In a very interesting analysis, Lefkowitz points out that books .com, shoes .com, and even search .com are rarely used and barely known. It’s the brand that dominates these spaces that matters. Simply owning a TLD, or Top Level Domain, is about the same as owning an undeveloped piece of property. What is perhaps the most common domain extension today – .com – will not define market stake or domination in an industry. “That doesn’t mean it’s forever. Nothing is forever. Change is mandatory.” The major tv networks had fifty years of ingrained loyalty, but within 15 years, they lost 75% market share to niche markets. The TV “networks” are really not even called networks anymore. What do you think millennials would say if you asked them to list the “top three networks”? Today, they are not even giving a second thought to NBC, CBS, and ABC. “Google, Facebook, and Twitter” or “AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint” were the most common “networks” named in a recent survey. This illustration is used to stress the fact that the way things seem to have always been does not establish the way they always will be. As such, Lefkowitz stresses that .com will not remain the dominant extension. The .vegas extension is being used by 1200 travel industry companies – the airport, various hotels and shows; and there are 400 domains on the .buzz extension. The top destinations in the world are deployed on a .buzz extension. So, the question is: How do we mainstream these alternative domains? Conference attendees were given the challenge to keep working to forward their brands in an industry that is always changing. Take a look at the full video for more:
