Inc.com just published a post on a Chicago based marketing firm that just re-branded itself from upshot.net to the new gTLD Upshot.Agency saying that once the new gTLD’s catch on everyone will be using them.
Upshot is a 160-employee agency which is celebrating its 20th birthday conducted what it describes as a “self-evaluation” and as a result, “it decided to re-position itself in a way that emphasizes its belief in, and expertise in providing, “seamless marketing,” which it defines as consistent branding ideas that can flow through many different channels, media outlets, and advertising touchpoints.”
“Swapping its previous URL, Upshot.net, for Upshot.Agency was an important part of its ambitious plan to remake its profile and reorganize its operations
Brian Kristofek, the company’s president and CEO is quoted as saying:
“It’s fairly progressive right now to be doing this, but once domain names that are more creative and expressive catch on, everyone will be using them. For now, it paints us as progressive thinkers.”
On the danger of changing their domain name Mr. Kristofek went on to say:
“The thing is that there is very little risk in doing it. A lot of the people looking for you will just do a search and find it. When they see it, they won’t be confused at all. They’ll see how much sense it makes.”
“Having changed so many aspects of the company at once, did Upshot question the adoption of a new URL? Not at all.”
You should check out the website which has a very cool front page here
I guess the Agency could not afford the 7 figure price that would entice the owner of upshot.com, Oracle.com.
The NY Times also coveted the domain upshot.com for its “Upshot” publication. With revenues down, the NY Times passed on the acquisition.
Upshot.agency is a decent consolation. Better than Upshot.net. Upshotagency.com is too long.
Anything less than the .com shows that your company is a small-time endeavor and simply not a real player in your industry.
If you were selling your home, would you use the real estate agent who is driving a newer BMW or the agent who is driving the 20 year-old rusted out minivan? Exactly.
According to your logic that makes Google (read Alphabet) a small-time endeavor and simply not a real player in their industry. Somewhat ironically appropriate that you use BMW in your analogy, even if it was unwittingly so.
They built their business on what? Google.com. And this isn’t a consumer site. All the sites under the Alphabet umbrella are on…………. .coms.
@Striker what about one of the largest banks in the world, Barclays? They don’t operate on a .COM…would you consider them a small-time endeavor?
Some would say .COM is the 20-year old rusted out minivan…a washed up extension that appears meaningless next to a shiny new TLD that can be personalized to tell consumers something about the website they are visiting.
I stand by my previous comment. Give it enough time, I’ll bet barclay goes back to their .com and abandons their gtld…as will most other brands that wasted time and money on their vanity gtld’s
Took me forever to find there site.
.agency might be better than .net. But not much.
UpShotAgency.com would be better.
That said, when was the last time UpShot rebranded?
@Striker
I agree. But maybe they can get away with it, as they already have an established clientele/customer base. And a “brand”.
A 7 figure transaction isn’t a priority for Oracle, so the Agency can forget about acquiring the .com. They either had to rebrand or as the CEO says, try something “progressive”. The Upshot: not a good dilemma.
Looks like new gTLD sponsors such as Amazon, Google and other domain registries are reinventing the wheel…
along with the innovation of HTML5, CSS3, JS and stable development tools for voice search and traffic analysis I’m sure ICANN partners got the relevant plans for the future together with IPv6 ready.
but still, it’s not an easy task to make such a big change in the DNS that some of it was planned more then 25 years ago…
Nobody said in 1990 all the Pontiac dealerships would become Hyundai dealerships by 2010….
Is he mad at Hyundai, or is he mad at Pontiac? He picked lemons from Pontiac & Hyundai, he’s mad at both.
Let’s clear up some misconceptions, shall we?
1. The newer gtlds suck hairy donkey balls. No one wants them, they have little resale value and leak.
2. To go from a .NET (bad) to a gtld (worse) is a move in the wrong direction. Someone needs to be fired over this.
3. Barclays still has the .com and I don’t see them letting it expire in the near future.
4. Google screwed up with their recent .XYZ fiasco. If they could turn back time, safe bet they would have registered the .com before making their announcement that caused BWM to laugh all the way to the bank.
I’ve heard worse about Carnival Cruises. Having the .com keeps passengers returning for more salmonella, e-coli, norovirus, and what appears to be meringue. No TLD is gonna disinfect those cabins.
I see the GTLDs as a .Mobi redux, with companies such as Nokia and BOFA and Google and Microsoft investing in the extension, and with the .MOBI registry promoting the extension as the trusted extension for mobile-centric content.
I met new domains investors who put in $millions in this .mobi extension, via aftermarket sales. A frenchmen blew his brains out, after the crash.
There were divorces. Bankruptcies. Suicides. A bloody affair that still causes goosebumps.
My advice: do what you feel is right, but do not invest in domains that can cause your ruination if things turn sour.
There are some decent GTLDs, and many are more valuable than some of the crazy worthless .com domains I’ve seen people try to sell.
Like Rick Schwartz, whom I admire but do not have near the domain acumen, I refrain from advising. I just hope we can avoid the blood spilled after the .Mobi catastrophe.
Probably the best advice new investors can get, thanks for putting it so succinctly
Brilliant site though, impressive client list, this will be one worth watching.
I wouldn’t be surprised if their prediction about new gtlds came true… in 10-15 years.
Seems UpShot just signed Donuts as a client, something that isn’t mentioned in all this talk of ‘rebranding to newgtlds’.