How often have you heard that
the secret to success is “location, location, location?” On
the net, the same applies it seems, although it is more
accurate to say “locations, locations, locations.” Rather
than a physical location, web sites have (warning: cheesy
1999 saying coming up) a virtual one, their URL. And unlike
their offline counterpart, the cost to build a new location
can be had for less than eight dollars. Try opening another
Mickey D’s for that amount.
Online companies have for a while understood the ease of
setting up a new site with offline companies following suit
in recent years. Offline companies appeared to operate under
the assumption that brand integrity required their only
operating one web site. Despite their multi-channel
promotions, they seemed hesitant to treat the web as
anything more than an extension of their corporate
headquarters. I would wager that Mitsubishi helped change
that during the 2004 Super Bowl. You might not
remember the car, but chances are you remember the URL –
SeeWhatHappens.com.
SeeWhatHappens.com represents
many things. It represents arguably the biggest and best
offline to online promotion. More than that though, it
signals the mainstream adoption of one off URLs. Those
clever guys at Ford created another – PhilsOnThePhone.com.
After seeing the commercial during a golf tournament, I made
a note to go check out the site. While it didn’t have the
cliffhanger ending of the Mitsubishi ad, the chance to enter
to win a slot in the Doral Pro-Am with Phil Mickelson, Wayne
Gretzky, and NASCAR Champ Dale Jarrett got me to the
computer. Golf aside, seeing the coordination and money
needed to put this sweepstakes together and the commitment
to the net by making it the only area for signup appears to
me to be a major moment in online use. Another example is
Pontiac. Prior to her now famous giveaway, Oprah’s proud
partner in crime also created a one-off page for their new
car. To promote their new G6, they set up TheFirstEverG6.com
and splashed the URL in all the print and TV ads.
In their ease to create,
promotion only names such as those mentioned bring with them
some interesting management issues. For example, what
happens when people have already seen what is next, and/or
the first ever G6 is the G7? While the names themselves
didn’t cost much, the upkeep on them does use resources, and
the sites could quickly go from asset to liability without
proper internal process and planning. Mitsubishi, for
example, earns solid marks for now directing its
SeeWhatHappens.com to their homepage. With the commercial
being well over seven months old, it makes sense to drive
people to their corporate site now that the promotion itself
has ended.
Those three – Mitsubishi,
Pontiac, and Ford – while strangely all car companies,
aren’t alone in their use of what might be temporary
domains. The movies do it all the time. Interesting thing
about the movies, many choose to build one off sites with
others having the official site rolled under a main page.
Which main page becomes a point of contention though – do
you have it at movies.com, Yahoo! Movies, the studio’s site,
or another place? There are so many movie web sites that a
site even exists to help users find them all -
movietarget.com. Consumer package goods have also gotten in
the action. Mr. Clean had a new product called the Mr. Clean
Auto Dry, but you won’t find them promoting it at
mrclean.com. Instead, they created its own site –
mrcleanautodry.com, and in a sign of net savvyness, they
also registered and use the easier to remember autodry.com.
Our industry faces the same
types of decisions the movies and product companies do.
Let’s say you run contests / incentive sites. Do you have
each be a page off a main site or create a separate URL for
each? It’s not the easiest task making sure all are up and
running, especially if it’s your job to ensure the
functionality of Freedinnerpass.com, freedigitalcam.com,
coffeemaker4free.com, freegrocerycard.com, FreeMiniDV.com,
ilovefreefood.com, and 25dollargiftcard.com to name a few.
That’s why I’m assuming that sites such as
franklinsurveys.com, anyfreegift.com, and YourGiftCards.com
run many promotions off one domain. It’s simpler. Education
names are no different. There is only one Phoenix.edu but
spend some time online and you’re bound to find ones that
are similar: uofphx.info, phoenixdegrees.com,
univofphoenixonline.com, and onl.uophx.edu for example. In
education, you’re also likely to find some very descriptive
names that try and pre-qualify you before you click, names
like FreeDegreeInfo.com, GuideToHealthcareSchools.com,
onlinenursingdegree.com, and findyouronlineschool.com.
Whether you use one name or an
extension of the corporate brand, expect to see more
companies leveraging unique options the internet allows.
Like Uncle Ben who tells Spiderman, “With great power comes
great responsibility” the ease of creating new names and
brands comes with the added mental, technical, and personnel
bandwidth needed to maintain them and requires a smooth,
seamless operation that helps minimize consumer confusion.
Jay Weintraub
