debate What is a brandable domain?

[JayT]

There was a huge debate in chat room. Everyone participating thought I was wrong

-My definition of a brandable: any made up word or non-definite string of words.

-NOT a brandable: 'any generic (dictionary)word, or combination of words that have a rather exacting meaning / have one obvious 'best use'.

My Real examples from chat:
NON BRANDABLE:
Jade.com
Popcorn.com
GoldNews.net
Muffins.org
Apple.com
Monkey.com

All these words can be brandable. Obviously apple isn't expected to be a computer company, but it is. According to everyone else in chat it was a brandable domain all along! They said Jade could be a hotel, or airliner, and as such, it is a brandable domain too. They said GoldNews was a brandable too (and gave crazy reasoning)! My argument was that in reality, anything can be brandable. I told them I could brand blueberrymuffin.com into a baby clothing store (they disagreed) So popcorn.com is brandable but blueberrymuffin.com isn't? I do not think we should be calling the above domains brandables.

It is easier to see when a domain IS a brandable...

They are casting this wide net. I asked why even use the term 'brandable' if it's going to encompass all these domains? Furthermore, if they hated a domain (example: tyvix.com) they said it was NOT a brandable! I could not believe it! They have no definition! they are just going off emotions! Looks like that if they hate a domain they don't want to associate it with their beloved 'brandables'...okay so reality check. Yes, any name can be branded to anything. Do that mean we, as domainers, consider that a brandable domain? Again, why even use the term if we apply it to all of these domains? Why don't we just stop calling them domains and start calling them brandables? (one guy even suggesting just by adding .com or w/e to the end, you are instantly making a brandable, LOL!)

my real examples:
BRANDABLE:
Tyvix.com
Purpleknife.com
Scratchmonkey.com

These word/string are not generic. They have no certain meaning at all. The names can be used for almost anything. These are the kind of domains we should be calling 'brandable'

I would appreciate anyone's input here. This thread might be a little selfish, just to prove to myself that I am not way off base here. I am confused...everyone else was arguing with me...and this seems so simple to me. I am also writing this to warn you because I think it's important to see sentiment!

I highly recommend stop buying 'brandables' This is way over saturated, and ludicrous now. This argument opened my eyes more than ever that this is a big brandable bubble now, ready to pop, just like chips. I honestly think everyone is feeling threatened and must add these good generic domains into their definition of 'brandable' to protect their investment. This is exactly what happens in bubble, investors become irrational. Do not be self-centered people, LOOK around!

 

[slader23]

What is wrong here, is that you are contradicting yourself at every turn, because you have no method.


Just another tail chaser.

Jade.com is not necessarily category defining. Neither is Platinum or Gold or Silver, they could all be used as Brandables because although they are physical things they are also colors. In the case of platinum the luxury aspect makes it brandable.

 

[TDM]

To me personally it's not only the term "brandable" .. which means "it's ability for that"

but also "branding" .. "it is branding, it does something"

So like tiger, puma, platinum, whatever.. the branding ability is awesome. Guess Puma is enjoying the transfer of characteristics from the animal puma way more then .. let's say snail. Other business of course differ.

These terms are generic, yes.
But making good brandables or "branding" words too (if used correctly).


To me branding words are the highest quality cause they have meaning (generic) plus transfer of characteristics.


IMO the lines are rather blurry. Like fashion, arts, taste.. debating is possible, but winning or being right is not.

 

[Nat47]

Dude, have you ever heard of people using "brand"? Brand means Apple.com and Walmart.com and any other brand. Brandable means it could be a brand.

Brandable means it isn't a microniche website and could be transposed to another niche. So Apple.com is absolutely a brand. BestAppleComputers.com is NOT and neither is AppleComputers.

Grasshopper.com is brandable. UpperDeck.com is also brandable even though it could also transfer to a niche.

 

[slader23]

LOL! amazon is trademarked too. apple is trademarked too. moot.

Google is a made up word so you can't brand it at all after it has been trademarked, whereas generic words like apple or amazon are given service marks that restrict their uses to particular niches so they can be used by other businesses that are in different niches. You clearly don't know what your talking about.

