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[The
£.com/poundsymbol.com logo] There
are only two famous symbol ‘.com’ domain names in the world and £.com
is one of them. As the first, and perhaps the only domain of the two
to complete a ‘full identity’, £.com could become a unique revolutionary
force within the UK Financial Services industry. On
the afternoon of 26th June 2008, at the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky,
Amsterdam, Great Britain's "pound domain" (£.com)
will, along with associated property, be auctioned for sale as part
of the IP Business Congress 2008. The IPBC is considered by many to
be the Business Conference of 2008, with guest speakers from
Fortune 500 companies, Captains of Industry and other notable professionals
within the field of intellectual property. The
example screenshot, above, shows what the site could look like if
it were to be developed in to a pound/Europe debate social networking
premise. Is Europe, and/or the issue of Britain keeping its currency,
exciting enough a subject to sustain interest through a wide UK age
demographic? It is perhaps the only site idea that could do
this, and not just for the UK but the whole of Europe. Particularly,
when such an idea can be articulated in terms of what it may mean
to every man, woman and child in Europe. Social-networking,
is currently geared towards a fairly young demographic. However, there
is no reason why such a premise could not cover a very wide age range,
if it has a compelling idea to bind everyone together (Britain’s
acceptance or rejection of the euro, and how the euro is already
effecting Europeans, is perhaps the ‘ultimate’ public debate). [The
domain is the TV star] How
many internet identities (or domains) do you know of who are a TV
star? We would venture to suggest none, because there aren’t any… yet. But surely, out of the 146,000,000 * domain names currently in existence there must be at least a few that are able to credibly transform themselves in to a 3D animated TV character, and create 21st century brand ‘magic’ in the process… right?... Wrong. Because this opportunity only arises, credibly, when we begin to turn our eyes away from letters and numbers and take a look at famous symbol domains… which aren't (quite) ready for 'primetime' yet. Are we really saying though that there are only two domain names on the planet that can credibly animate their domain name to a very large audience? Yes, that is exactly what we are saying. Of course, there are several distinctions to be drawn and understood here, but it is simply that.
To help your understanding on this issue, let us offer an example:
Lets say, the owner of £.net is involved in the UK Financial
Services industry and they want to use that name to create a brand
new ‘finance at home’ site for residents aged between 18-35. They
decide that one of the best ways to reach this demographic is to do
a television commercial featuring a ‘£’ character, thereby animating
their domain name – making their brand come alive, as it were. They
want to make it credible and fun, and develop something that their
audience can easily identify with and learn to trust.
In
two years time the £ will be celebrating its 450th birthday. So they decide to spend £75,000 on commissioning and developing the animated ‘£’ character, and creating a story-board and artwork for the first commercial, in what they hope will become a series of commercials. They spend time and money going through the necessary regulatory requirements, incur the usual business expenses normally associated with an internet ‘start-up’, and finally they decide to pay a further £350,000 on a series of 30-second ‘peak time’ TV commercials with a well-known UK channel. After all, they ponder, who has ever done anything like this before? That evening the commercial ‘airs’, and an hour or so after 'airing' they begin to wonder “where are all the site visitors?!”... as they are not getting much interest in the £.net site at all. Surely, it couldn’t be a problem with the ad - as it was flawlessly created and executed!… and the domain name itself was big and bold so that everyone could see it, and would know where to visit. So they rack their minds wondering “what on earth is the problem here?!”… The problem was simply that they didn’t have the ‘.com’ domain name. As 8 out of every 10 people who should have visited their site went to £.com instead, because they thought (erroneously or not) that it was bound to be more credible than its ‘.net’ counterpart… Because that is basically what they will be doing anyway if they continue to promote £.net. Unfair? Perhaps. Ridiculous? Not at all. It is no accident that ‘.com’ is the No.1 on the internet. People throughout the world automatically associate credibility and expectation with it in much the same way they expect a refreshing quality drink when they open a can of Coca-Cola. Over the years, there have been numerous examples of companies who have lost untold millions all because they embarked upon an advertising campaign and they did not have the ‘.com’ domain name.
Do this test on yourself. Take a look at the letters and/or numbers domains for a moment – all of them are highly developed well-known internet brands. Now take a look at the symbols – all of which exist as domains, but none of which have ever been developed or promoted. What are you feeling now as you compare the two domain types?… What emotions are going through your mind as you look at each domain carefully?… What associations are you making about what each of them mean and what you should expect to find there?… There are some differences, right? Now, imagine this is a level playing field and that the symbol names have had the opportunity to be developed commercially… What are you thinking now as you make your comparisons?… Now just take a moment to consider how much it might cost to turn a symbol domain premise in to a ‘household name’ internet property, compared to a letter/number domain premise?… Behind
every domain name or internet identity there needs to be an idea and
meaning. But what if you could turn a famous historic symbol in to
your own corporate internet property and leverage the benefit of hundreds
of years worth of positive meaning and identity that has already
been built up in the symbol? Wouldn't that be something worth having? [“If
a picture paints a thousand words..."] Far
from it being just an old cliché in a song, psychologists have proven
that images really do ‘paint a picture’ in the mind and create a lasting
impression on people. For a business wanting to create a unique and
lasting impression on a customer, this is clearly a desirable prospect. This is not just some comfort-generating business slogan, it is the truth. Only £.com can credibly lay claim to this slogan. *
source: Verisign, Domain Name Industry Brief – Dec ‘07. email: © poundsymbol.com, 2006-2008 |
