For Taco Bell, using Ta.co is better than Taco.com.
Yesterday Taco Bell began promoting the domain hack Ta.co for its updated website, which gives people the ability to order customized Taco Bell menu items online. (Finally! I can add bacon to my Doritos Locos Tacos!)
Will from OmarAndWill.com posted this comment on Domain Name Wire:
I give props to Taco Bell for taking the unique creative approach with Ta.Co not only is it sure and catchy but it will make people aware of the .Co. With any of the other extensions besides .Coms my thought process has always been the same, they must be clever, catchy and short.
Otherwise it just would not work. Even though Taco.com is a powerful name to have Ta.Co just seems more creative and easy to remember as well.
I agree with Will.
.Com is usually the best choice, but you need to look at this holistically.
Taco Bell is clearly targeting a younger demographic with its new site and customized online ordering. This younger demographic uses mobile phones for most of its web browsing.
Thus, ta.co is the best choice for two reasons:
1. Younger internet users think .co is cool, and they already know of companies that use it.
2. Ta.co is short an easy to type on a mobile phone.
Add to the equation that Taco.com is in use by a company already…
Ta.co is not just a substitute for Taco.com. In this case, I think it’s actually better.
David says
I don’t see it. The dot in the middle looks awkward to me. Between the two, I’d pick the .com. But maybe that’s why I’m not running Taco bell. 🙂
Jean Guillon says
I agree with “one” more or less but not with “two”. I would have waited and gone for “taco.eat”.
Andrew Allemann says
Taco.eat requires typing three characters more than ta.co, and it’s also backward. To me, that’s a far inferior domain name to ta.co.
Jean Guillon says
As long as it helps Taco Bell to develop more in Colombia, fine with me.
David says
When I look at Ta.co I don’t see taco, I see a company named Ta.
Jean Guillon says
I see a company named “Ta” with a local presence in Colombia and a bell. It is a real pity that we don’t have Taco Bell in France because I really enjoy it. I suggest “Ta.fr” for France 😉
Andrew Allemann says
What % of internet users know that .co is for Colombia? I think we’re unique in seeing that 🙂
Jean Guillon says
Correct too.
Juan says
Yeah, sure. And TLD operators are good advertisers.
T. Shane says
It’s just a forward so not much to talk about. With an Ad costing $50 to 100K to produce and a 30 second ad on a major station running $100K plus, trying out a two letter dot co is a minimal expense and little risk. Especially when you don’t build anything on it or even make it a subdomain. And I like the name but you’re doing it wrong if you’d rather have ta.co than taco.com
Daniel Ballard says
Have to agree with Jean on his latest comment.. i see a company called “Ta” on an inferior .co domain here, but obviously i am not their target customer, being 32y and not running around typing away on my mobile all day long..
Andrew Allemann says
Yes, I doubt any of us commenting here are in high school right now 🙂
Adam says
Put down the bong Andrew. I think you’ve just simply got the munchies again
Where do you get the facts for #1 ?
This cool idea worked great for overstock, right?
Robin Jilderda says
I bounced this one off my step son’s aged 20 and 22. Their comment” thats cool”. They have grown up on the internet and things have always changed quickly for them in terms of technology and services that they use on the web. They live on their phones and only use laptops for updating the resume,playing games and streaming shows. Just a bit different than myself.They are well adopted to new technology and change, and if it works they use it. Neither of them have a credibility problem with and new extensions its all about what is offered that they can use. I didn’t always feel this way but I think that the new extensions will catch on quicker than many of us think. The first 20 years of the .com were people adapting to the internet and adding the devices that they needed to access it. People have the technology now and adapting to something new if it makes sense won’t be a problem and may be accepted much quicker than many of us think.
Howie says
“they must be clever, catchy and short.” and many camps seem to be using more not com’s, but this 2L hack to me is almost too short.
I asked my son which was best and he said he was busy fighting a unicorn.
Venkatakrishna Nalamothu says
“Younger internet users thing .co is cool”
are you living on earth or some other planet?
please do not put your words in the mouth of others.
Steve says
I suppose Ta.co is ok. More gimmicky than cool. I’d say whatever works faster on a smartphone. But based on personalized search, most taco lovers would get “taco” after touching T A C — and most likely, Taco Bell.
I don’t anticipate seeing:
fi.sh for Jolly Roger
Piz.za for Pizza Hut
Taco.Bell is better than Ta.co — but I guess there’s not a “Bell” extension.
I love tacos, but I’ve never eaten at a Taco Bell, even though family members have owned several franchises. But I got spoiled with tacos — eating them in Mexico, East Los Angeles, Austin and the Mission District of SF.
John T O'Farrell says
fi.sh for Jolly Roger….not if Arthur Treacher’s finds about this gem 😉
Jonathan says
The position of being a sponsor is not sitting well with DNW, Not good
John T O'Farrell says
Ta.co is a nice gimmick for an advertising campaign but not seeing the long term value here.
Where is the research/facts to back up that younger internet users think .co names are “cool”. And what does “cool” actually mean in this context…does it means “does not $uck” or does it mean “I am really into .co names”?
Yes, you can type ta.co faster into a mobile device (and desktop too) faster than tacobell.com. But here is what is faster…type “ta” into Google and touch the Google’s suggested term “taco bell”
A nice gimmick nothing else.
BTW the guys at Taco.com really need to get that site into the 21st century 😉