 

[slader23]

Both yall need to stop caring about what people say on an internet message board

I don't care, I had fun :D

 

[lock]

I think JayT is pretty much on the mark but some of the argument is shakey as anything catchy including a generic word could be used. If i owned popcorn.com i probably wouldn't use it to sell popcorn but perhaps brand my own movie or TV channel with it. So generic words can qualify as brand names in many cases. Even typos can make good brands. There are some crap names being considered brands but as mentioned another persons trash is another's treasure.
I wouldn't think brand buckets exclusion list makes the ideal template for brands but it helps with their qualifying as they have so many submissions. I tend to stick with generic but think more along the lines of whether if non generic can it be used as a brand then keep qualifying. I could talk a lot about this but it isn't what i concentrate on myself as a buyer i will try instead to sell the brand name generic feeders. There is no real right and wrong just more formulas to what is being sold.

Many domain industry terms i would like to see work without spell check.
brandable domaining at least webmaster finally is not web and master.

 

[Lysted]

Brandable is something that you make out of a name and is associated with 'what you do'. E.g. You will find numerous businesses around word 'Delta' - can Delta airlines claim others cannot use it. Answer is No. Today also you can start a business under name 'Delta' and you will be fine. (unrelated business from existing ones, of course) . With a similar name, as long you do not encroach on someone else business or otherwise use their proprietary information, you are fine.

Brandable is something that you make of your business/service purely by virtue of what you do - and then you can give it any name. Having a 'brandable domain' does not give you that right (of brandability) by itself.

More appropriate term for 'brandable domain' is 'marketable name'

 

[bludex]

It's a brandable if the trait of distinguishment is different than an eventual generic attribution of meaning to a sign, in our case generally words left of the dot in a domain. In the end we are talking about suitiability of a word to be used to distinguish a business from it's competitors, which is not possible by using exact match descriptive terms of the business except when including the tld.

 

[JayT]

I think most people try to apply literal dictionary word of 'brand'. I don't think this can suit our purpose as domain classification, because anything can be made a brand. r2d2 could become a brand, if someone wanted (I know it's been used...) Tiger, beer, triceratops, hotels, gold, jade all these single words people are calling brandables. I do agree these single words could be 'branded' into something we wouldn't expect. I am arguing that with some finesse, someone can brand any word, even the ones you don't think is possible. This is why I am saying it's too subjective. I am saying that in this theory, every domain is a brandable, and it is useless to use the term then.

Single words are already strictly defined = they are generic. It is not like RedBlock (brandable domain), which isn't so exacting / meaningful without being explained / made.


In OP I said they were telling me goldchart is a brandable. I am saying not so. Just because a brand doesn't exist main-stream on this doesn't make it a brandable. GoldChart = a gold price chart...isn't it reasonable to suggest this is -best use- of this name?

Others are looking at a word and thinking of -anything- that COULD be applied to it in order to call it brandable. They told me goldchart can be (I quote) "charts for VIPs"...This is just such a stretch...isn't it?! To me goldchart is extremely generic. I wonder if I am the only person in the world that can tell the difference between domain like GoldChart (generic) and RedBlock (brandable)?...Yes these domain are extremely similar and I am trying to show the lines. Of course even on my method there is some 'subjective', 'opinion'...but way less than the other way around!

2 people said Google was a generic name on this thread...IMO, one of us are very, very wrong. I think Google is about as brandable as you can get!

 

[Joe N]

4.Google.com(derived from googles)

Google is actually a play on the word "googol" (1 followed by 100 zeroes).

 

[urlurl]

actual, Google is a misspelling of Googol... oops

Google; the name of the search engine originated from a misspelling of the word "googol", the number 1 followed by 100 zeros, which was picked to signify that the search engine was intended to provide large quantities of information.

 

[Rick Ace]

Technically, what's brandable for one audience isn't brandable for another. Brandability has a lot to do with region, target audience, and goals.

 

[Corey]

@JayT thank you for the example of PurpleKnife.com

Cheers
Corey

 

[JayT]

Brand-able:
Levels in terms of desirability, marketability and overall quality.
1. One word generic emd domains that have a high variability in terms of the different industries that can be marketed through the name. Category defining one word names do not fit into this. i.e Cigarettes.com or Blog.com vs Striker.com or Jade.com. These tend to be the most desirable names on the market.

Brand-ability of one word generics(out of 10)--> 8/10 to 10/10.

Price Range: XXX,XXX+

2. Two word generics, two word EMDs and 4L Pronouncables : Same rules as #1 apply except two word generics that are non-emd fit into this group like Bluenote.com or FastFunds.com and 4L pronounceable's like VIVO.com . The names with higher quality and marketability end up closer to the price range of group #1.

Brand-ability of two word generics and emds (out of 10)-->6/10 to 9/10

Price Range--> X,XXX to low XXX,XXX+

3. Made up words---> 4L,5L, 6L domains. For the most part the price level of these names are is in the low x,xxx range and I'd consider them as the lower end in terms of brand-ability.

