Fox promises dot-brand will be “the next big thing”
Fox seems set to become an unexpectedly early adopter of its dot-brand gTLD, .fox.
The only live .fox web site, nic.fox, is currently promising that the gTLD will become “the next big thing” in “Spring 2016”.
On the site, a glossy, quick-cut show-reel of Fox media carries the text:
Cue the lights. Roll the cameras. The next big thing is coming. And you’re invited. Welcome to .FOX. Spring 2016.
.fox will be a “a trusted digital space for everything you love about Fox” the site promises.
It suggests that Fox content in DVD, Blu-ray and Digital HD formats will be available via .fox web sites.
.fox has only been in the root since late November; its owners have not so far appeared to be champing at the bit to get their dot-brand online, and Fox has not exactly been enthusiastic about new gTLDs.
Its IP lawyers were some of the most outspoken critics of the program in its early days, estimating they would have to spend millions of dollars on defensive registrations.
Not only has that not happened, but Fox now seems to be grasping the “trusted source” dot-brand sales pitch with both hands.
It’s going to be interesting to see not only what the company has up its sleeve, but also how extensively it is promoted.
Its shame that FOX isnt a trusted source itself.
propaganda.fox.
NetFox. FoxFlix. NetFlox. Or something.
I think this is more the actions of Fox’s outside consultant. People who listened to a Fox rep at NamesCon came away thinking that Fox really doesn’t know what they plan to do with the domain.
http://namescon.com/namescon-2016-the-tld-strategies-of-top-brands/
@Andrew I want to be fair to the participants in that Amazon/Fox panel because I think you’re suggesting that they sounded like they didn’t know what they were doing. I know for a fact that they DO but just can only share small morsels publicly.
I am not sure that what you are saying represents the sentiment of the attendees as a whole – the people I spoke with, as one of the NamesCon conference organizers, were delighted to see how far ahead FOX is.
This particular panel was a question and answer moderation session that was about the process and helping people know that launching a TLD is substantially different to simply registering and setting up a domain at GoDaddy or Moniker.
If you had the opportunity to meet Cecilia face to face and discuss this you would understand that there are clear strategic plans in place but they can’t share them at this time. This is really substantially different than saying ‘they don’t know’.
Ah, the NamesCon presentation.
Ms. Smith may not have been as much in command of the vocabulary as the domain crowd in attendance or seem as sharp on the implementation of dotFox as might have been hoped, but it was encouraging that a company that had been a vocal critic of the new gTLD program was now, and here I am quoting what former President Bill Clinton said at the ICANN meeting in San Francisco, “stumbling in the right direction.”
The value of a dotBrand is becoming apparent even to those who opposed their birth. Security, privacy, customer loyalty and trust are attributes than can be driven by initiatives like dotFox.
As long as they don’t make another “Fantastic Four” movie!
@John
I’ll not comment on Fantastic Four, but clearly FOX is now leaning in on this despite seeing some resistance in earlier times. I actually deserve some blame on the presentation if there was any awkwardness – the USB clicker actually broke just before the Q&A panel and I had to run the slides for them by hand.
Towards your important point, it is definitely encouraging to see the changing attitudes as the technology changes happen. I recall a time when video tape and later digital media were the devil to the studios – and now it represents significant opportunity to them.
Attitudes obviously change…
And if you have met Cecilia – she absolutely knows what she’s doing. The NamesCon audience was diverse with many varied interests in the industry of domain names, and I heard a rather well thought out discussion that was appropriate to that wider diversity.
As I commented above, it is more about what limited amount that brands share about their strategic plans, not that they are limited.
.fox should be able to prove to critics that new gtlds will work.
Website looks cool, but what’s still disappointing is the whole Universal Acceptance curve and how far some are still behind it…
Check out Twitter. https://twitter.com/dickiearmour/status/692808816329629697
I posted this tweet with a link to http://nic.fox and http://www.nic.fox and Twitter doesn’t recognise the URL!
Twitter is actually one of the good players in the UA matter; they usually do not move fast enough for delegation date, but in many times have implemented a gTLD in its list before general availability. Which still could be the case for .fox.