Brand gTLDs Beating to a Different Drum: INTA Meeting

The pressures on brands to get their new gTLDs to market are different to those with registrations that rely on paid for registrations. For brands, the pressure is to get what they want… right.

At the International Trademark Association (INTA) Annual Meeting in Barcelona, Spain, that’s running from 20 to 24 May, there was a discussion on how to evaluate the success of brand generic top level domains. It’s a huge even for trademark professionals with the number registered this year topping 10,644 at 17:00 pm on Sunday, 21 May.

World Trademark Review has given a detailed coverage of the meeting, including the seminar on brand gTLDs. CSC Digital Brand Services’ Gretchen Olive argued, according to the WTR report, “that they should be viewed through a different prism. Crucially, she notes that ‘.brands’ are just not in a rush to launch. Nor are they subject to the same pressures to do so, in a bid to recoup their investment through registration sales: ‘Success is not measured by registrations or profit, but instead the unique strategic business goals of each individual brand.’”

“The operators of branded online spaces, then, are marching to the beat of a different drum. One such is Accenture, with Kristen Poggensee, paralegal associate manager, joining Olive in the ‘.brands’ and you’ session. Poggensee is part of a cross-company team – drawing on legal, marketing and IT – that is driving the digital strategy behind ‘.accenture’, and she explained: ‘Right now we are not looking to just switch from ‘.com’ to ‘.accenture’. Instead we are taking a phased approach and testing the water. This is an evolving strategy.’ Central to this are continued efforts to ‘build awareness – not only within the company but also the community’, engage in industry and competitor analysis, and ensure that senior management remains involved in the project as this evolution continues: ‘You have to keep interest levels high.’ The takeaway? There may not be a big bang moment in terms of ‘.brand’ deployment but don’t regard that as indicating failure. Brand registries are instead working at their own pace, exploring and testing different options, and rolling out only when it is strategically advantageous to do so.”