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would
they put a name like
HowsMyPicking.com on their label
instead of building their own brand?
A visit to HowsMyPicking.com
- apparently a takeoff on the How's
My Driving? stickers you see on
the back of semi trucks (though I'm
not sure how many people will make
that connection) - provided the
answer. It
turns out How's My Picking is
also a trademarked brand they use
for a traceability tool that
allows them to trace the berries
they sell back to the grower,
variety, field location, date and
time. A unique 16-digit number that
appears on the package is tied to
specific information about each
individual package of produce.
Consumer feedback is then linked to
their growers and pickers so they
can hold them accountable to ensure
their customers get a high quality
product. So,
they are using HowsMyPicking.com (which
actually re-directs to a page on the
Wish Farms website - http://www.wishfarms.com/hows-my-picking/)
to try to educate consumers
about the extra quality assurance
steps they take (and if you follow
the link and enter the 16-digit
number on the package they will
enter you in a drawing for a $100 grocery gift
card). That's all well and good and
I think the unique identifying
number is a really nice way to
differentiate them from others
growers. However, I don't know
how many people, other than a domain
geek like me, would bother to go
their computer and type in
HowsMyPicking.com (especially since
there is no mention on the
package of the chance to win
something).
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Blueberries
image from Bigstock |
I
also wonder about the choice
of the name for their
traceablity tool - a name with
high visibility on the
face of their product.
HowsMyPicking.com seems like a
reach - but this is the
heart of the current
arguments surrounding the arrival
of new gTLDs isn't it?
With all of the good .com
names supposedly taken
(leading to choices like
HowsMyPicking.com) the new Gs
are meant to offer more
descriptive and concise
options. Indeed you can get
many one-word keyword domains
in new Gs that are not only taken
in .com but almost every other
previous alternative (like
.biz, .info and .us) as well.
That
was true in this case too. I
looked up "blueberries"
and found a registration
fee would get you the exact
name of |
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the
Wish Farms product in any
number of extensions,
including one that would have
made perfect sense for
their tool (the number that
links you to specific
information about that package
of fruit) - Blueberries.link.
In fact I liked it well enough
- being a huge fans of
blueberries as I mentioned - I
registered it myself for under
$7 at Uniregistry.com
(a discounted price that is
available through their
affiliate program). |
Now,
I say that a name like that would
have made perfect sense, and from
purely a language standpoint it
would have - but from a domain
standpoint - perhaps not so much
at this stage of the game.
How many would not recognize
Blueberries.link as a domain name -
even if you put www in front of it?
How many would type in
BlueberriesLink.com? When people see
.com they know its a web
address. So,
as of today many traditionalists
would likely argue HowsMyPicking.com
is the better name and brand
while new gTLDs advocates would say,
no way - Blueberries.link is
much better. My guess is Wish Farms
has no idea new gTLDs even
exist - but they and other
businesses like them may
learn they exist in the years ahead
- provided new gTLD registries can get
the word out. Whether
or not they can do that remains the
multi-million dollar question that
no one can answer with certainty
yet. If they can scale that Everest
sized mountain the game really could
change - but as of today, the finish
line is still too far away for any
of us to even know where it's at or
even
if it is a finish line
marking the end of a winning race,
or a finished line eulogizing
a massive program that failed to
meet expectations. My guess, like
many, is that we will see something in
between with some finishing the
marathon as winners and others
failing to go the distance. |
