| gTLD | Full Legal Name | E-mail suffix | Detail | | .dealer | Dealer Dot Com, Inc. | dealer.com | View |
18.1.1 Dealer.com
Dealer.com’s mission is to be the most sought after automotive web solutions provider in the world. Dealer.com pursues this mission with the highest degree of integrity and a focus on creating superior products, satisfied clients and empowered employees - all with minimal impact on the environment.
Dealer.com’s solutions include those for franchise automotive dealers, independent auto dealers, dealer groups, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and advertising agencies. Its proprietary platform is a customizable, multilayered software application that not only creates SEO-friendly websites but also features a completely integrated toolkit for dealerships both large and small.
This integrated platform has been engineered for maximum efficiency and performance to empower its customers’ connections with consumers. Built from the ground up and using the latest technology, Dealer.com offers the most powerful digital marketing platform in the industry, aggregating the following solutions:
Online Advertising: Paid search management, email marketing, search engine optimization, social media & blogging;
Dealer Websites: Inventory integration, merchandising tools, mobile sites, custom branding;
Inventory Marketing: Video, incentives and specials, eBrochures, window stickers;
Lead Management: Contacts, leads, auto-responder management, lead life cycle and sales process; and
Performance Analytics: Call tracking, site activity and lead tracking, merchandising tracking, pay-per-click and advertising tracking.
Dealer.com also offers an array of Digital Marketing services that involve strategy, project management, consulting, training and regular maintenance to achieve maximum results for its customers. Dealer.com solutions also include Managed Services, training and award-winning customer service to complement its innovative platform.
18.1.2 Mission and Purpose
The intended mission and purpose of the .DEALER gTLD is to serve as a trusted and intuitive namespace for the benefit of Dealer.com, its qualified subsidiaries’, affiliates’ customers and other Internet users. The .DEALER gTLD will deepen and broaden these entities’ relationships with those audiences.
The .DEALER gTLD may be thought of most appropriately as a “Brand TLD” in that it serves primarily to provide a trusted, hierarchical and intuitive namespace for businesses that use Dealer.com’s broad range of online dealership products and services. Although ICANN has not specifically recognized a Brand TLD category, such as the .DEALER gTLD, in the current round, it is widely anticipated in the brand community that this will become a specialty subset of gTLDs. The .DEALER gTLD is planned to protect Dealer.com’s online presence and identity, expand its marketing and promotion efforts, provide a secure channel for online products and services, and offer a platform through which to consolidate many of the intellectual property activities of Dealer.com.
Dealer.com intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within the .DEALER gTLD to Dealer.com and its qualified partners and affiliates. This initial limited use will allow Dealer.com to establish .DEALERʹs operations and achieve full sustainability. This limited distribution coupled with the other requirements set forth in Specification 9 of the template Registry Agreement is intended to exempt Dealer.com from its annual Code of Conduct Compliance requirements.
After the initial stages of operation, Dealer.com will evaluate whether opportunities exist to carry out the business strategy for the gTLD through expansion that continues the sustainable operations of the registry through fee-based registrations to parties other than Dealer.com and its qualified partners and affiliates.
1. Stage One
The initial stage of implementation of the gTLD will involve the .DEALER gTLD registering a limited number of .DEALER second-level domain names. This stage is designed to meet Dealer.com’s existing corporate requirements for use of domains including:
(1) Testing by Dealer.com’s IT to ensure full administrative and technical access to the domain names.
(2) Testing by Dealer.com’s security personnel to ensure unbroken and secure use of all names.
(3) Testing by IT personnel and users to ensure interoperability with various software and web-based applications.
2. Stage Two
Once all testing has been successfully completed, Dealer.com will begin allocating domain names in the .DEALER gTLD for more widespread corporate use. During this same period of time, Dealer.com may begin evaluating strategies to migrate traffic away from its existing second-level domain name, to Dealer.com’s new .DEALER gTLD.
It is in Stage Two, that Dealer.com will also evaluate and potentially expand the operations of the .DEALER gTLD to permit registration by other registrants such as licensees or other strategic partners. The dates of such expansion are subject to change depending upon business, strategic and industry factors at the time.
3. Stage Three
The third stage may potentially involve the migration of Internet traffic away from the gTLDs in which Dealer.com’s domain names are currently registered, and toward the new Dealer.com branded gTLD, if Dealer.com has not already executed on this strategy earlier. Based on its experience in the initial stages, Dealer.com will assess whether its business plan and expansion strategy should be augmented by extending registration rights to third parties beyond licensees and⁄or strategic partners. It is anticipated by Dealer.com that changes to the domain name industry, and particularly the impact of the .DEALER gTLD, will take a number of years to be felt and assessed. Any decision to expand the gTLD beyond corporate, partner and licensee use and permanently migrate traffic away from existing gTLDs will take into effect this experience as well as the technical analysis of potential expansion.
Utilizing current projections based upon Dealer.com’s existing and future business plans, current domain name portfolio, and other strategic factors, Dealer.com estimates second-level domain name registrations to be in line with the projections set forth in the financial template provided in the response to Question 46 of this application.
| gTLD | Full Legal Name | E-mail suffix | Detail | | .PIPERLIME | The Gap, Inc. | fairwindspartners.com | View |
18.1 Mission and Purpose of .PIPERLIME
The Gap, Inc. (“Gap Inc.”) is a leading global retailer serving the needs of consumers around the world through its five brands – Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta, and Piperlime. Gap Inc. has 134,000 employees and stores or franchises in 31 different countries. Gap Inc.’s products are available for purchase online to consumers in over 90 countries, and Gap Inc. content is accessible in the .COM gTLD and the .CA, .CN, .EU, and .JP ccTLDs.
