.Sony domain name instead of .Com for microsite — Sony uses

Firm puts .brand to work.

The prior week I wrote regarding the .Brand challenge to .Com, and how it doesn’t come in the form of big firms giving up their .com domains. For example, Sony is never going to let Sony.com expire.

Instead, challenge is the thousands of additional domain names firms register to promote contest, microsites, etc. Which is why a site recently launched by Sony is noteworthy.

To promote some of its technology in the fresh Bond film Spectre, the firm set up a site at AssistMoneyPenny.sony.

This isn’t a case of the .com being taken and a firm going with an alternative, either. Sony went ahead and registered the matching .com, perhaps in a nod to possible confusion. At the same time, AssistMoneyPenny.com doesn’t resolve. [Update: The domain name was forwarding to the .sony website, but without www. at the beginning. The way the .sony website was set up, this didn’t resolve.]

If I were Sony, I’d have the .com domain name forward to the .sony domain name and track how often people type in the .com. This would give the firm a better idea of possible confusion. If there is little, then the firm might not bother registering matching .com domain names in the future.