Brandability of made up words 4L,5L, 6L (out of 10) 4/10 to 6/10

Price Range---> xxx to X,xxx+

Level 3 has the highest amount of inconsistency in price and brand-ability due to the incredible amount of divergence between names, it is the least liquid and represents the biggest investment risk, apart from the 4L.com market which has set price levels that fluctuate.


This is all my opinion and does not represent the beliefs of other domainers.

IMHO:
The amount of brand-ability correlates to the marketability of a name and the options it gives an end user to make a memorable impact in its target market. This is the reason why heavy price tags are given to names like insider.com or orchard.com because they are words that can be used in many different markets.

Would you remember Uber if it was Touxi? Probably not and being an affiliate taxi service that links people to willing drivers, having a memorable and simple name is key. The name Uber has meaning...it means an outstanding and or supreme example of a particular kind of person or thing so people can attach emotion to the word and that makes it memorable.

TBH I'm not sure why your making this such a difficult argument. Something being brandable means that the name has actionable desirability to an end user for the purposes of building a brand, nothing more nothing less. The more brand-able the name the more desirable it is to an end user. There is a hierarchy to brand-ables and your definition of brand-ables accounts for the lowest strata. If anything your definition denotes "lesser brandables".

Funny how you are saying JADE is not brandable now. In chat you are the exact one telling me that it would be a perfect HOTEL or AIRLINE company, don't you remember? So you're backing peddling? You say something so ridiculous in the first place to irritate me enough to create this thread, then have the audacity to come here and tell me that I was right after all. I think you're just trolling me!

Then listen to yourself..."Two word generics, two word EMDs (are brandable)" If these are brandable, what ISN't Brandable? You give an example like cigarretes, blog, etc...Well, your buddy thought that BEER was impossible to brand, but there happens to be a clothing company branding it. How far off are yours? All it takes is one clever person to use that word in a smart way, and it's a brandable! You have no definition, you are only going off what you personally think. When I say 1 word dictionary words are generic, and my exacting 2 word domains at least I can explain to someone in simple terms. I don't even have to give examples because I have a logical explanation. You are just describing some arbitrary emotions as a basis, which are all too subjective. You can't realize that under your definition (or lack of), that you are saying all domains are brandables?

You must have to include these super premium generics into your brandable genre in order to protect your investment. You want the the premiums to protect your fantasy domains by trying to make people think that your fake word and strings can't go down without words like uber, tiger or insider going down too . It won't be long before you see the error in your thought. - generic is the opposite to 'brandable', for our purpose, is it not? You are just bluntly saying generics are brandables...I don't get it.

 

[slader23]

Funny how you are saying JADE is not brandable now. In chat you are the exact one telling me that it would be a perfect HOTEL or AIRLINE company, don't you remember? So you're backing peddling? You say something so ridiculous in the first place to irritate me enough to create this thread, then have the audacity to come here and tell me that I was right after all. I think you're just trolling me!

Then listen to yourself..."Two word generics, two word EMDs (are brandable)" If these are brandable, what ISN't Brandable? You give an example like cigarretes, blog, etc...Well, your buddy thought that BEER was impossible to brand, but there happens to be a clothing company branding it. How far off are yours? All it takes is one clever person to use that word in a smart way, and it's a brandable! You have no definition, you are only going off what you personally think. When I say 1 word dictionary words are generic, and my exacting 2 word domains at least I can explain to someone in simple terms. I don't even have to give examples because I have a logical explanation. You are just describing some arbitrary emotions as a basis, which are all too subjective. You can't realize that under your definition (or lack of), that you are saying all domains are brandables?

You must be another of the many that are eyeball deep into made up 2-words. You must have to include these super premium generics into your brandable genre in order to protect your investment. You want the the premiums to protect your fantasy domains by trying to make people think that your fake word and strings can't go down without words like uber, tiger or insider going down too . It won't be long before you see the error in your thought.

What are you talking about? Just because I did not include Jade.com as an example does not mean I don't consider it as a brandable. Something is very wrong here. Your trying to convince yourself about something that is not reality. The reason why those super permiums are what they are is because they are one word brandable generic emd's. I'd call my company Jade over Bixo any day of the week because Jade is much more brandable.

I really think you've got a problem because everything you say is far from the reality of things. The only fantasy here is your incredibly unrealistic definition of the word brandable.


Go sort yourself out, your hurting your image.

