Fresh TLD consultantant: the registrar is not your sole channel

Architelos launches fresh TLD marketing service.

In the past, domain registries generally have looked at their client at the registrar, e.g. GoDaddy.com. They’ve been careful not to blur the lines as the registrar owns the actual domain registrant relationship, not the registry.

Will this continue when hundreds of fresh top level domains are released in coming years?

Fresh top level domain consulting firm Architelos doesn’t think so. It just launched a fresh TLD marketing service called Velocity, which it states will help registries go direct to the registrant.

If you can get past Architelos’ slew of marketing jargon and buzzwords in its product overview, it seems that basically the marketing service is to drive demand at the registrant level. (I’ve reached out to Architelos for clarification. Update: I receive clarification that the service is to help registries drive registrations directly with a registry related registrar, allowing them to own the entire client relationship.)

We’ve seen this approach with recent fresh top level domain launches. It’s been somewhat of a hybrid. Consider .co, which has both gone to the typical channel for shelf space as well as marketed and interacted directly with registrants. Neustar has also (belatedly) done this with .us.

With vertical integration, in which a registry and registrar can be owned by the same firm, the game may change further.