Author name: .SUCKS Registry

A domain registry with a point of view on brand protection and reputation management, marketing, copyright and trademark, intellectual property and (duh) TLDs. Owned and operated by the Vox Populi Registry since November 2014, .SUCKS domains are particularly powerful tools for a brand to have in its belt. When used constructively, .SUCKS can not only protect a brand, but also spark positive conversation and cut through the noise of today’s online world.

Advertising & Marketing, News

Happy Birthday(s) to us

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Just about a year ago (December 22, 2014, to be exact), Vox Populi Registry, signed its contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers that set the stage for the company bringing dotSucks domain names to the Internet. On March 30, 2015, the registration window was opened for trademark holders and on June 20, the names became generally available. By this reckoning, we have about six months wherein every day we have the chance to celebrate our first birthday. We are starting today. Unlike other domain name registries, we do not publicly discuss the total number of registrations or our revenue. That’s because we do not view dotSucks as just another address on the Internet. We view it as a platform for innovation, a magnet for conversation and a hub for discussion of those things that stir passion. By these measures so far, we have exceeded our modest expectations for the company. Sites like thismeeting.sucks, lifeinsureance.sucks, inefficiency.sucks and pdf.sucks are trying to change the way business is too often done. Sites like kmfdm.sucks and lancewallach.sucks are using the attention getting virtue of the domain extension to market and promote themselves. Sites like logging.sucks, corruptgovernment.sucks and TTIP.sucks are advocates for some very public issues. And my personal favorite, aircanada.sucks, is creating a community of shared discontent in hopes of drawing attention to passenger practices the airline ought to consider changing. Beginning today and over the next few weeks, we will be issuing a series of facts, figures and insights into our first year of operation. To whet your appetite, here are three already in the queue, in no particular order: • Current events and issues of the day are key drivers of our business. As they change, we want to change with them. With that in mind, we are implementing some policy changes with regard to regular updating of our Market Premium and Reserved domain name lists to make them more available and current. We alerted our Registrar network last month. • We will be honoring our “Best Business Partner” in our first year. It has become clear to us that no matter how smart, dedicated or energetic we are on behalf of Vox Populi Registry, our success has had a lot of help. This award, which we intend to be an annual event, reflects that. • There is no more powerful business success talisman than the Fortune 100 list of companies. We have looked at the list and compared it to the list of dotSucks registrations. The number of companies on the Fortune 100 list whose names are on our list is not surprising but it is gratifying. We have tried to make our blog (www.blog.registry.sucks) an easy place to catch up on Vox Populi Registry. That’s why this post and those that follow can be found there. Or you can follow us on Twitter, @dotsucksdomain

Case Studies, Success Stories

Field Report: PDF.sucks

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As part of our on-going series of conversations with .sucks registrants, I spoke recently with Aaron Osher, who, by day, is in charge of experimental marketing for Windrush (www.windrush.org) in upstate New York. But by night (and day, too) is the energy behind www.PDF.sucks, an innovative approach to promoting Windrush’s new Software as a Service platform which allows even doctors, lawyers and bankers to create technically adept, interactive, data-driven stories and reports. Think of it, he says, as the “anti-PDF.” The company is about two years old and hopes to remake the cumbersome, human resource heavy and technically demanding methods of visualizing data for business insight used today. As Osher puts it, “We want to replace PDFs and the army of people that surrounds them.” The goal, he says, it to “tell meaningful stories with data” by “visualizing and contextualizing” the information. The point is well-made on the company’s website: “We help you and your organization share data through easy-to-build, engaging and interactive online documents, without sacrificing quality.“ So, I get the PDF, but why .sucks? “We wanted to be a little edgier,” Osher said. “Tasked to test experimental marketing and in line with our anti-PDF stance, we looked to the new gTLDs for the right voice and hit upon .sucks.” he said. Marketing the site, which relies on a herd of hippos (yes, hippos) to do the heavy lifting, is being done primarily through the social media channels Windrush has been building. At PDF.sucks, a user can upload a PDF and the hippos will transform it using the Windrush platform. Osher thinks when people see the two formats side-by-side, the hippos will dance victorious. We should be able to feel that even here! If it is true that most people learn by seeing in a context they recognize, Osher and his colleagues have a real shot at redesigning the face of business and financial reports. They have our attention and hope for their every success.

