Unilever’s 10,000 Domain Name Portfolio
by Muhammad on May 22, 2008
in Uncategorized
Unilever, at current has more than 10,000 domain names attributed to it, when just 10 years ago they had less than a 100. 50% of the 10,000 were registered in the last 2 years and most of the sites are unused or direct traffic to out of date sites.
Unilever, recently crowned Digital Marketer of the Year, had registered so many domains so that it could promote it’s various brands and promotions. Obviously the registration of these domains had occurred via the brand teams within Unilever with no real thought as to the bigger picture or follow-up of what the domains would be doing after they had been used.
Unilever is now moving to cull at least 30-40% of its domain name portfolio after carrying out a trademark audit on each of the domains (that’ll take some time…)
For domain name squatters, those guys who register domain names in anticipation that some big corporate entity would want it later and dish out the dough to get it. Unilever actually has a policy around dealing with anyone who practices domain name front-running, cyber-squatting and domain name speculation and are not afraid to sue. In fact they are also involved in creating legislation around the very issue.
This is interesting stuff too keep in mind, especially when we look into the legalities of cyberspace and how these laws cross boundaries and get implemented.
Technorati Tags: Unilever, Marketing, Brands, Domain Names, cyber-squatting
Interesting post, however it is important to distinguish between those who invest in domains that infringe on trademarks and those who in invest or speculate in domains for their generic value.
I am a firm believer in generic domains like jeans.co.za as an example.
Thanks for the info.
No Problem Graham… I just found it really interesting, the amount of domains out there and I cringe at the amount of admin which needs to go into managing so many!