FYI I CLEARLY stated that my intial response was imho. So the reality is your jumping to conclusions and have some kind of innate prejudice towards peoples opinions that are contrary to your own personal beliefs. If you can sort that out there is no point in creating debate threads because that defeats the purpose of having an open commentary. Cool off get your head out of the gutter and come back when you can make coherent conclusions and responses because at this point you sound like a madman.

 

[JayT]

What are you talking about? Just because I did not include Jade.com as an example does not mean I don't consider it as a brandable. Something is very wrong here...

What is wrong here, is that you are contradicting yourself at every turn, because you have no method.

Brand-able:
Levels in terms of desirability, marketability and overall quality.
1. One word generic emd domains that have a high variability in terms of the different industries that can be marketed through the name. Category defining one word names do not fit into this. i.e Cigarettes.com or Blog.com vs Striker.com or Jade.com.

Just another tail chaser.

Yes i see now... you just type VERY confusingly. You say under :brandable: your defintion, then you say what ISNT then you compare what is and what isn't..i would expecct it to be a straight forward defintion to what is brandable. not a confusing thing like you wrote.

 

[JayT]

Jade.com is not necessarily category defining. Neither is Platinum or Gold or Silver, they could all be used as Brandables because although they are physical things they are also colors. In the case of platinum the luxury aspect makes it brandable.

If you go to gold.com , what would you expect to see? What about silver.com? I honestly fully expect to see something about gold, or silver, the metals (by the way, you don't capitalize elements). Same as for cigarettes.com, and jade.com, both these I expect to see something related to the real meaning of the name. It can get a little tricky with something like mercury, that has one more than completely different meaning. These words are extremely rare, and the kind of domains you could use to put me in a trap! It's that blurry line. But still, single words are usually very generic and exacting.

When I see a domain like godaddy.com, vulpx.com, strengthfly.com, these are not definitive - they are brandable under my definition. I cannot be sure what I am dealing with just by looking at the name. I am making it simple, you are making it impossible.

Your definitions are not even definitive, which is why you need to give examples every time. Your saying it is totally subjective. Yes, I know language can 'flex' but we have definitions for words, guidelines.

 

[slader23]

If you go to gold.com , what would you expect to see? What about silver.com? I honestly fully expect to see something about gold, or silver, the metals (by the way, you don't capitalize elements). Same as for cigarettes.com, and jade.com, both these I expect to see something related to the real meaning of the name. When I see a domain like godaddy.com, vulpx.com, strengthfly.com, these are not definitive - they are brandable under my definition. I am making it simple, you are making it impossible.

Your definitions are not even definitive, which is why you need to give examples every time. Your saying it is totally subjective. Yes, I know language can 'flex' but we have definitions for words, guidelines.

A lot of things come into my mind when I think about gold, silver, Jade. You forget that many businesses have these words+ the function of their company at the end. These are all also last names and Jade is a first name. So stop trying to force yourself into pigeonholing the purpose of a name because generic brandables can be used in a number of different ways and marketed to ultimately any niche.

Gold Investments, Gold Law, Gold Grocer, Gold Toys, Gold Accounting, Gold Hotel, Gold anything can be simplified to gold.com and the same thing goes for Silver, Copper, Steel,Jade, Platinum. There is no unilateral approach to viewing these words and their purpose AS DOMAINS and that is what makes them powerful brands because whoever can market them as theirs will establish a synonymous online presence with words that have global reach.

Brandables are not something you can peg with an absolute definition because everyone sees them differently its a broad based term and in case you haven't noticed, everyone has their own opinion on them, some more plausible than others.

You won't find your answer here because no real answer exists for such a broadly based term and trying to force others into believing your definition won't help you or anyone reading this chat since its just not something people agree with.

Your constantly looking for people to reaffirm what you believe and that isn't happening, so I think its best to stop and close the thread....

 

[JayT]

@slader23
Gold Investments, Gold Law, Gold Grocer, Gold Toys, Gold Accounting, Gold Hotel, is not GOLD. you are using in a completely new context. You are turning gold from a NOUN to a 'supporting word' - gold alone is a NOUN, you are turning it from a noun, making it to augment a more prominate subject. By thinking like this, you can turn ANY WORD into a brand.
We were not talking about goldlaw.com or goldaccounting.com. We were talking GOLD.COM, they are totally different things.

CANDY CIGARETTE (to use your example) changes the perspective. ANY WORD can be TWISTED into a brand! Beer was turned into a clothing brand!! What are you not understanding? Under your (non-existant) definition, all words can be a brand. so what ISN'T brandable? It's just a matter of someone DOING IT.

