a great many two and more word domains by itself, barring some great anomaly of circumstance.
How much do you think it cost to buy Kimono.com?
Not sure most anyone else’s use of the word or domain would have caused the “outrage” that Kim created. If it wasn’t a very visible and loved … but also hated celebrity the loud objections would likely have been been a whisper if even noticed at all.
If anyone felt it important enough to put the effort in to the research I’m sure they’d find no shortage of words/domains being used in ways those same people who are “outraged” by the use of Kimono.com. Who would lose their minds over those things. Maybe I’m just an insensitive, white entitled man, politically incorrect, and just don’t “get it” or care about such important cultural appropriations? 🙂