NIC Pages Show Global Companies Accelerating .brands

The Cartier panther has a new perch. For over 100 years this elegant beast–a symbol of the French jeweler’s passion and creativity—has graced watches, rings, you name it. Now it sits regally atop the organization’s first foray into the .brand world, hosted at the web address www.nic.cartier. 

For many, the concept of a www.nic.brand page is a strange one. We can understand the reaction. NIC refers to Network Information Centre, an element of the domain name industry from yesteryear that has somehow made its way into the new TLD program. The NIC page of a TLD shows its policies and key contacts in the case of emergency. It’s a web page all new TLD owners are required to have ready before being “delegated,” or introduced to the Internet’s database known as the Root Zone. 

Most NIC pages aren’t as beautifully branded as Cartier’s, but a growing number are showing global companies forging ahead in innovating with their .brand TLD. Check out the highly entertaining www.nic.fox, www.nic.hermes, www.nic.microsoft, www.nic.mini, www.nic.infiniti, and www.nic.canon to name just a few examples from some of the world’s best-known brands. 

On www.nic.marriott, the hotel chain speaks of “a journey beyond .com.” It adds: “Marriott is helping to pioneer how businesses use this new type of Top-Level Domain as an opportunity to evolve, innovate and simplify your online journeys. In the future, when you visit a .marriott website, you’ll have even more assurance that it’s from a trusted Marriott affiliation.”

This is a great example on how some forward-thinking brands are transforming the potentially boring NIC page into a fantastic communications tool to slowly educate their internal and external stakeholders. 

GoDaddy acquired Neustar's registry business as of August 3, 2020.