Disrupting markets with dotbrands

Stuart Fuller at Com Laude describes how businesses can become industry disruptors with their online brand strategy by embracing the new opportunity to set up dotbrands

Dotbrands are URLs such as .google, .microsoft and .sony that have a brand name placed at the end, where .com might usually be. When the last round of dotbrand applications took place in 2012, there were just over 600  applications from Europe alone. As well as technology companies, brand owners in the pharmaceutical, automobile and financial services industries were also prominent applicants.

However, many household names and disruptor brands, such as TikTok and Monzo, did not exist at the time of the round one application window. In addition some famous brands including Coca-Cola and Pepsi did not apply.

Now, over ten years on, ICANN is preparing to open the doors to another round of applications. The next wave of brands wishing to compete against their peers will now have a second chance to disrupt their industries and to control their own slice of the internet.

While there are challenges when it comes to adoption, including a lack of awareness of the use cases and benefits, this second round provides an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others and become positive disruptors. 

Crucial to success is preparation and looking at the possibilities for change now. Thinking about how a brand can disrupt what they do today and looking at the competitive landscape will be key to communicating the ROI to stakeholders. 

Deciding the direction of travel

Web domains are one of an organisation’s most valuable assets, a key part of their intellectual property and sometimes the most highly valued part of a business.

Replacing a dot com and essentially changing a brand’s whole communication strategy requires significant planning and buy in from internal and external stakeholders. Brands need to ask themselves what they want to achieve with their dotbrand – whether that be increased security, a more consistent global message, increased brand awareness or recognition etc. 

Aligning these goals with the direction of travel of the business will be key. For instance, if a brand is planning for global expansion, a dotbrand could be their way to launch into a new region with an easily identifiable and trustworthy name that is consistent across all borders. 

Creating a competitive advantage

The dot com era has lasted for decades, but it is a crowded space for brands wishing to stand out. Take the banking industry, for example, whose online presence is predicated on security and trust. 

Barclays applied for their dotbrand in 2012 and has been actively using it since. HSBC also applied but its application has been based around internal, rather than external use cases. With two major banks already having a hand in the game, it would only be sensible for others in the industry to seriously consider their own dotbrand opportunities to avoid falling behind.

Simplifying user experience through shorter and easily understandable URLs, and the security aspect of knowing that sites are genuinely trusted and genuine if they use a dotbrand, is important for an industry predicated on trust and security. 

Increasing cyber-security

A dotbrand ring fences a brand from cyber-criminals, preventing them from registering a domain in the same name to commit fraud or execute phishing attacks. If cyber-squatting or infringement is an issue that is a continuous headache for a brand, then exploring a dotbrand could be hugely beneficial from a financial perspective. 

In fact, the number of new generic top level domains (gTLDs) such as .com and .not involved in domain name disputes is relatively small. According to GigaLaw’s Domain Dispute Digest, a quarterly report that tracks data and trends from the major providers of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), the majority of disputes still involve ‘dot com’.

New gTLDs are restricted – meaning no one can register that name without due diligence made around whether they have the right to own it. Hence, cyber-squatting risk is reduced. They provide a walled garden, a private space that supports critically sensitive and commercial information. Once consumers understand that if the site is not labelled with a dotbrand, then it is not to be trusted, huge security benefits will be unveiled. 

Change breeds fear

If the pandemic taught us anything, it is that there is fear around changing the existing ways of working. But once that leap is taken, it can revolutionise ways of working for the better.

The challenge for many brands is a fear of change which is why few organisations have boldly adopted a dotbrand. But consumer confidence is increasing. Google and Amazon are now actively using their dotbrands, while Microsoft has also just introduced cloud.microsoft – a unified domain for its apps and services. Change is on the horizon and brands must begin to prepare now.

A common fear is that in moving to a dotbrand, the brands’ search ranking could be impacted. When Barclays moved their domain from Barclays.com to home.barclays, their search ranking disappeared overnight. This is now not the case. Working alongside Google, Barclays created a new process for in which a dotbrand that can be used without this happening, effectively being the trailblazers for the rest of the dotbrand applicants

This is exactly the trial and error phase that happened in round one – but there is now a safe path for brands to go down this route. With better tools and consultancy, brands can learn from the mistakes of the past and use their dotbrand to shake up their online presence.

Delivering the benefits of a dotbrand

Brands should be under no illusion that applying for a dotbrand is an easy process. It comes with significant financial investment. Success depends on good consultancy and long-term planning – assessing the benefits it could bring and how it could be used in reality to support the business’ overarching strategy.  

Getting C-Suite buy in relies on education. Corporate domain management providers can offer strategic consultancy to identify the benefits, opportunities and feasibility.

Similarly, educating consumers and stakeholders on the benefits of a dotbrand will be key to viewing this as an opportunity to become a positive disruptor in the crowded online space.  

Stuart Fuller is New TLD Services Director at Com Laude

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com