As the era of new internet extensions dawns, major companies such as Google, BMW, and Amazon are beginning to adopt their own extensions.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) ushered in a new era in 2013, with nearly two thousand applications for new extensions. Approximately 600 of these applications were made by brands.
Why were these 600 applications made?
Enhancing Brand Accessibility
Imagine you’re organizing a new campaign or initiative for your brand. Under current conditions, what sort of names might you consider?
www.company.com/ourMarketingCampaignSlogan
www.wecouldntfindashortnamewemadeoursloganasafieldname.com
These cumbersome URLs are now obsolete with the new extensions. It’s now feasible to assign more comprehensible and accessible names to your campaign’s subdomains without any hindrance, such as:
campaign.brand
slogan.brand
Corporate extensions can significantly bolster customer loyalty. For example, community sites can be established under domains like my.brand, and email accounts such as [email protected] can be created.
A brand TLD also simplifies online brand presence for customers. Many brand managers have faced challenges in standardizing their social media handles. While some brands successfully secure standardized handles across platforms, others struggle. Thus, why not use your domain name as your social media handle?
brand.tld/facebook can forward your customers to your Facebook Page
brand.tld/youtube can be your entrypoint for your YouTube channel.
These are more reliable than addresses controlled by social media platforms. There are numerous instances where brands have had to change their social media handles, leaving printed materials outdated. However, if a social media provider alters something on your page, you retain full control to redirect users to the updated location.
This concept also applies to store addresses for mobile applications, QR codes, and more.
Establishing Brand Credibility
A domain name ending with your brand’s extension will instill a sense of trust in your customers. With full control over the domain name, it’s less likely for scam, phishing, and similar sites to misuse customer information. Over time, users will start to view .brand extensions as a simple security check, akin to a security certificate or HTTPS in secure site addresses. Research also indicates that users trust .brand extensions more than .generic ones.
Making the Brand More Accessible
New brand extensions will widen the circle of trust with partners, sales channels, and business associates. Controlling both sides of the dot in the domain name grants your company authority over which names to register. This control aids customers in recognizing authentic resellers, particularly in sectors like real estate, technology, and insurance.
As our lives become increasingly internet-centric, new applications for these extensions will emerge.
Going Beyond the ‘.com’ Domain
No matter how unique your domain name, having a brand extension will differentiate your company from others with traditional .com domains. A name like firsatlar.marka on a billboard is much more appealing.
Fortune 500 Companies Embrace Brand TLDs
In ICANN’s first application window, 1741 new extensions were requested. Of these, 635 were brand-related, 1060 were generic, and 56 were geographic. The finance and telecom sectors accounted for over half of the applications. Notably, 41% of brand extension applications came from Fortune 500 companies in finance, retail, technology, and transportation.
The Next Step
Brands that have applied are gradually activating their extensions. Among these, .bmw, .mini, .suzuki, and .williamhill were among the first to launch. The remaining 600 extensions are being activated sequentially after ICANN approval.
If you haven’t yet applied for a brand extension, it’s not too late. ICANN plans to open a new application window soon. Until then, you can start preparing your new TLD application.