Advertising & Marketing, News

Ad agencies know exactly what sucks

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In this space we have occasionally noted how major corporations are incorporating what sucks into their marketing campaigns. Spurred, no doubt, by the edgy attitude of their advertising agencies, but clearly comfortable using such an attention-getting device. Recently, two new campaigns of that sort hit the mass and social media. The first is for Gett, a cab-hailing mobile app in competition with upstart start-ups Uber and Lyft. The campaign, “Surge Sucks,” taps into rider discontent with those competitors’ practice of hiking prices at a time of greater demand; http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/gett-launches-surge-sucks-campaign-reimburse-riders-article-1.2430389. Likely driven by how hard it is to get a word in edgewise with Uber and Lyft dominating the media, Gett took a direct approach. Think of it in the same vein as the ’70s-era Pepsi Challenge that helped the soft drink make inroads into Coke’s market share. The second is for Jolly Rancher, the candy that can annoyingly be heard being unwrapped in theaters from Broadway to LA. Taking advantage of the football season and the plight of its rookies, Jolly Rancher took off with “Being a Rookie Sucks” featuring St. Louis Rams’ first year running back, Todd Gurley; http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/11/rams-rookie-todd-gurley-sings-and-wears-a-tutu-in-hilarious-new-commercial. Yes, Dyson may suck and Hoover, too, all by themselves, but with candy it takes two to tango, or in this case pas de deux. These ads are all part of a pretty healthy tradition. In this space we’ve talked about Taco Bell’s “Sharing Sucks” campaign and UK mobile network Three’s hashtag, “WhenStuffSucks,MakeItRight” But one of my favorite is historical in ad years. Nearly seven years ago, Nicorette, the don’t-smoke-chew-gum company, introduced us to the Suckometer; http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/nicorettes-suckometer-ads-still-do-not-suck-13061. It was a classic look, a bit like the head of Robby the Robot from the ’50s scifi movie, Forbidden Planet; http://www.hammacher.com/publish/10921.asp I guess if they bring it back today, it will have a Star Wars tie-in and look like R2D2.

Current Affairs & World News, News

A recourse for political discourse

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The platform for comment and criticism at Vox Populi Registry has always been aimed at giving passionate people a place not just to speak, but to be heard. We already have seen such a community emerge. It has been built on matters as straightforward as company customer service, as urgent as a medical condition, as local as a new development or as endemic as a bad meeting, meal or sales pitch. One place, though, may be even better suited for the dotSucks platform. That’s the two-sided, “screw you, strong letter to follow” world of politics. The role of political speech in democratic societies has been of great interest and from the day of our launch, Vox Populi Registry has sought to support social commentary. Our Advocates Program is designed to foster this kind of debate. In it “we seek to partner with a select set of out-spoken registrants…who, using their free speech rights and passion, can help make the VoxPopRegistry and the .sucks top level domain, an essential destination. We intend to solicit marketing plans for such sites and select a small group of them to support.” In the last six months we have seen the start of the U.S. Presidential campaign, the Greek bailout, a fatal stampede at Mecca, a global rush of refugees, a series of mass shootings and the Volkswagen scam-by-software to name just a few events at the intersection of social relevance and political interest – the definition of passion. Yet we have seen too few proposals. The dotSucks platform is still a new one, so it is important for us to show a little patience. After all, with as much as has been said and written about us, we’ve likely have only scratched the surface of the public’s itch to be heard. This will change as more dotSucks sites emerge on the Internet as they do each week. We will do our part, too. First, by maintaining our commitment to the Advocates Program. Second, by moving quickly to support well-founded proposals. And, third, by doing what we can to let people know about the program. The last point begins with social media – this blog entry, for example, and the Tweets and posts it inspires. We will follow that up with direct communication with the groups already involved in issues such as those noted above. And we will continue to make the program a part of our ongoing marketing. Our goal, now as when we launched six months ago, is to create a new platform, not just one that makes it easier to make a point, but is easy to find, creating the opportunity for a community of like-minded and passionate people to gather.

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