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American Companies Remove 'dot.com' from Nomenclature Evening Standard London, Nov 01 2000 By John Sterlicchi, Evening Standard, London Nov. 1--American companies are rushing to remove the dot com from their corporate names. Companies such as ClubTools, Lifeminders, Infospace and Preference Technologies have all dropped the suffix from their names. Here is one good reason: Elizabeth Goodgold, chief executive of The Nuancing Group, a brand-consulting firm in San Diego, explains: "If your business exists only as a dot com, it is already generic. In a country infatuated with brand names, a generic name is the kiss of death.'' Also to be avoided at all costs, says Goodgold, are opia, net and planet. Research shows there are 1600 dotcoms ending in opia, 6000 with the word net and 15,000 that use the word planet. Another reason is dot com is passe. "Dot coms were the craze in 1996 when we started out,'' says Steven Hamerslag, chief executive of J2 Global Communications, which changed its name from Jfax.com. Matt Yosca, operations manager at ClubTools, which dropped the dot com, says: "It removes the stigma. I would tell people where I worked, and once they heard dot com, they would roll their eyes as if to say "how 1999'. Without the dot com, they find my company more interesting." |
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