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I
know the headline
looks like we're out
to do a hatchet job on Radix's
.FUN TLD but it's their fault not mine. They
actually want to be associated with Boring,
Dismal and Little Hope. Misery
Bay, Cape Disappointment, Death
Valley and Tombstone too! Say what!
But think about it. Those are all names of real
places and who could be in more need of a
little fun than towns with names like that?
So, what does it all mean? Since
ICANN's
new gTLD program was launched almost a
decade ago, hundreds of new domain
extensions have been added to the Internet. It is hard
to stand out in a crowd that big, but if you want
to make it you had better give it your best shot.
Especially when you are one of the newer ones like
.FUN that just arrived in 2017. Radix,
who operates ten new gTLDS, has earned a reputation
as one of the most creative and consistent
marketers in the domain registry business. While, on
the surface, "fun" looks like a
word that would market itself, data driven
Radix leaves nothing to chance. So, they went
on all in with New York's Fred
& Farid agency to do something
special with .FUN. |
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The campaign started
with the premise that a .FUN domain name can bring
a level of excitement to any kind of industry,
not limited to entertainment, gaming or leisure.
To demonstrate that, F&F zeroed in on the city
of Boring, Maryland, actually going there
to meet the people and check out a place that, if
you made the mistake of judging a book by its
cover, might sound like one of the "least
fun" towns in the entire country. As usual,
looks turned out to be deceiving. In Boring,
F&F bumped into local resident and real estate
agent Jim Blum, a good natured guy who was
happily recruited to be the Boring spokes model for
the campaign.
Boring's
Jim Blum standing in front of a box truck
plastered with a giant
.FUN photo of him sporting a bright red nose
(actually the dot in .FUN).
While
the box truck tooled around Boring bringing a
smile to townspeople's faces, F&F also put Jim
in a promotional video for .FUN that spread
the word across the world wide web that Boring
is not boring at all!. In fact Jim proclaimed,
"This
is the center of the Universe right
here!"
Having
established a beachhead in Boring, Radix and
F&F plan to expand into other towns
like Dismal, Little Hope, Death Valley, Tombstone,
Misery Bay, Cape Disappointment and others with
names that are begging for a .FUN touch.
With this campaign,
Radix is positioning .FUN as a go to domain
extension for brands, startups and young companies
that want to showcase their playful side, taking a
light-hearted approach with their customers during
these trying times. They also believe that what
works for the cities in need of .FUN, can
also add appeal for industries across a wide range
of verticals. Not just for young brands and
startups but also lawyers, dentists, even tax
companies can look better… at least more .FUN
than usual! |
