Put your brand name to the right of the dot
By registering your dot brand, you’re redefining your online brand experience, with the potential to create stronger brand recognition and affinity, lead consumer engagement and offer the most trusted digital spaces for your customers.
Your dot brand journey starts with Nominet and Com Laude
Nominet and Com Laude are your trusted partners in maximising the benefits of a dot brand. We’ve been supporting major brands in the domain name space for decades. Our partnership stands unrivalled in both the experience and knowledge needed to navigate registering and activating your dot brand.
- Com Laude provide tailored support for your team throughout the ICANN application process. As the most successful consultant for dot brand applications, they understand the unique benefits of a dot brand for your business.
- Nominet runs one of the largest and most secure registries – officially designated as part of the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure, powered by a globally diverse anycast network, and trusted by some of the world’s biggest brands.
Explore the benefits of a dot brand
Future-proof your brand strategy through innovation, accessibility, and trust
In a confused online world, your dot brand is a bold statement – a beacon of security and authenticity. It opens creative new possibilities for your brand, and gives you freedom to curate unique experiences that foster deep, loyal customer relationships.
Build a trusted space that protects your customers and brand
Putting your name to the right of the dot makes your brand communications and URLs impossible to mimic. That protects your reputation and IP from fraud and abuse – while for consumers it’s a clear signpost to authentic products and content.
Outmanoeuvre the competition and seize opportunities with agility and pace
Nobody can predict the future; that’s why your strategy needs agility and responsiveness built in. Your dot brand gives you freedom from red tape – spin up domains quickly, knowing the name is always available, and get to market faster.
Set new standards for customer engagement with a streamlined individual experience
Your dot brand gives you a unique opportunity to completely reimagine your customer journey. Where consumers crave simplicity and recognition, you can stand out by offering an effortless experience – uniting online and offline – that’s beautifully tailored to their needs.
Explore a wealth of registry data – and understand your customer in unparalleled depth
When you see every step of your customer’s journey, it gives you power to enrich their brand experience. Only a dot brand reveals this end-to-end, registry-wide perspective – so you can design your strategy to seize opportunities and satisfy unmet needs.
Stake your claim. Own your brand. And stay one step ahead of your competitors.
Book your exploratory call
Not ready yet? Why not build a case pack?
Whether you need to find out more specific details, or put together a case pack, we have a library of helpful resources. If you need a bit more help, get in touch.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Top-Level Domain (TLD) is the portion of a domain name that is to the “right of the dot” in your website or email address. For example, .UK .ORG, and .COM.
A dot brand is a type of TLD where your company’s brand name appears to the right of the dot. For example, .KPMG instead of .COM. By owning a dot brand, your organisation controls an entire branded corner of the internet, where you can easily add more domain names to the left of the dot and have complete flexibility over all of them.
There are a number of different types of TLD available including:
- Dot brand: where brands own their own TLD, e.g. .BENTLEY, .BBC, .BRADESCO , .GUCCI, .BARCLAYS
- Country Code (ccTLDs): are two-letter TLDs that are reserved for countries e.g .UK for the United Kingdom, .CN for China, and .FR for France
- Generic (gTLDs:) are three or more character dictionary words that can be used to the right of the dot e.g. .JOBS, .REALESTATE and .CLUB.
There are many benefits to having your own dot brand, including branding and marketing advantages, as well as added security which stems from the total control a dot brand provides. Find out about the benefits on our Dot Brands Explained page.
Currently, over 500 brands own their dot brand TLD, including Google, HSBC, Audi, AWS and Canon. Read more on how leading organisations use their dot brand on our Use Case page.
ICANN oversees the dot brand application and evaluation process. Applications are evaluated on your organisation’s financial and technical plans for operating the dot brand and scored against a set of criteria. The application process is complicated, but our team of experts who have successfully completed over 100 applications can guide you through the entire process.
The last opportunity to apply for a dot brand occurred in 2012. There has not been a further chance since then, but the authority for the Domain Name System (DNS) – the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – is planning to open another application round soon.
Although no specific date has been set yet, we expect the next application round will commence in 2024/25. We suggest any potential applicants begin planning in 2022 so they have sufficient runway to understand and prepare their application.
A cost recovery model is used to calculate the application fee. The Operational Design Assessment (ODA) provided in December 2023 provided two scenarios on the estimated timing and costs of either $240,600 or $270,000 (the 2012 fee of $185,000). In both scenarios, a cost recovery model is used to calculate the application fee based on a volume of 2,000 applications. Beyond the application fees, there are annual fees payable to ICANN and potentially other vendors if your organisation decides to outsource the operational aspects of running your dot brand.
Whether you’re exploring how a dot brand can benefit your organisation or ready to begin the process, our team of experts can walk you through the application steps, what you need to plan for and when, and address any questions you may have. Com Laude handled the applications for over 100 dot brands in 2012 and continue to work with a large range of organisations on the daily operation of their dot brands.
When you own a dot brand TLD, your organisation becomes known as a Registry Operator. Registry Operators are responsible for creating domain names that appear to the left of the dot and for setting the rules for domain names within the TLD.
A Registry Service Provider (RSP) is an operator that helps dot brand owners manage their TLDs. They offer the robust infrastructure necessary to make sure your TLD stays online.
When applying for a new TLD, it is essential to appoint an RSP, like Nominet, who provide registry services to existing and new dot brands. Nominet is an experienced RSP and has run registry and authoritative DNS operations for the .UK domain Family since 1996.
No, this is not possible as ICANN does not accept reservations or pre-registrations.