Success Window

Don't lock your business (& future) into failure with a 2nd or 3rd quality domain name. Get the best or rename.

Don't delay. The badly chosen domain name generates regret each day. Own the best possible domain & you'll never regret it.

With a weak domain, you may be generating needs & leads for a more clever business. To continuously leak traffic to the category killer domain name is non-sustainable. It's a disaster. You financially contribute to your competitor's success. 

The internet is a great tool for marketing and sales, still hugely expanding and becoming ever more important. For the first time in history, many businesses can easily & cheaply reach out to people around the world, selling products and services and ideas anywhere, 24/7, and at much lower startup costs than ever before.

Large & well-situated retail locations are less necessary. But a new basic cost is the correct domain name.

Don't build on a poor name; there's no substitute for the best name possible.

Don't build on a .net or .org -- and don't rely on a country code such as .cn or .uk -- these are shortsighted local names, with in-built defeat.  Buy the .com or rename.

Those using lesser names give traffic to the .com -- the .com may be a competitor or might sell important business leads to your competition. If you set up shop in a basement backroom (with a .co or .biz for example) under your .com competition, most customers never bother to visit you.

A short, descriptive .com name is a vital business tool and increasingly the best path for eventual success.

Get a great .com main name. Then build traffic with additional keyword-rich domains forwarding visitors to your main website.

Pirate P&G

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is in the news for a clumsy effort at theft.

Why would a highly respected $80 billion dollar global firm risk their stature, destroy trust, and become a business world laughingstock?

Maybe they were greedy. Maybe their ethics are poor... They watch big banks & finance firms doing scum deals and corner-cutting, maybe they want part of it.

Maybe P&G became decrepit & senile. Founded in 1837, they've a trusted place in many homes around the world with their great consumer products. But with one big lie, we begin to doubt their advertisements and product labels.

This story stems from a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) finding of "reverse domain name hijacking" against P&G.

P&G wanted the internet domain name swash.com but were unwilling to pay much for it. When P&G offered $600, the owners asked for $30,000. Instead of negotiating, P&G filed a complaint with WIPO seeking to take the domain name forcibly. They claimed the owner (Marchex Sales LLC) had no legitimate interest in the name, and had registered the name to deliberately infringe on a P&G trademark (swash).

Such assertions are often difficult to adjudicate. One problem is the same word(s) can be trademarked in assorted classifications and different geographic regions. "Swash" for example was registered in the USA by Arion International in classification 5 ("Pharmaceutical preparations used for washing and cleansing of patients; sanitary preparations for medical use" - Registration #3095805 May 23rd, 2006; first filed August 31st, 2004; first use in Commerce December 31st, 1969). P&G filed on September 20th, 2011 in class 7 ("An appliance for domestic use, for the purpose of removing wrinkles and odors from clothing and linen"). Others have trademarks in different classifications and in other nations.

Swash is a generic word, included in most large English-language dictionaries. The domain swash.com was first registered March 2nd, 2000, and acquired by Marchex over eight (8) years ago.

Anyhow, P&G claimed to WIPO (link) that SWASH was a longstanding worldwide brand, that P&G owned rights stretching back to 1993 with multi-million dollar sales; and that over the last 4 years alone the brand had gained sales of over USD 40,000,000. When these details were challenged, P&G as complainant was forced to admit the brand was only used in the USA, used there for 4 years total, and sales were actually below USD 60,000.

This is relevant not simply because of misstatements (lying), but because the guts of the case hinged on P&G proving they had a major brand position prior to domain registration. They did not, and they were labeled "reverse domain name hijackers." -- But they were treated kindly: more than five months went by before the decision was finalized. John Berryhill, lawyer for the Respondents (Marchex) noted: "the panel had a hard time believing that P&G lied about several things in the complaint, and gave them a second chance to explain themselves – which P&G did poorly. So, the panel is stuck with having to figure out what to do when a prominent brand owner attempts to reverse hijack a domain name."

In the words of the WIPO panel, this was "a grotesquely unfair attempt to wrest ownership of the disputed domain name from the owner" and that P&G "abused the process in an attempt at reverse domain name hijacking in contravention of the UDRP Rules" with their complaint. Such blunt slapdown of a beloved mega-corporation!  Surely bad publicity for P&G.


More Place Branding

Below see more top efforts with place appeal:
(link is here for part one)




-- great colors, but not a very attractive site. 
"To promote & defend Spanish brands" -- why not use real  people?
Lease or buy better names; link them to this site:
for example, BrandEspaƱa.com or SpainBrand.com






-- only insiders will discover this boring site.

Site title suggests bureaucracy and is unappealing, proclaiming: 
"Hi Seoul Brand is a name jointly used by the excellent companies 
officially approved by the Seoul Metropolitan Government"   

Lease, purchase and develop multiple sites to market Seoul & Korea.
SeoulBrand.com is a shorter, much better name. Get that name!
Korealize.com    BrandsKorea.com    KoreaBrands.com    TastingKorea.com
Seoul's in competition with hundreds of dynamic cities.  Wake Up !







-- juxtaposes Australia's state of Victoria & the city of Melbourne
Visitors are sure to be confused (the website is muddled)
Livability is extremely important, but this dark illustration is feeble...
Is there any visual identity to Brand Victoria? 
"Melbourne, Victoria, Australia" lacks imagination.
Playfulness can help: perhaps  Melbun.com  or  MelbnBrand.com  







-- Haiti is a tough sell. The site must offer more.
Get HaitiBrand.com (buy or lease) to also feed into this site.






-- an effort to market Glendale, California that solicits participation.
Not much action on this site for nearly three years. Sleepy & tired?
The Glendale Community Survey was gathering information, 
but now lists as "closed" with no results posted. Bureaucratic arrogance?
It seems the City of Glendale Economic Development Division made a single payment to
North Star Destination Strategies for this brand plan & website, but there's been no 
follow-up or maintenance...  it all seems rather sad and pitiful.