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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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