Editorial Articles

This summer will see the biggest change to the Internet in the past 40 years as the rules over ‘Top Level Domains’ like .com and .co.uk will be liberalised to allow companies to create their own domain names. Will consumers used to .com really embrace the likes of ‘run.nike’ apple.ipod’ or ‘dominos.pizza’?

Whether a customer engages with a brand through its website, via an app or by going into a store, their expectation is of a consistent experience across all channels. As the boundaries between offline and online worlds blur – and for some businesses, the online channel is becoming the primary route to market – organisations are striving to unite and align their digital and real world brand offering. 

It’s no wonder that imminent changes to the structure of the web are attracting the attention of the world’s biggest brands. In June this year, the Internet will begin the transition to a new phase as ICANN, the body responsible for the structure of the web, is expected to approve guidelines allowing organisations to operate their own top level domain, opening up the possibility for a wave of ‘.brand’ domains. Global brands Hitachi and Canon have already publicly stated their intentions to apply for .brand status, and hundreds more have privately signalled their interest.

Total Control
One of the most attractive aspects of .brand is control. Essentially, it is the difference between owning and renting a piece of online real-estate.

Most brands have their name registered in .com, .co.uk or other country-specific domains where their business operates. However, with an ever-decreasing pool of available domain names, the opportunity to secure the desired name is fast diminishing – especially in .com. Brands often face no choice but to compromise, or make do with what is left, rather than choosing the names they actually want.

A .brand owner has exclusive rights and control of their brand name and unrestricted availability of domain names within that .brand, giving them virtually limitless freedom to choose and assign domain names in any way they want. So Canon could run a campaign showcasing new equipment via ‘cameras.canon’ and Hitachi could profile its financial performance at ‘investors.hitachi.’

Improve Search
Short, memorable domain names and the possibility to include a virtually infinite number of different keywords in individual URLs will aid recall and help navigation. They also have the potential to help improve Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), delivering genuine savings. Search engine specialists often argue the importance of having the brand in the URL over having URLs populated as much as possible with non-branded keywords. A .brand gTLD allows the simultaneous integration of both techniques.

A badge of trust
Ownership of a .brand also enables brand owners to exert far greater control of who uses their name on the internet. Banks and luxury goods vendors in particular face significant problems from ‘cybersquatters’ who buy domain names that play on a virtually unlimited number of variations of well-known brand names, including common misspellings of those names, to drive traffic to their own sites. As well as confusing people, fake sites can damage a company's brand in the eyes of their customers.

The top-level .brand domain serves as a constant indication that the information being presented is from the genuine brand. Companies can also invite affiliates, partners and even trusted individuals to join a secure, trusted .brand community. As internet users become familiar with changes to the domain name structure .brand will become a badge of authenticity to help users distinguish between legitimate sites and imposters.

Taking the leap with the digital brand elite…
Applications for .brand will begin in late 2011, but with a price-tag of $185,000 USD, it is likely only big brands will have the means to apply. The high cost is an active deterrent against domain speculators and fraudsters but also means it encourages serious brand owners, and will add an element of prestige to a .brand, marking the owner as a brand elite on the internet.

The initial application window is expected to close in December 2011/January 2012, and it is unlikely further applications for top-level generic domains will be accepted for at least two years. With many brands keeping their .brand intentions close to their chest, the question for most CMOs will be whether they can afford to miss the first mover advantage that will be afforded their competitors if they fail to give the next generation of the internet due consideration.

Stuart Durham
Melbourne IT DBS