18(b) How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

Prototypical answer:

18. Part B - gTLD benefits

18.1 Areas of specialty, service levels or reputation
Founded in 1805 in Geneva, Pictet & Cie is today one of Switzerlandʹs largest private banks, and one of the premier independent asset management specialists in Europe, with over USD 325 billion in assets under management and custody at 31 December 2011. Pictet & Cie is a partnership owned and managed by eight general partners with unlimited liability for the bankʹs commitments.

The Pictet group, based in Geneva, employs more than 3,200 staff. The Group has offices in the following financial centres: Barcelona, Basel, Dubai, Florence, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Lausanne, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Montreal, Nassau, Paris, Rome, Singapore, Turin, Tokyo and Zurich.

Pictet Asset Management (ʺPAMʺ) includes all the operating subsidiaries and divisions of the Pictet group that carry out institutional asset management: Pictet Asset Management SA, a Swiss corporation registered with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA, Pictet Asset Management Limited, a UK company authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, and Pictet Asset Management (Japan) Limited, a Japanese company regulated by the Financial Services Agency of Japan.

At 31st December 2011, Pictet Asset Management managed USD 110 billion in assets, invested in equity and bond markets worldwide. PAM has thirteen business development centres across the globe, extending from London, Geneva, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich via Dubai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore to Montreal.

Pictet has a strong web presence with an annual budget of web communication and operations of close to CHF one million and over 50,000 Pictet webpages visited daily. The ʺ.pictetʺ TLD will permit the company to redefine its online web architecture and communication by easing access to application webpages.

18.2 Competition, differentiation, or innovation

The ʺ.pictetʺ TLD will differentiate Pictet from its competitors by bringing a technology innovator feeling to its online presence, marketing activities, clients and partners interactions. The ʺ.pictetʺ TLD will enhance the brand equity servicing various purposes; which may be categorized as follows:

Branding
The ʺ.pictetʺ TLD will enhance Pictetʹs online reputation and client perception. It will give an innovator feeling and demonstrate Pictetʹs sensibility to new technologies and digital businesses

Increase brand value
The ʺ.pictetʺ TLD support Pictetʹs marketing and communication department build a closer relationship with its clients around the Pictet brand; reinforce visibility on the net and thereby increasing brand value. Website will be more memorable.

Website architecture
The ʺ.pictetʺ TLD will permit service based website architecture as compared to a pyramidal used today. Pictet will develop service-based web architecture.

Ease of access & navigability
The ʺ.pictetʺ TLD will serve as a platform to create domain names that are short and easy for consumers to remember, making it easier for people to access the companyʹs information online – notably over mobile devices

Brand visibility in sponsorship
The ʺ.pictetʺ TLD will increase brand visibility in sponsorship and open options for temporary campaigns. The ability to create short and memorable domain names will enhance sponsorship campaigns.

Brand extension
Pictet will have the opportunity to Issue second-level domain names to valued partners and distributors in order to extend the prestige and trust associated with its brand, strengthen relationships, create co-marketing opportunities, and reach new audiences.

Co-Branding
Pictet new TLD will service as a platform for co-branding. Such campaigns will associate events, products or partners to the Pictet brand name. Co-branding campaigns will combine the strength of two brands, in order to increase consumers trust and interest.
Brand association also reinforces the visibility of both entities; increases reach on search engines and strengthen customers trust.

Pictet Family members
Pictet & Cie is a private company named after its foundersʹ name. Today, there are still two associate members from the Pictet family members. Pictet & Cie will give family members the option to use the ʺ.pictetʺ TLD.

18.3 User experience

The objective of Pictet is not to become a registry or to generate new sources of revenue by selling domain names. It intends to increase users experience through reinforced online protection and enhanced webpage browsing

Online protection
The registration policy for Pictetʹs dotBrand will be restricted to only allowing the brand owner and its affiliates to register domain names in order to create a ‘safe-zoneʹ for internet users.
Users of the Pictet website will know to always search for and trust ʺ.pictetʺ sites and email addresses. The goal will be to decrease the risk of consumer confusion, and furthermore minimize the risk of online fraud. The ʺ.pictetʺ will distinguish trusted and official partners. It will be easier for PICTETto assure its online guidelines are being followed.

The ʺ.pictetʺ TLD will protect Pictet against brand infringement in various manners:

Protection of registred Domain Names
Pictet define the registration policy so unwanted activity from domainers or cyber squatters could be prevented by creating a strict policy.
All registrations will be handled on a one-on-one so risks involving third parties will be mitigated.
Pictetʹs registration policy will be set so domain names are never transferred to licensees that arenʹt validated.

Control over the chain of trust
The ʺ.pictetʺ extension will be DNSSEC enabled and safe to surf from day one.

Protection against typosquating
Registering Pictetʹs own TLD will allow to proactively registering common mistyped URLʹs and direct them towards the correct website. Pictet will also track and trace domain names that were visited, but not registered yet.

Protection against Phishbing
By registering the ʺ.pictetʺ TLD and educating the client, phishing attacks will gradually miss their effect

Ease of access & navigability
The ʺ.pictetʺ TLD will permit service based website architecture as compared to a pyramidal used today. Pictet will develop service-based web architecture. Domain names will be shorter and easier for consumers to remember, therefore easing access to the companyʹs information online – notably over mobile devices.
In certain cases, the content will be tailored according to the registrant entity; for instance affiliates, partners, clients or the head office.

18.4 Registration policy

Any entity will be able to submit a request for a domain creation according to eligibility requirements, terms and conditions as defined below. The GCC (Group Corporate Communication) department will be the sole point of contact for internal and external parties submitting a request to use the ʺ.pictetʺ.

