It has a nice ring to it.
Over the weekend Elliot Silver posted an ad with the headline “Dot Com is Dead” from Minds + Machines. I’ve seen a lot of other blog posts about how new TLD backers are beating the drum that .com is dead. Domainers commenting on the posts then typically say that the idea that .com is dead is ridiculous.
Of course it’s ridiculous. But it’s also exactly what you’d say if you were a new TLD operator.
It sure beats “.Com is the biggest domain, and we hope to siphon off a small bit of future .com registrants, and maybe as a collective all of these new TLDs can take away a bit of .com’s dominance.”
Besides, I don’t think that longer description will fit in a Facebook or Google ad.
Come on, folks. New top level domain backers are selling something. Do they really think .com is dead? Of course not! (Well, there may be a few screwballs, but most understand reality.)
Antony Van Couvering of Minds + Machines stopped by DomainInvesting.com to comment on the story, and noted “…you could hardly expect me to put up an ad that said the opposite…”
Exactly. Don’t think that registries are idiots for pitching that .com is dead. It’s a smart marketing line. If you’re trying to sell an alternative to .com, you create your own marketing narrative.
Chris says
I think the marketing approach sounds ridiculous to anyone who knows anything about domains and the general public does know about .com’s use by 99.9% of the major companies out there. So right off the bat the tagline sounds stupid even to the general public. If I was going to start a tofu restaurant should I use the tagline “Cheeseburgers are dead, come to Tofu Restaurant”? They should be selling whatever benefit their extension provides instead of using a ridiculous negative statement. Then again, what the heck kind of benefit could .horse or .casa or any of those have? The only one who is guaranteed to make a killing with the new gTLDs is ICANN.
Andrew Allemann says
Tofu doesn’t compete with hamburgers. These new TLDs are competing with .com.
Chris says
Tofu burgers do compete to beef burgers… but not really the focus of the point I was getting at.
Andrew Allemann says
OK, then how has Chick-Fil-A’s “eat mor chickin” think worked out for them? 🙂
jZ says
its a foolish thing to say to domainers who in most cases, own mostly .com’s…actually its basically insulting. they might as well say ‘your stupid .com investment is dead, your business of selling them is going to fail unless you drop them all and buy our fancy new tlds.’
its not smart marketing.
Andrew Allemann says
They aren’t targeting domainers with that pitch…at least on purpose.
JamesD says
Sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut and let people THINK you’re an idiot, than to open it and let them KNOW you are.
gaetano marano says
–
.com will be the number 1 also in 2099
AbdulBasit Makrani says
This marketing idea is just ridiculous and a big lie. Won’t help them in long term.
NotCom Tom says
If you follow @newgtldsite you would have heard this about week earlier.
Kevin M. says
Funny – Claiming ‘dot com is dead’, while using a dot com for their website. Guess they don’t believe their own ‘hype’!
ChuckWagen says
It completely lacks imagination. Which is not a surprise coming from morons who think these crap extensions are actually going to fly. Start digging.
Viljami says
Totally agree, “.com is dead” is a smart marketing line for new tlds. That’s exactly what they’re collectively trying to convince. I might disagree, I might not like it but whether it’s true or not is pretty much irrelevant here. All marketing is, in essence, bull…
Anyway, it’s kinda funny how many domainers get so offended by anything even slightly undermining .com. I guess we’ll be seeing a lot more tears because this is probably just the beginning of .com bashing.
(For the clarity, I don’t personally think that .com is dead by any means.)
Rubens Kuhl says
There are two sides to such a campaign. One of them is new gTLD awareness, and this side was accomplished: more people now aware of new gTLDs.
But on the other side, generating new sales, it might missed a bit. The real target of new gTLD operators should be .net and .org, as most of their new registrations come from “.com was taken”, not “Network” or “Organization” minded registrants.
But this is a longer and not so catchy story to tell than “.com is dead”.
I would try going to something like “a gTLD with a meaning”, as current gTLDs went almost meaningless when society moved to all/mostly online activity.
Joseph Peterson says
Andrew,
Yes, it’s a sales pitch. Yes, we’d be wrong to interpret it as the registry’s genuine opinion … because (Yes) all registries know the “.COM is dead” jingle to be literally untrue both now and in the future.
