Soon, the .com’s, .org’s, and .net’s will all eventually going to be a thing of the past. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – or ICANN for short – has decided to expand the realm of generic domains. It’ll help push to a new generation of creativity and inspiration, at least according to their chairman Peter Dengate Thrush.
These changes won’t be instantaneous but will change the way we use the Internet. With more options at their disposal, brands will have to take initiative to bring awareness back to domain names. This is especially true since search engines have started to dominate our Internet experience. In fact, a street survey revealed that less than 8% of people were able to distinguish between a search engine and a browser. Only 8%!
As we start moving slowly back into the age of domains, brands should be creative in integrating branding and practicality into their chosen name. Canon, for example, has stated their intentto acquire their newer domain: “.canon”.
These newer domain names can also complement a brand’s web content. Memorable content or engaging material help a company’s brand, and attaching a newer domain name along with that can only reinforce that brand’s name, message or idea.
But brands might have to beware: a URL is only as strong as the brand itself. And as Shakespeare himself would say, “What’s in a name?”
