Black Friday and New gTLDs

NetNames published an article on black friday and New gTLD domain names.

The article is mostly targeted to brand owners and protecting their brand online.

Here are a few highlights:

Uniregistry, one of the new organisations created to take advantage of the new gTLD programme when it was launched in 2012, saw an opportunity for brand holders large and small to create the perfect digital marketing platform for Black Friday, launching the .blackfriday new TLD earlier in 2014, allowing organisations to plan well ahead and build something special to grab the attention of the consumer looking for bargains.

Unfortunately, brands have yet to engage in the power of the new gTLDs and this can be seen with the poor adoption of the .blackfriday TLD.  Earlier this week we got excited when we saw that Amazon would be using Amazon.blackfriday. Alas, the name simply forwards to a Amazon.com landing page. Likewise Gap and Nike have delegated the .blackfriday TLD but simply forward it to their main websites. Other brands such as Apple and Hollister haven’t used the respective domains at all. Over at Disney there are strange things going on as we were able to access a server root directory when we tried Disney.blackfriday.

So why aren’t brands using a very specific marketing TLD to drive traffic? Take up of the TLD has been muted so far, a story that can be seen across a number of new gTLDs that had what appeared to be a rosy future. Just over 11,000 .blackfriday names had been registered as of 26th November, although the vast majority (93%) were being held by the registry, Uniregistry, themselves. So the pool of names actually under the control of brand holders is small to start. Some may be using them for defensive purposes, registering the names to ensure a third party cannot take advantage of their Intellectual Property and causing brand and reputational damage. Others may be wary of the impact on search rankings at such a crucial online shopping period by adopting a new TLD.

The article ends with:

One thing is for sure. It is going to take a few pioneers to really get the new gTLD ball rolling. What would have been the impact on adoption if Amazon used the .blackfriday TLD in their headline marketing, or other major web properties adopted its use for specific landing pages? Build it and they will come is the mantra of the brave, but without such spirit we will constantly live in the status quo.