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Ask HN: Rebranding decision

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Ask HN: Rebranding decision

#1

Post by feisty »

Hello,

I'm an avid reader of HN so I think this is the right place to get some advice on what to do next, as I'm facing a little problem with a rebranding decision.

I operate a web development agency and want to move our current portofolio and services under a new brand.

Which one do you think I should use: ten.tld or digitalmedia.tld

I thought digitalmedia would be the best and most obvious choice for this business sector. This until I polled some of my current customers and quite a bunch told me that they like more the ten brand.

So please give me your opinion - what would you do?

Thank you, I really appreciate it.

Re: Ask HN: Rebranding decision

#2

Post by mseebach »

First, an important question: why do you want to change your brand? What's not communicated properly?

A three-letter domain is quite rare these days, and that could give you some distinction. Also, digital media is quite bland, and that puts some pressure on the execution to make you stand out. On the other hand, you'll need some kind of story to put behind "ten" to make it memorable, IMHO.

In conclusion, it's all about execution :)

Re: Ask HN: Rebranding decision

#3

Post by hga »

mseebach wrote: post #2

First, an important question: why do you want to change your brand? What's not communicated properly? A three-letter domain is quite rare these days, and that could give you some distinction. Also, digital media is quite bland, and that puts some pressure on the execution to make you stand out. On the other hand, you'll need some kind of story to put behind "ten" to make it memorable, IMHO. In conclusion, it's all ab…

Agreed with all of the above. You could make something out of ten.tld, but digitalmedia.tld is so utterly bland, generic and overused it would automatically mark you in my mind as being not very imaginative.

Re: Ask HN: Rebranding decision

#4

Post by Mz »

If those are the only two options on the table, I would go with ten.tld and do a promotional campaign around the idea of it being "A perfect ten" (on a scale of one to ten) kind of thing. Of course, you haven't said what you are doing currently, why you are wanting to rebrand...etc. So please realize that answer is probably only as good as the data it is based on, which is not much.

Re: Ask HN: Rebranding decision

#5

Post by feisty »

mseebach wrote: post #2

First, an important question: why do you want to change your brand? What's not communicated properly? A three-letter domain is quite rare these days, and that could give you some distinction. Also, digital media is quite bland, and that puts some pressure on the execution to make you stand out. On the other hand, you'll need some kind of story to put behind "ten" to make it memorable, IMHO. In conclusion, it's all ab…

I'm currently using ten.tld as my company name and domain. Recently I've secured digitalmedia.tld and thought that its straight-forward self-explanatory nature would give a boost to my business. Thank you for your input, it's a valuable lesson.

Re: Ask HN: Rebranding decision

#6

Post by feisty »

Mz wrote: post #4

If those are the only two options on the table, I would go with ten.tld and do a promotional campaign around the idea of it being "A perfect ten" (on a scale of one to ten) kind of thing. Of course, you haven't said what you are doing currently, why you are wanting to rebrand...etc. So please realize that answer is probably only as good as the data it is based on, which is not much.

I'm already using ten.tld as my company name and domain. I've got digitalmedia.tld and thought that its straight-forward self-explanatory nature would be better than ten.tld - when communicating over the phone with potential customers some of them are misspelling ten (tem, tel).

I like the "a perfect ten" idea. It's catchy :)

Re: Ask HN: Rebranding decision

#7

Post by mschaecher »

feisty wrote: post #5
mseebach wrote: post #2

First, an important question: why do you want to change your brand? What's not communicated properly? A three-letter domain is quite rare these days, and that could give you some distinction. Also, digital media is quite bland, and that puts some pressure on the execution to make you stand out. On the other hand, you'll need some kind of story to put behind "ten" to make it memorable, IMHO. In conclusion, it's all ab…

I'm currently using ten.tld as my company name and domain. Recently I've secured digitalmedia.tld and thought that its straight-forward self-explanatory nature would give a boost to my business. Thank you for your input, it's a valuable lesson.

What if Apple had called the iPod the 'Apple MP3 Player'? via Evan Williams http://evhead.com/2007/03/brandonomics.asp

Re: Ask HN: Rebranding decision

#8

Post by mseebach »

feisty wrote: post #5
mseebach wrote: post #2

First, an important question: why do you want to change your brand? What's not communicated properly? A three-letter domain is quite rare these days, and that could give you some distinction. Also, digital media is quite bland, and that puts some pressure on the execution to make you stand out. On the other hand, you'll need some kind of story to put behind "ten" to make it memorable, IMHO. In conclusion, it's all ab…

I'm currently using ten.tld as my company name and domain. Recently I've secured digitalmedia.tld and thought that its straight-forward self-explanatory nature would give a boost to my business. Thank you for your input, it's a valuable lesson.

> Thank you for your input, it's a valuable lesson.

I'm glad you appreciate my input, but please don't confuse my gut-feeling with an actual lesson from someone who knows something about this :)

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