Russian Vodka company buys domain; one of the biggest domain name sales ever.
David Kesmodel, who contributes to Domain Name Wire and is writing a book about the domain name industry, has uncovered the sale of Vodka.com for $3M.
Domain name investor Roy Edward Messer sold the domain to Russian Standard Vodka, which recently entered the United States market. The deal was brokered by Sedo.
Kesmodel uncovered the sale in part through some coverage in the Russian press. The press he found said that the deal was worth over $1M, but Kesmodel dug deeper to find out the actual sales value.
As Kemodel points out on his blog, this is just another example of large company understanding the value of generic domains. Many big companies don’t “get it” yet, but they will over time:
The sale “is a good indication of how large corporations are starting to see the value of domains as a crucial part of their international marketing campaigns,†said [chief operating officer and general counsel of Sedo Jeremiah] Johnston. “And it shows domains are becoming status symbols.†Sedo and other domain brokers have been striving to persuade more corporations and small businesses to explore purchasing generic domains as a way to build their brands. Barnes and Noble, which owns books.com, and Bank of America, which owns loans.com, are among large companies that have used such names to attract customers who seek information by typing terms directly into their address bar, rather than using a search engine.
Bravo to Kesmodel for the scoop and bravo to Roy Edward Messer, a former carpet salesman, for the sale. Credit is also due to Russian Standard Vodka for understanding the power of a good domain — instant credibility. Another company that gets this is Fairytale Brownies. I received a box of Fairytale Brownies for the holidays. I had never heard the company until receiving the gift. Then I noticed the company’s URL on its box: Brownies.com. I instantly believed, rightly or wrongly, that Fairytale Brownies is the top brownie company.
Domain Names are a powerful marketing tool. Most businesses don’t understand this yet. They put a lot of effort into selecting right words for their advertisements. They worry about such things as subliminal effects of words/sentences and the prints they leave on subconscious mind, yet when it comes to domains they will select any worthless, meaningless domain for a site which is seen by millions of customers. Education is the key. The resposibility of educating businesses largely rests on the shoulders of professional domainers. These are the people who are successfully monetizing their domains and making fine living out of domaining. Those to whom domaining remains an expense, they cannot also put in extra time/effort to promote the industry as well, even though they may have fantastic and creative ideas.