Thu 13. Mar 2025, 11:19
Are you considering applying to ICANN for your own .brand, but don't know why? All the more valuable can be the experience gained by an applicant during the introductory round in 2012: Vivek Goyal from India from the brand protection company LdotR provides an insight in an interview with the US consultancy ComLaude.
If everything goes as planned, the application window for a new generic top-level domain is expected to open in the second quarter of 2026. It will then be possible to secure your own domain extension for a few weeks. Once again, the focus will be on .brands, i.e. endings that correspond to a (usually famous) brand. In the first introductory round in 2012, around 640 of the 1,930 applications at the time were for this domain. However, the proportion of domain endings that have voluntarily withdrawn from the Domain Name System is also highest under .brands; most recently, .bentley and .guardian pulled the plug. For Vivek Goya, formerly Senior Brand Manager at India's largest private company Reliance Industries Limited and now working at LdotR, this is no reason to be discouraged. Reliance, which is primarily known for petrochemicals and textiles, applied for the four domain extensions .reliance, .ril, .jio and .indians (for the Mumbau Indians cricket team) in 2012 and was awarded the first three top-level domains; .indians was rejected for political reasons. Goya headed the application team and can therefore report first-hand.
The starting point is that the company's own brand extension is new and innovative, but above all it is designed for the long term. If you look for arguments for your own .brand, Goya focuses on the following four aspects:
- Ownership of the digital space: unlike traditional domain names, which are merely handed over for use, a .brand offers your own piece of the internet.
- Improved security: It is not only in India that there is growing concern about phishing, scams and DNS abuse. Here, having your own .brand provides a verified safe space for customers, consumers and stakeholders, with security features controlled by the brand owner and not by third parties.
- Optimized marketing opportunities: The flexibility of a .brand opens up new avenues for creative marketing campaigns and therefore brand positioning.
- Competitive advantage: Especially in industries such as finance, where trust is paramount, a secure digital space can be a significant differentiator.
In 2012, Goya was able to rely on the support of Group management, i.e. from the very top. This made it all the more important for him to get the four departments of Finance, Legal, Marketing and IT on board, because ultimately it was also about their money: on the one hand, to cover the short-term budget for the application process (the costs of which can quickly run into the mid six-figure US dollar range), and on the other hand because of the long-term budget share for the administration of a top-level domain, as .brands are designed to last for at least decades. However, the use of an external service provider has also proven its worth; although - unlike in 2026 - the service provider did not have any experience of its own during the first launch round in 2012, the application process is very complex (“building a rocket would have been easier”) and changes to the application process must be expected at any time. Only one thing is clear: anyone interested in a .brand should start the application process today - before it's too late.
Source:
https://comlaude.com/the-future-of-bran ... rst-round/