For over a decade, key tech players and innovators have used) for their branding. These include three country code extensions like .CO, .IO and .VC that have become wildly popular among firms and indvidual users alike, now wielding serious brand clout in the different fields that have adopted them.

Technically, these three ccTLDs are the national domain extensions of COlombia; Indian Ocean Territory; and Saint VinCent and the Grenadines, respectively.

It is perhaps a little strange at first to conceptualize, these are after all the assigned internet code of three real countries. However, if used correctly, these extensions can produce targeted impact and send a very clear message on intent and positioning.

That is, they do exactly what the perfect domain is meant to do: Push your brand to the fore and take the first marketing and user engagment steps for you.

If combined with suitable characters in the second-level domain, i.e. to the left of the dot, a killer .co, .io or .vc can mean you instantly get your foot in the door. This is because, after years of adaptation, internet users are savvy to the symbolism behind these repurposed CC extensions. As such, it acts as a ready made path for hitting your respective target audience, showing that you speak their language and allowing you to flex your prowess from the off.

Far from confusing the user or inhibiting intent, a well-deployed CC domain will draw in targeted users from the internet footfall. This is because they have each gained traction in a particular kind of area. The user is encouraged (and already conditioned) to read your brand in a given context, and often get the gist of what you’re about before they know anything about what you are all about!

A rose by any other name?

Shakespeare’s flaky flower would have long withered ago amid the competition for space in the modern landscape. And surely have never made it anywhere near the 1st page of research results. Rose.io, however, we have no idea who owns it or whether it has been developed. But we already have a pretty clear idea of what it’ll be about in the broad scheme (the general field, the level of ingenuity involved, and perhaps even, to a certain degree, the target demographics). Or what it will be about one day, assuming the logic of the market prevails and it ends up in the hands of the optimal user.

If big data can predict more or less how you’ll die, we can predict with a far higher degree of certainty which of your brands will pay for your tombstone!
(Just checked Rose.io. Undeveloped. We’re a-comin’ for ya, sweety, thorns and all.)