Some domainers — taking the bait — do get angry as if this jingle were a sincere challenge when it’s probably intended more as a “Red Bull gives you wings” slogan.
All the same, nobody believes slogans of the “Red Bull gives you wings” variety. People don’t guzzle a caffeinated beverage and then leap off the top of tall buildings flapping their arms.
In contrast, business owners genuinely MIGHT believe this “.COM is dead” mantra and jeopardize their savings or livelihood if they accept it at face value.
There’s a fine line between advertising exaggeration and irresponsibly misleading consumers. Unfortunately, many registries will feel financial pressure to cross that line.
I’m not condemning Minds + Machines. I’m simply pointing out that the frustration felt in the face of their “.COM is dead” jingle is justifiable.
Yes, it’s a sales pitch. Yes, it’s a disingenuous and misleading and ultimately false claim.
Yes, such nonsense should be contradicted and mocked.
Ms Domainer says
*
The trouble is: when one tells such a boldface lie, one loses all credibility.
In advertising, there is a point where claims become so outrageous that a company risks losing potential customers.
In this case, all evidence shows the opposite case: .com is doing very well.
Pumpers and dumpers are becoming desperate.
*
Domain Buyer Broker says
Just wait until these gtld registries start getting aggressive by misleading potential buyers about their extensions like when .co said co was short for company while it is just the country code extension for Colombia.
stuart walker says
If they arent targeting domainers why advertise on Elliots blog . Not many Joe Publics will read it . In Elliots defense (not that he needs defending) why not advertise a well paying ad when its domain related .
Andrew Allemann says
It was an ad Elliot saw on Facebook. I’m sure and ad they’d place on DomainInvesting.com would be very different.
David Heard says
@Joseph: ” There’s a fine line between advertising exaggeration and irresponsibly misleading consumers. Unfortunately, many registries will feel financial pressure to cross that line.”
Minds + Machines = Dishonest.
Thanks for the useful information, I will remember it.
Mike says
Sometimes I sell a .com domain and I think later “did I undersell that domain” . I then make peace in my mind by realising that, the more .com domains “we” all sell the better it is for ALL of us. If wee all sit on the domains then they will never get used or known by the public at large ,and that is counterproductive. The more we sell the more secure will be .com as it will then continue to be used as the No.1 TLD So get selling and dont worry if you might undersell on some because you will be securing the future for .com at same time.
Mike says
Oh and let me know which ones you are going to undersell, lol.
Bob says
It’s only because it is now extremely difficult to hand register really good names .com domains so that’s why they need to find alternatives like new rubbish TLD’s which is expensive anyway to register indeed!
Rob says
They say even bad publicity is good publicity.
You have all been sucked into it.
Just ignore the marketing hype. Just about EVERYONE knows that dot com is king. Stop talking about the other extensions and let them die quicker.
🙂
Jim says
I agree…they’re getting good exposure with this tagline. Of course they don’t believe it but it’s a great marketing line. They could have also just embraced the truth and humbly of been honest and used something the like, “Can’t find your dotcom”, “Dotcom gone”, “Because sometimes second best is still great”, etc. Embrace the truth!!
james says
.com will always be the top TLD, but most of you guys are missing the power of having meaning right of the dot, let’s say for example a guy named Tony wants to open a chain of pizza parlors. Although Tonys.com would be more valuable to a Domain investor, but I can guarantee you that to Tony the domain Tonys.pizza would be more valuable, because unlike Tonys.com, Tonys.pizza tells the public what the business is about, can you imagine how much money Tony would save in advertising? Same thing happens if your name is Jack, John, Larry, and the same happens with .coke, .paper and so on……
So, to me, dot com looses value because of supply and demand, there will be less companies willing to pay high prices for a .com, when they can get a .pizza for a lot less and the domain being more effective.
Mongo Red says
GTLD = Good To Lose Dinero
pophalos says
The last rumblings of the dinosaurs before the new TLD meteorites strike. Search engine algorithms will be redefined for more selective targeting. Com wont be dead but neither will it be the vibrant force it once was. More like a lumbering behemoth amidst the agile, focused new TLDs. The internet is about to change forever with those prepared to embrace change able to capitalise on it.
pophalos says
Bear in mind Google are one of the big 4 companies in the new TLD space