February 09, 2010The URL factor in strategic brand management
The URL factor in strategic brand management
By Khoo Boo Leong | Jul 6, 2009
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PrintA slew of generic top-level domain names (gTLDs) will be launched by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) next year. With more domain choices come strategic opportunities and risks. But first, businesses must assess the gTLDs’ impact on their trademarks, positioning and branding.
Since year 2000, ICANN has launched .info and .biz, and recently, .mobi as well as longer strings like .travel and .jobs. Following the launch of .asia, ICANN started a new gTLD programme last year.
Established and most sought-after TLDs are .com, .net or .org. In addition, there are country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) which have been offered in the market for the last 10 or 20 years.
“So far, there have been proposals for names of major cities such as .tokyo, .seoul, .berlin, .paris and .london,” said Ching Chiao, vice-president of DotAsia Organisation Ltd, a not-for-profit organization which oversees the .asia gTLD.
“There could also be domains for brands such as .sony or .samsung. These are dependent on the business model that these brands would like to adopt to run or manage the registry.”
Currently, “we see interest from regional and global brands like Seiko, Honda and Hitachi which use the .asia domain for their Asia-Pacific or regional portal,” Chiao added.
Strategic domains
Amid these developments, corporations need to assess their investment and business strategy with a TLD and how they manage their domain name portfolio.
“It’s time for these organizations to think strategically and holistically about their legal position, branding and administration so as to be more organized in managing their domain names,” said Chiao.
Here, many fortune 500 companies have set up a single multidisciplinary domain team that makes domain name registration decisions for the entire enterprise. In contrast, Asian businesses tend to distribute that responsibility to multiple departments with each administering its own domain name.
Alternatively, IP Mirror, the Singapore-based accredited registrar for .asia, .sg and many other ccTLDs like .cn, .in and .kr, help companies administer domain names via its Domain Management System. It recalls all the domain names a business has registered with other registrars and performs a complete clean-up to bring the portfolio up-to-date.
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