Learn more about applying for a new dot Brand Top Level Domain

ICANN’s New gTLD application window recently closed. Now is the time to start preparing your company for the next ICANN gTLD application window. ICANN has not yet announced when the new application window will open, but we will keep you posted when they do.

In the meantime, start educating yourself and your fellow team members on new gTLDs. Investing in a new gTLD is a strategic decision. Now is the time for you to monitor and research how companies are deploying their new gTLDs to stimulate your own new gTLD imagination.

How will you and your organization use your new gTLD (dot Brand)?

Dot Brand new generic Top Level Domains (new gTLDs)

Navigate below to learn more about applying for a new gTLD for your brand. If you are ready to begin a conversation about your dot Brand with our New TLD Team, start here.

To help businesses better understand the world of new gTLDs, Afilias sponsored Columbia Business School's Center on Global Brand Leadership's webinar on "Who should invest in a dotBrand?" To view the two-hour webinar or to view short topical highlights, visit our gTLD webinar page.

Welcome to a dot Brand New World!

In 2011, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) unleashed a new era of competition designed to expand the possibilities of Internet domain names and create a more accessible, secure and innovative Internet. 

In 2012, brand owners were able to apply to own a unique “generic Top Level Domain” (gTLD). A gTLD or TLD is the suffix that is “right of the last dot” in an Internet address, as in www.Nike.com, www.ICANN.org or www.Afilias.info. Now instead of .org or .com, your brand name is the top-level domain.  So long .com.  Hello dot Brand.

Your dot Brand uniquely supports your brand architecture. Depending on your competitive situation and your strategic vision for your brands, a new dot Brand TLD lets your firm protect your intellectual property and control your brand space in new, never-before-possible ways. For the first time, you control 100% of what happens in your domain. You control your brand by deciding who registers a name in your TLD.

Imagine creating a simplified, brand-supporting URL shortener that enables your firm to invent new ways for your registered stakeholders to interact with your brand.

What new brand innovation and competitive advantages would The Coca Cola Company gain over PepsiCo, if PepsiCo were stuck with yesterday’s dot Com-era TLD: www.pepsico.com/Brands/Pepsi_Cola-Brands.html while The Coca Cola Company used a newer, memorable, simpler-to-use and more secure www.Diet.Coke?

Intrigued? 

Watch our short video, “Welcome to a .Brand New World,” to stimulate your dot Brand imagination and learn how to apply for, launch and manage your new dot Brand domain with the help of the most experienced TLD registry services partner in the world – Afilias. This video will help prepare you and your team for when the next window to apply opens.

Learn more about dot Brand TLDs and what to expect. Simply email the Afilias dot Brand team to schedule a no-obligation, exploratory conversation.

The Experts in dot Brands

Afilias is the world’s largest provider of diversified domain registry services, supporting more than 20 million registrations across 16 different TLDs; that’s more TLDs than any other registry operations provider. And that means Afilias is the undisputed expert in new TLDs and dot Brands.

Marketing teams and brand builders can profit from the experience we have gained by launching and growing .INFO, the most successful new gTLD launched since ICANN expended the original set of gTLD in 2001. As the new TLD market share leader, we understand the issues, opportunities and challenges to successfully apply for, launch and grow a top-level domain. 

The experience of Afilias, coupled with our globally distributed, multi-layered, diverse infrastructure, ensures that your new TLD and second-level domains will always work in a highly secure, reliable manner.  

Thanks to Afilias’ deep expertise in winning and managing new TLDs, you and your dot Brand TLD have an expert to count on.

Learn more about dot Brand TLDs and what to expect. Simply email the Afilias dot Brand team to schedule a no-obligation, exploratory conversation.

What’s the Biggest Challenge?

Time.  As far as new TLDs go, it's not on your side.

New TLD applications will be accepted by ICANN January 12, 2012 thru April 20, 2012. Given such a short window of opportunity, your time to assemble your dot Brand team, starting with a qualified Registry Services Partner, is extremely tight. Afilias has a rapid and rigorous application process plus strategic partners that your team can use to build your business case and begin the application development process so you can submit a winning ICANN application on time.     

While respecting the confidentiality of our many corporate clients now planning to apply for a  dot Brand TLD, we can share that the demand for new TLDs is well exceeding our original forecast.  Afilias, many other experts in the field and even ICANN have admitted that the number of new dot Brand applications is likely to be larger than anyone expected. 

The complication is that the window of opportunity to apply will close quickly, and ICANN can only process a limited number of applications; it will be important to get in early in case ICANN batches the applications on a first-apply, first-served basis.     

The good news is that working with an experienced Registry Services partner like Afilias can minimize your time, stress, risks and costs while improving your odds of success.                          

The bad news is that the ICANN new TLD application process is new to most newly formed consultancies and vendors. Many firms have been created in the last few months by assembling teams to capitalize on the ICANN’s new TLD application opportunity. 

Learn more about dot Brands TLDs and what to expect.  Simply email the Afilias dot Brand team to schedule a no-obligation, exploratory conversation.

Investigate before You Invest: the Video

Watch our video “Welcome to a .Brand New World”. This short video illustrates the many benefits and new approaches that Brand Builders can use with a dot Brand TLD. It also shows the challenges Brand Builders and their teams will face when applying for a dot Brand TLD.

Investigate before You Invest: the e-Book

Our e-book, "Envisioning Your dot Brand New World: A Field Guide for Brand Builders,” is a fast-read document designed to help you understand the benefits of owning a new dot Brand TLD.

dot Brand - a Field Guide for brand builders

Learn more about dot Brand TLDs and what to expect.  Simply email the Afilias dot Brand team to schedule a no-obligation, exploratory conversation.

Experience Matters

The right type of experience matters when applying for, launching and supporting a dot Brand TLD. Over the past decade, Afilias has helped apply for, win and support more new ICANN gTLDs than any other company.

Unlike ccTLDs (Country Code Top-Level Domains) like .us or .uk, the requirements to support a dot Brand domain are complex, rigorous and time sensitive. Afilias knows ICANN’s requirements and has vast experience doing the right things right.

Afilias can help brand builders, like you, understand the issues, opportunities and challenges to apply for, win and secure your own TLD when the next ICANN gTLD application window opens.

Learn more about dot Brand TLDs and what to expect. Simply email the Afilias dot Brand team to schedule a no-obligation, exploratory conversation.

Take Action. Today.

Register now to receive timely messages, emails and bulletins that will keep you up to date and will guide you in applying for, launching and managing your dot Brand TLD. 

Faster yet, email the Afilias’ dot Brand Team or call +1.215.706.5700 today to schedule a no-obligation, exploratory conversation.