The ʺ.pictetʺ domain names allocation committee will analyse and evaluate requests for the TLD usage.
The committee members will be:
– Jacques de Saussure, senior partner
– Frank Renggli, head of Group Corporate Communications Geneva
– Jean-Pierre Therre, Director security & Group Managing Director
– Alexandre Heinrichs, head of Digital Communications
– Riccardo Bonferroni, senior web publisher
– Jérôme Wymann, product manager pictet.com

The registration process will last between 1 and 8 weeks from submission according to the ʺ.pictetʺ committee meetings schedule. Registration policies will differ by user groups as detailed below.

Internal usages
The committee will define a list of domain names Pictet to be created for the transition of the existing webpages to the new architecture. Selected geographic names will also be protected upon the allocation of the ʺ.pictetʺ TLD.

The registry operator will ensure a Trademark Claims service during the start-up phase as provided in the registry agreement. These mechanisms will be supported by the established Trademark Clearinghouse as indicated by ICANN.

For new domain names requests from internal users, the following procedure will be applied:
1. Request to be addressed to the GCC department via email
2. Analysis and evaluation by the ʺ.pictetʺ committee
3. Unanimous validation of the decision by the ʺ.pictetʺ committee
4. If request accepted, setup by the GCC department in coordination with the technical providers


Family members

The following procedure will be applied:
1. Request by a family member to be addressed to the GCC department via mail;
2. Analysis and evaluation by the ʺ.pictetʺ committee in coordination with the business partnerʹs Pictet point of contact;
3. Unanimous validation of the decision by the ʺ.pictetʺ committee;
4. Analysis and evaluation by two members of the Pictet family; namely Ivan Pictet (former Senior partner) and Stéphane Pictet (Web Entrepreneur);
5. Unanimous validation by Ivan Pictet and Stéphane Pictet;
6. If the proposition is accepted, setup by the GCC department in coordination with the technical providers.


Distributors and business partners
Case 1: Demand coming from a business partner
The following procedure will be applied:
1. Request by a business partner to be addressed to the communication department via mail;
2. Analysis and evaluation by the ʺ.pictetʺ committee in coordination with the business partnerʹs Pictet point of contact;
3. Unanimous validation of the decision by the ʺ.pictetʺ committee;
4. If the proposition is accepted, setup by the communication department in coordination with the technical providers.

Case 2: Proposition from the bank to a business partner
The following procedure will be applied:
1. Request by a Pictet employee addressed to the communication department via mail
2. Analysis and evaluation by the ʺ.pictetʺ committee
3. Unanimous validation of the decision by the ʺ.pictetʺ committee
4. Proposition to the business partner
5. Acceptation or refusal of the proposition to be addressed to the ʺ.pictetʺ committee
6. If the proposition is accepted, setup by the communication department in coordination with the technical providers

18.5 Protection
Protecting trademark holdersʹ rights and maximizing domain name distribution opportunities during the ʺ.pictetʺ launch phase is critical to its successful introduction and operations. In launching its TLD, Pictet will ensure meeting the ICANN requirements for Sunrise and Trademark Claims and set-up procedures respecting the 1995 Directive on Data Protection (Directive 95⁄46⁄EC) of the European Commission.

ICANN is in the process of developing processes and procedures for the operation of the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) as well as selecting the vendor(s) to operate the TMCH. Once ICANN finalizes these issues, Verisign will be able to identify the services to be provided to support Pictetʹs.
Pictet will ensure that the Sunrise and Trademark Claims services address ICANNʹs requirements and ensure a compliant introduction of the ʺ.pictetʺ.

Procedure for the launch of the ʺ.pictetʺ TLD:

a) Prior to Sunrise⁄ TLD launch: the registry operator will populate a list of reserved names and will reserve the right to register domain names during the pre-launch phase. The list will be made available to the registrar and potential eligible registrants as an additional procedures to minimize any abusive registrations and other activities that would have a negative impact on Internet users
b) Prior to general availability: Pictet will ensure a Trademark Claims service during the start-up phase as provided in the registry agreement. This mechanism will be supported by the established Trademark Clearinghouse as indicated by ICANN. The Trademark Claims service provides notice to potential registrants of existing trademark rights, as well as notice to rights holders of relevant names registered. Registry operators may decide to continue offering the Trademark Claims service after the relevant start-up phase. The registry operator will also implement safeguards against allowing unqualified registrations in accordance to, the registryʹs eligibility restrictions or policies
c) Sunrise: allow physical persons, organizations and entities that meet the eligibility requirements in force at that point in time to choose the domain names that are identical to their trademarks;
d) General availability: other available domain names may be registered by physical persons, organizations and entities that meet the eligibility requirements in force at that point in time to choose the domain names in accordance with the applicable terms and conditions. In any case, Pictet reserves the right to impose additional and other restrictions from time to time at its sole discretion;

18.6 Outreach & Communication

Marketing campaign to promote the ʺ.pictetʺ internally and externally will be made of direct communications through newsletters, mailings, banners on websites, advertisements in electronic media, press releases.

Internal communication
PICTET employees will be informed by means of internal digital media communication tools (Newsletter, Intranet and emailing) about:
1. The benefits for Pictetʹs web presence, marketing & communication
2. Q&As about ʺ.pictetʺ for external parties

External communication
Pictet will inform its clients and business partners about the new Pictet web presence by means of a digital newsletter.

Pictet doesnʹt aim promote the use of the ʺ.pictetʺ TLD by third parties such as distributors and business partners. Meanwhile, account executives and the marketing department will be informed of the procedure for the ʺ.pictetʺ TLD application as defined above.

Pictet will also not promote of the ʺ.pictetʺ TLD for commercial or non-commercial usages to family members.

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