Branding in a digital world

For somebody who works most of the time on digital brands, it is still easy to overlook how pervasive is the influence of the internet culture.

Yesterday I had a meeting with client who is starting on a new business venture and he informed me he has started working on brand names: so what was his starting point? The domain name – he began by pumping possible names into a domain name search page.

Now, while the URL is a vital part of the brand identity, especially for a business based upon the web, it is not the only determinant. I would strongly recommend developing the right name first – bearing in mind all the communications criteria – brand values, cultural sensitivities, language limitations and competitive positioning etc. across all media – then look at domain name implications. Remember the domain name does not HAVE to be the same as the brand name – in fact, for many key brands, their websites have URLs that reflect and compliment the brand name.

Domain name shake up – good or bad for brands?

The latest action that the press tells us will lead to confusion, despair, plague and pestilence is the proposed liberalisation of domain names – See the clip from the BBC story. The theory seems to be that we will be able to have any domain we want, so long as we have the money. The first pass at this seems to be that it will be bad for brands as it will lead to customer confusion.  Asusual, this assumes that brand owners and promoters are fools: of course the opposite is true.  The Holy Grails for any brand owner are clarity and differentiation and of course they will do all in their power to achieve these objectives. To assume they will throw up their hands in resignation and allow customers to be confused is ridiculous. Even now, I am sure that shrewd brand marketers are pouring over the opportunities presented to use this new freedom to enhance clarity, memorability, recall and differentiation.