Architelos launches new TLD marketing service.
In the past, domain registries generally have looked at their customer at the registrar, e.g. GoDaddy.com. They’ve been careful not to blur the lines as the registrar owns the actual domain registrant relationship, not the registry.
Will this continue when hundreds of new top level domains are released in coming years?
New top level domain consulting firm Architelos doesn’t think so. It just launched a new TLD marketing service called Velocity, which it says will help registries go direct to the registrant.
If you can get past Architelos’ slew of marketing jargon and buzzwords in its product overview, it seems that basically the marketing service is to drive demand at the registrant level. (I’ve reached out to Architelos for clarification. Update: I receive clarification that the service is to help registries drive registrations directly with a registry related registrar, allowing them to own the entire customer relationship.)
We’ve seen this approach with recent new top level domain launches. It’s been somewhat of a hybrid. Consider .co, which has both gone to the typical channel for shelf space as well as marketed and interacted directly with registrants. Neustar has also (belatedly) done this with .us.
With vertical integration, in which a registry and registrar can be owned by the same company, the game may change further.
Ruben says
The Afilias company owns both .pro and .mobi and does not sell these direct to the public, but previousl .mobi was – unsucccessfully – promoted by its registry before Afilias took over the failing registry. So promotion looks like a mixed bag.
Robert says
Interesting post.
Each nTLD applicant will have a business plan and included in this business plan distribution will have already been included. Why would a nTLD outsource this to a third company who more than likely has no clue or experience with respect to the target audience.
If a nTLD Applicant has done their homework, then they will have already planned the distribution portion be it through a partner registrar or by creating this portion themselves.