 

[JayT]

Dude, have you ever heard of people using "brand"? Brand means Apple.com and Walmart.com and any other brand. Brandable means it could be a brand.

Brandable means it isn't a microniche website and could be transposed to another niche. So Apple.com is absolutely a brand. BestAppleComputers.com is NOT and neither is AppleComputers.

Grasshopper.com is brandable. UpperDeck.com is also brandable even though it could also transfer to a niche.

It's easy to say what is a brand, especially when they are existing. Apple is a generic word, it's real meaning is manupliated by 'branding' to associate with computers. THE WORD ITSELF is generic!
funapple.com isn't generic..it's a 'brandable'.

If i made a skateboard company and name it "Apple skateboards", it isn't not very weird. Because apple is generic.

What if I make "Walmart skateboards"? It sounds so dumb because walmart is a brandable from the beginning. Do you all not see the difference, still?

 

[slader23]

@slader23
Gold Investments, Gold Law, Gold Grocer, Gold Toys, Gold Accounting, Gold Hotel, is not GOLD. you are using in a completely new context. You are turning gold from a NOUN to a 'supporting word' - gold alone is a NOUN, you are turning it from a noun, making it to augment a more prominate subject. By thinking like this, you can turn ANY WORD into a brand.

CANDY CIGARETTE (to use your example) changes the perspective. ANY WORD can be TWISTED into a brand! Beer was turned into a clothing brand!! What are you not understanding? Under your (non-existant) definition, all words can be a brand. so what ISN'T brandable? It's just a matter of someone DOING IT.

Just give up already bro. Of course none of those are gold but they use the word as a descriptive word coupled with their business function and I made myself clear on that. The brandability of the word gold is desirable to companies that use the word as a descriptor and simplifying an already existing business domain like GoldInvestments.com or GoldHotel.com to Gold.com is an attractive and competitive option to those who can afford it.

Amazon.com is not AMAZON nor does its business function have anything to do with the Amazon, but that word has become synonymous to the notion of an online marketplace and has become more popular than the Amazon itself and that is the true power of a brandable domain. Stop trying to argue semantics that aren't even valid within the context of this debate, your just digging yourself a deeper hole.

 

[JayT]

Just give up already bro. Of course none of those are gold but they use the word as a descriptive word coupled with their business function and I was made myself clear on that. The brandability of the word gold is desirable to companies that use the word as a descriptor and simplifying an already existing business domain like GoldInvestments.com or GoldHotel.com to Gold.com is an attractive and competitive option to those who can afford it.

Amazon.com is not AMAZON nor does its business function have anything to do with the Amazon, but that word has become synonymous to its brand more so now than even the Amazon itself and that is the true power of a brandable domain. Stop trying to argue semantics that aren't even valid within the context of this debate, your just digging yourself a deeper hole.

@slader23 you saying "Just give up already bro." - I don't appreciate this. You are being extremely rude.

Same as above: If I start a company named "amazon animal shelter", how strange is it? NOT very strange because AMAZON is a generic word!

What If i name it "google animal shelter"? it's so stupid, because at the root, google is already a brandable.

 

[slader23]

Same as above: If I start a company named "amazon animal shelter", how strange is it? NOT very strange because AMAZON is a generic word!

What If i name it "google animal shelter"? it's so stupid, because at the root, google is already a brandable.

Google is TMd, so thats a bad example. Its not a brandable its branded.

 

[JayT]

Google is TMd, so thats a bad example. Its not a brandable its branded.

LOL! amazon is trademarked too. apple is trademarked too. moot. I can't believe you literally just said "google is not a brandable" WHY not? Because it's already done? Flawed thinking.

 

[JayT]

@slader23 I understand the legality of it. It is irrelevant. The point is that a 'Brandable' is meaningless / SILLY without an idea behind it. If I were try to 'steal' this brandable and apply it to something else it is ridiculous. This is because a brandable is "made up". "google" IS branded, but it's a brandable domain, you are just using tenses. You're really reaching there.

It should be obvious that Apple, amazon (generics), and any other single word is nothing like a 'brandable'.

You are avoiding the topic with irreverent things that we all probably already know. You are forcing me to explain it to you as if you were a kindergartner otherwise we are off on your tangents in order to steer clear of the issue. Clear signs I see.

Are we really expected to consider weather a domain is trademarked or not means if it's a brandable now too? Is this part of your equation?