GM Withdraws *.Cadillac, *.Chevrolet, *.GMC, Keeps *.Buick, *.Chevy
You won’t be able to send to or receive from *.Cadillac, *.Chevrolet, or *.GMC, while friends of other brands, from Dodge through Toyota, will have that pleasure. General Motors withdrew three applications for what is called a “generic top level domain” or gTLD. Oddly, the applications for Buick and the supposedly illegal Chevy are still on the books.
A gTLD replaces the familiar dotcom. In case you want your own gTLD, it does not come cheap. The application fee alone is $185,000 and the annual fee runs another $25,000. On top of this come significant expenses of running the extension, which “can put the total cost for a new TLD into the millions,” as Steve Jones, COO and Co-Founder of Domainate said.
While GM is saving money, Volkswagen splurges: It registered a pricey gTLD for each of its vast collection of brands, except for Porsche and Skoda .
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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ICANN needs to be slapped upside the head.
Fiat could probably pay for itself selling .Ferrari addresses. Overweight middle aged Americans would flock to .vette, too.
TLD's are very much a nice to have. While it won't make a big difference to the bottom line, GM does have the right attitude here.
Who's minding the store?