.uk for "online pioneers"

Not what I expected at all. Someone has seriously lost the plot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD1-Gtg5j5M

Apparently, .co.uk is the number one choice for British businesses, while .uk is for "online pioneers" ...

 

Hilarious. Someone at Nom Towers has too much cash to spend, and produced this cringeworthy video. Who on earth do they think they are targeting, especially given the 5 year blocking option for any .uk worth registering?

 

I warned them that their branding idea would backfire at the Registrar meeting a few months ago when they started gushing on about "digital natives" and other nonsensical buzzwords, and I heard others express the same view. Clearly nobody in branding was listening.

All they need to do - and this is very very very simple - is to present .uk as "shorter and more easy to remember" than .co.uk and they'll already have a winner. Keep the same look, the same font, etc. as the other extensions - just change the colour.

Instead, all this "cool" nonsense just makes them a bit of a laughing stock.

 

This Register article is dripping with sarcasm (well, it is The Reg!) but basically spot on
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/06/dot_uk_whalesong/

Here's the "brand toolkit" Nominet expects partners to use. I can't imagine any professional organisation doing so, but we'll see...
http://registrars.nominet.org.uk/marketing-tools-and-events/uk-family

 

From the .pdf:

.co.uk
The number one space for UK
businesses online is .co.uk and we
champion UK business here.

.org.uk
Non-commercial UK endeavours
flourish in their home at .org.uk

.me.uk
for individuals .me.uk hosts personal
blogs and websites.

And now the newest member of the
UK Domain Family .uk launches,
offering a shorter, sharper domain for
online pioneers to define in this next
era of the web.

"a shorter, sharper domain for online pioneers to define in this next era of the web". Who wrote that? A non-native English speaker?

http://registrars.nominet.org.uk/sites/default/files/ukdomainfamily_brandidentity.pdf

 

+1000

 

The good thing is that basically "nobody" in the real world has seen this yet (we're talking about a tiny number of people that rounds down to zero) so it's easily fixable if somebody at Nominet grasps the nettle before Launch Day.

We'll have to wait and see what happens...

 

That video should have been laughed out of the pitch room. The same goes for the accompanying pdf.

Rather than promote .uk, it makes you question what the point of it is.

The one thing it isn't for is "online pioneers" as virtually all .uk domain names worth registering are being reserved for existing Registrants for five years!

Gobsmackingly awful.

 

You can imagine the scenario, everyone in the preview really thinking it's a pile of s**t, but being too damned spineless to say anything.

 

The branding for the different extensions is awful. Lacks any sort of basic cohesion.

 

Fortunately it's so bad that I can't imagine it will see the light of day outside Nominet. What partner worth their salt is going to stake their reputation on something so ill-conceived?

And as I said earlier in this thread, this was entirely 100% predictable as they had ALREADY been warned (in no uncertain terms) about what a bad idea this type of "branding" would be.

 

Pioneering
.uk represents opportunity – anything goes and it’s yours to define. Bold,
fearless, brave – digital explorers can establish their online presence and
businesses here.

Modern
The domain for tomorrow, .uk is modern through and through. If it’s
new online, it’s happening here.

Credible
We may be a new territory, but we’re safe and secure. .uk is built on a wealth of experience.

Dynamic
Fast moving, ever evolving. Change happens here.

Embracing
Boundaries do not exist. Where we all come together as one. One love. Wholesome. Wacky baccy.

 

Let's not forget the runts of the family, those extensions that don't add to the coffers and require a modicum of input from Nominet staff to verify, the pain in a**e extensions that are .ltd.uk & .net.uk!

 

The new .uk logo is horrible, looks like .ul with a funny icon next to it!

 

... whereas the .co.uk, .org.uk and .me.uk are perfectly fine and provide a framework for "fixing" the .uk logo very easily should the will be there.

 

Love this from the Registry:

http://us.regmedia.co.uk/2006/11/06/strategy_boutique.mp3

 

Your all being a bit harsh..


I don't think they should have banged on about the logo in the video - completely irrelevant and distracting a big no no.. also whay bother mentioning new gTLD's?

Nevertheless we have to remember the target market this video is trying to appeal - an audience of people who are generally clueless and don't care about domains.

tbh I'd rather Nominet tried to raise awareness of .UK (especially with the launch of all the new gTLDs) nowt wrong with building some pre-launch marketing hype with the benefits of using the new .UK made clear.

- we all want .UK to work... don't we?

 

I remember discussing it with one member of staff at the end. I imagine it was already pretty much set in stone by then.

I don't hate it because I understand that there must be a desire to attempt to differentiate these virtual entries in a database (i.e. what domain names are). I don't think it is anyway as bad as some of the other rubbish I have seen used in the past to describe ccTLD's that have become pseudo-gTLD's (e.g. .ws and .cc). It's just an attempt to build a bit of a theme behind each 2LD and 3LD so those who aren't involved in assessing the qualities of domain names on a daily basis can optionally take it as guidance. I don't consider that it is likely that the material will put anyone off registering within any of the domain name extensions. We have to remember that we are likely to be naturally cynical to anything like this because of what we do. Simply put .uk is shorter than .co.uk but that's about it.

Separately I have an idea for a specific .uk related advertising campaign and am currently mulling it over. It's more focused on a specific aspect than Nominet's general blurb.

 

That's not the audience at all.

Ten millionish .uk domains are reserved for existing domain name holders for five years. There's your audience right there. You need to convince them that .uk is worth registering alongside their existing domain name.

If you can do that, .uk domains will be registered and hopefully used. Only then will it gather the momentum to make it a long term success.