FORT LAUDERDALE, FL and BEIJING, CHINA–(Marketwired – Mar 17, 2014) – .Club Domains, LLC, the company formed to own and operate the new “.CLUB” top level domain, and TLD Registry, Ltd., which is the market leader for new Chinese-language top level domains, have agreed to collaborate on introducing some of the most popular new Internet extensions to the Chinese-speaking world. With half of all Internet users being in Asia, and a quarter of those in China alone, .Club and TLD Registry are poised to make a big impact by sharing resources to promote their Chinese language domain names.
.CLUB Domains’ new TLD, .CLUB, has been broadly welcomed worldwide. The word “club” is recognized and understood throughout the world and in nearly every spoken language, including in Mandarin Chinese.
TLD Registry’s TLDs, Dot Chinese Online and Dot Chinese Website, are among the first IDN’s to come to market and have broad appeal both for companies in China and global brands wanting to easily represent Chinese language versions of their online properties.
“TLD Registry understands the Chinese marketplace better than anyone in the gTLD space, so we know we’ve chosen the best partner to collaborate with to help introduce .CLUB to registrars and to the millions of Chinese Internet users,” said Colin Campbell, CEO of .CLUB. “As we travel throughout the country, we continue to see and hear the word ‘club’ spoken, written and used in marketing, so we are confident it will be a popular web address as the Internet continues to expand.”
“.CLUB Domains is arguably the champion of the new domain name TLDs,” said TLD Registry’s CEO Arto Isokoski. “No other new TLD has achieved such extraordinary traction in the minds of brands and businesses, and a partnership with the .CLUB team greatly supports our own market awareness programs.”
China is the second largest economy in the world, and by 2015 it’s estimated that China will have nearly twice the number of Internet users as the U.S. and Japan combined. With that kind of growth in mind, .CLUB and TLD Registry will be exploring mutual efforts to maximize their respective exposure in China and other markets through co-marketing, sales, and joint promotion.
To the partnership, TLD Registry is contributing its China market expertise and access to its excellent Chinese domain name registrar (retailer) network, while .CLUB Domains is contributing access to its global registrar network and industry credibility. Both companies have been jointly collaborating on business and marketing initiatives since December 2013.
“Our partnership is a meeting of equals, with highly complementary regional strengths,” said TLD Registry’s CMO, Simon Cousins.
.CLUB Domains’ CMO, Jeffrey Sass said, “Collaborative bundling, business development and marketing programs are already well advanced with our partners at TLD Registry, and we look forward to a ‘greater than the sum of parts’ outcome.”
Both .CLUB Domains’ .CLUB and TLD Registry’s Dot Chinese Online and Dot Chinese Website have been in their Trademark Sunrise period. The Sunrise for TLD Registry ended on March 17, 2014 and .CLUB’s Sunrise ends March 29, 2014. During this period trademark holders who have registered their marks with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) have the opportunity to register the web addresses of their trademark names before the new domain extensions are offered to the general public. In the first 30 days of its Sunrise period, .CLUB has attracted registrations from trademark holders that represent the broad spectrum of vertical markets, including high-profile sports teams, auto manufacturers, major consumer and luxury brands, private clubs and more, while Dot Chinese Online and Dot Chinese Website have registered domain names from a broad swath of regional and global business leaders.
About .Club Domains, LLC
Led by Internet entrepreneur Colin Campbell, whose prior successes include Tucows Interactive and Hostopia.com, .Club Domains, LLC was formed for the purpose of becoming the .CLUB gTLD registry. Fully understanding the inherent marketing value of a .CLUB domain for any membership organization, .CLUB is also building a comprehensive social platform for club management. .CLUB is a one-stop shop for clubs of all sizes to secure a great domain, grow club membership, improve member engagement and reduce management costs. By combining an easy to use web services platform with a top level domain based on a globally recognized term, .CLUB is “the easiest way to find, join or start a club.” More information and links to register .CLUB domains are available now at www.nic.club.
About TLD Registry, Ltd.
TLD Registry Ltd is a pan-European company domiciled in Ireland and specializing in the management and sales of new sought after top level domains. The founders are experienced industry veterans, and founding team members have extensive senior level expertise in the TLD business, international sales, marketing, and high tech growth companies. They have years of experience from ccTLD operations, acting as members of ICANN decision making bodies, and several different TLD committees. The company is fully funded and is supported by the Vision+ Fund, as well as a group of veteran business angel investors. The founding investors of Vision+ are Nokia, Microsoft and major pension funds. Vision+ leadership have held board roles at Nokia, NAVTEQ and Innofinance, and have strong expertise in IPR development, commercialization, protection and litigation. TLD Registry’s angel investors have backgrounds in various European tech category leaders, including Apple.
For more information, please contact:
Bridgette King
.Club Domains Public Relations
+1 954-937-9616
Email Contact
Simon Cousins
TLD Registry CMO
+1 347 850-7101
Email Contact
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