jeremyp

I want to thank all of you for a great 2 1/2 years.

I'll make the goodbye short and sweet.

MTLD MUST ACT NOW:
MTLD needs to take drastic action to create awareness in the .mobi domain name. .Mobi is a marketing driven opportunity. I have always said that .mobi offers no technical benefit, and that adoption, development and awareness is key.

The window of opportunity will close as other standards are adopted. Browsers that immediately identify mobile devices is a huge issue. The opening up of the TLDs is an enormous issue. If Richy Rich decides to buy .mobile (or whatever) and seriously markets the extension, then .mobi is trumped.

Today .mobi is still uniquely positioned as an alternative to .com in the mobile space. That is meaningless with no viable marketing plan.

WHAT SHOULD MTLD DO?
Superbowl ad... Spend $6MM on two Superbowl ads promoting .mobi as the de facto standard for mobile domain names. Moreover, they should then announce the definitive .mobi auction on Sedo.com, including sex.mobi and the top-100 non-allocated mobi domain names. They could potentially pull a significant portion of that $6MM spend with the results of that hyped auction.

At this point, there hasn't even been a single ad on television reaching out to the masses. This is STILL A DOMAINER EXTENSION, 2 1/2 YEARS LATER. That is unacceptable.

Remember what the Superbowl did for Godaddy.com?

DOES MTLD HAVE THE CASHFLOW TO MARKET THEIR EXTENSION?
At one point they certainly did. 1MM registrations plus a warchest of valuable domain names. Mid to Late 2007 was RIPE for a large, coordinated marketing effort. They let the opportunity pass. The city to city meetings were limited to domainers; the TRAFFIC conference mostly domainers; the Webby awards (big deal). Overall, with the revenue driven and the big, supposed supporters of .mobi, I was disheartened by the lack of marketing support. How much did they really spend? Did MTLD truly reach beyond the domainer? How?

I feel a bit duped. Wasn't there a promise of a coordinated marketing effort?

So, did MTLD have the money? In my opinion, yes. They drove significant money from registrations, they raised significant money from their auctions, and they supposedly have big backers.

So, let's see the list of print ads, television spots, newspaper ads, radio, anything beyond domainer that truly established the .MOBI brand.

WHY THE HELL DID MTLD NOT DEVELOP THE KEY DOMAINS:
Sex.mobi - still doesn't resolve. That is a joke. Forget putting the accountability on the domainer, the ACCOUNTABILITY is on MTLD. The key names were never developed. At least put up a "COMING SOON" link or a mobilie search engine redirect, or something. Nothing was unacceptable and truly signaled to any non-domainer that this is a not-yet-live extension.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/dot-mobi/544560-critical-look-mtld-my-best-wishes.html

STOP BLAMING THE DOMAINER:
I see on mobility, NP and the like the same tune... develop, develop, develop. Agreed, that would be one part of it. But, domainers are just a small part of the potential. Limited and/or ineffective reaching out by the brand-holder is, in my opinion, the biggest part.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=544560

So, what's next?

MTLD is still breathing. They still have a warchest of names.

Do something cash flow positive and establish some non-domainer awareness. BIG AD. BIG PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN. TIE IT TO AN AUCTION TO GET SOME $ BACK.

Do it NOW.

I believe the time is running out.

SOUR GRAPES?
None. I love .mobi still. I want to see it work. I want to see so many of my friends who invested deeply and never sought any ROI to have assets with value. I feel differently about MTLD, however. I do not trust that they have a coordinated plan to reach beyond the domainer.

So...

Best wishes my .mobi friends and BE CRITICAL... PUSH MTLD...

All my best,
Jeremy Padawer

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DomainTalker

You make some very valid points, Jeremy. Well said.


I'm sad to see you exit the space...You've made a great contribution, and now its time for you to look to other projects & priorities...


Take care - I wish you all the very best in whatever you do...

But, most of all, enjoy...

Cheers,

.

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Timewarp

Good points jeremyp but I disagree on the Superbowl ad.
It's pretty easy when spending other peoples money to just throw it at an expensive spot like that but then what? Advertising works with repetition and that $6 million dollar ad is going to be forgotten in 30 seconds later if it's not part of a strategic campaign. Is the general population of sports fans really the best market to target at this stage? Agree that some major marketing is needed but Id aim my budget at a more business and marketing segment then Joe sixpack. One superbowl ad = thousands of more targeted magazine ads and some TV spots on shows that reach an IT audience.

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