by Tony Kirsch
Some ideas start off good………..and then actually surprise you and become truly brilliant.
As one of the major sponsors for the ICANN Brussels meeting currently underway, the AusRegistry International team spent a number of hours looking for fun and innovative ways to engage with the expected 1500 attendees.
It was always going to be a well attended event. A great city and in particular, a crucial time in our industry with the process for new gTLDs rapidly approaching finalisation and the ever expanding interest in Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) among the hot topics.
We set out to make a statement at the ICANN with an idea that would generate opportunities for our Business Development team to engage with ICANN patrons, represent our commitment to innovation within the Domain Name industry and reinforce our “TLD Specialist” brand position. We also wanted to the idea to capture the personality, creativity and ownership of the new gTLD program at a time where excitement levels are about to reach fever pitch.
Tough brief?
Not really…We have some great creative people in our team and I enjoy working with them to create awareness for AusRegistry International for all the right reasons.
Somewhere along the way, we came up with the idea of getting people to create their own “TLD t-shirt” right there at our ICANN booth. A simple idea you might say, but it’s always the simplest marketing activities that make the most impact. We chose bright yellow to ensure our t-shirts would stand out and gave conference attendees the opportunity to own their own little piece of the web on their t-shirt (no, this wasn’t an EOI process for new gTLDs)!
While we were excited about the potential of our new idea, we had no idea how successful it was going to be. 500 T-shirts, over two days, with a second order on its way. We’ve been run off our feet in the last few days making t-shirts for everyone and it’s great to be watching people walking around the meeting wearing our shirts – kids names, partners names (brownie points for the boys), pets, nicknames, acronyms, brands and even a few IDNs are being sported around ICANN #38 to add a little AusRegistry International colour and humour to the conference.
From all reports even ICANN Chairman, Peter Dengate-Thrush and ICANN CEO, Rod Beckstrom were seen wearing the “.peter” and “.dad” shirts respectively which is fantastic.
So for those of you at the meeting, make sure you come and see us at our booth in the exhibition area to get your free shirt. Stocks are low so come and say hello to one of our friendly staff ASAP. While you’re there, have a chat to us about your new gTLD requirements.
For those of you participating remotely, make sure you watch the video feed for the Public Forum meeting on Thursday afternoon (Brussels time). Each person that has received a shirt will be encouraged to wear it to the forum as a sign of symbolism to the ICANN Board that the community supports new gTLDs and are ready to move forward in this next step of innovation and expansion of the internet.
We can’t wait to turn Brussels yellow!