Through a unified corporate approach, Gap Inc. intends to submit five gTLD applications for the strings .GAP, .BANANAREPUBLIC, .OLDNAVY, .ATHLETA, and .PIPERLIME, collectively the Gap Inc. Family of gTLDs.
Gap Inc.’s brands are among the company’s most valuable assets. The protection and growth of the Piperlime brand is of paramount importance to Gap Inc. in all aspects of its operations, including on the Internet. Operating the brand as a gTLD is expected to be an important part of its digital strategy in the future.
Gap Inc. will be analyzing and evaluating other .BRAND gTLD applications as well as general market adoption to determine short- and long-term potential best-in-class use case options to most effectively serve and enhance Gap Inc.’s online strategy as a leading global retailer.
Gap Inc. launched Piperlime, an online-only fashion boutique found at piperlime.com, in 2006. Piperlime features leading third-party brands as well as select private label products and offers customers an assortment of women’s and men’s apparel, handbags, accessories, jewelry, and footwear for adults and children, as well as tips, trends, and advice from leading style experts. Since 2010, customers in select international countries have also been able to shop online at piperlime.com.
The intended future mission and purpose of the .PIPERLIME gTLD is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace provided by Gap Inc., its subsidiaries, partners, and affiliates, for Piperlime brand customers and other consumers. Gap Inc. will be the entity to file this application and bring the .PIPERLIME gTLD to market.
Although ICANN has not specifically recognized a .BRAND gTLD specification in the current round, it is widely anticipated in the brand community that this will become a specialty subset of gTLDs. .PIPERLIME is intended to be one of those .BRAND gTLDs, with the goal of protecting Gap Inc.’s online presence and identity, expanding its marketing and promotion efforts, providing a secure channel for online products and services, and offering a platform through which to consolidate many of the intellectual property activities of Gap Inc.
Gap Inc. intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within the .PIPERLIME gTLD to Gap Inc., its subsidiaries and qualified affiliates and strategic partners. This initial limited use will allow Gap Inc. to establish its operations and achieve full sustainability.
After year three, Gap Inc. will evaluate whether opportunities exist to carry out the business strategy for the gTLD through expansion that continues the sustainable operations of the registry through fee-based registrations to parties other than Gap Inc., its subsidiaries, affiliates, and partners.
Gap Inc. currently plans a four-stage rollout for Gap Inc.’s gTLD(s):
1. Stage One
During the initial stage of implementation of the gTLD, Gap Inc. will register a limited number of .PIPERLIME second-level domain names. Gap Inc. will also perform testing to ensure seamless and secure access, interoperability with various software and Web-based applications, and unbroken and secure use of all names. This initial allocation will also allow the appropriate Gap Inc. staff to coordinate with the internal and external resources responsible for the application, delegation and setup phases of the .PIPERLIME gTLD to ensure a proper transition from delegation to full operation. Finally, Gap Inc. will develop its internal domain name strategy and begin allocating and using .PIPERLIME domain names for internal corporate use.
2. Stage Two
In the next stage, Gap Inc. will continue to allocate domain names in .PIPERLIME for more widespread internal corporate use and will begin evaluating strategies to migrate external Web traffic away from its current patchwork network of second-level domain names, which are registered in a variety of TLDs, to the Gap Inc. Family of gTLDs.
Gap Inc. will also evaluate expanding the operations of the gTLD to permit domain name registration by third parties such as licensees or other strategic partners. If approved, such expansion is expected to take place during Stage Three and would be conditioned upon a review of Specification 9 (Registry Code of Conduct) set forth in the Registry Agreement with ICANN to ensure compliance with Gap Inc.’s business model.
3. Stage Three
During the third stage, based upon the evaluation undertaken in Stage Two, Gap Inc. anticipates beginning to migrate Internet traffic away from the TLDs in which Gap Inc.’s domain names are currently registered, and toward the new Gap Inc. Family of gTLDs. It is in this stage that Gap Inc. also plans to extend registration rights to licensees and other strategic partners, as noted above.
Based on the company’s analysis of its existing domain name portfolio and its planned use strategy, coupled with the fact that it will have full control over the number of registrations in the .PIPERLIME gTLD namespace, Gap Inc.’s business plan contemplates domain name registrations totaling well under 10,000 in the first five years of the .PIPERLIME gTLD’s operation.
4. Stage Four
Based on its experience to date, including any expansion implemented in Stage Three, Gap Inc. will assess whether to further extend registration rights to a broader class of licensees, such as affiliates and customers of Gap Inc. It is anticipated that changes to the domain name industry, and particularly the full impact of .BRAND gTLDs, will take at least five years to come to fruition. Any decision to expand the .PIPERLIME gTLD beyond internal, licensee, and strategic partner use will take into account this industry experience as well as the strategic, operational, financial, and technical implications of expansion.
The potential use of the .PIPERLIME gTLD by these or other business segments will also be driven by Gap Inc.’s future business strategies as identified in its annual report and investor filings, see http:⁄⁄www.gapinc.com⁄content⁄gapinc⁄html⁄investors⁄fin_information.html.
Utilizing current projections based upon Gap Inc.’s existing businesses, future business plans, current domain name portfolio, and other strategic factors, Gap Inc. estimates second-level domain name registrations within the .PIPERLIME gTLD to be in line with the projections set forth in the financial template provided in the answer to Question 46 of this application.