I’ve been asked a number of times recently which new gTLDs are working well. What’s popular and where are some examples of them being used. Another question I have been hearing recently is what are some good examples of marketing activities that are working.

We have seen a handful of examples of names with websites. Just enter site: favourite gtld in the search bar and you’ll get a list of live sites for a given TLD. Registries have understood that without usage and samples of how the name looks, attached to actual content, the new gTLDs are still an intangible idea understood and embraced only by our industry. Who, I might add, are unquestionably the biggest buyers of the names at this stage in the game. That won’t take us very far in global awareness…

There is one site that launched yesterday that I believe has the potential to make a global impact on the recognition of the new gTLDs: www.Futbol.uno

www.Futbol.uno is a site that has pulled together all of the World Cup’s participating teams, all of the social content they produce, as well as that of all of the players. That is a lot of social data sporting very impressive reach across all the global fanbase, the teams and their players. The site will be noticed because the .UNO registry will post all over the place on the teams’ Social pages and then again on all of the players’ pages.

It’s the access to the global soccer/football fanbase that makes this clever marketing. The impressions go into the multi-millions of eyeballs who happened to notice www.futbol.uno was the place where you could play around reading all the social dialogue associated with the matches. As soon as your team gets knocked out, you have to pick a new one. I’m starting with the Netherlands. We’ll see how far I get.

It’s not enough to have a major name or brand using the website—unless you gain access to their network. You can pay for the biggest celebrity in town to endorse your TLD with a website, an event, etc. but if they don’t tweet or post about your name to their huge network, all you got for the big celeb bucks you paid was some highly impressed fellow registries wishing they had done the same (hoping your success might rub off on them).

My registry friends, make sure your brand ambassadors offer you at the very least one image, tweet, mention of some kind to their network that you can take forward and show off THEY’RE USE of your TLD. Our industry is already bought in, turn your marketing outwards and go forth into the real world of actual users.