A country code top-level-domains (ccTLD) has traditionally been used to signify a country-specific web site or resource, or simply to tell users where a given organization is located. For example, Russia’s leading search engine, Yandex, is hosted at www.yandex.ru and The Holy See hosts its site at www.vatican.va (.va = Vatican City).
Then along came the the marketing of .TV.
This ccTLD, owned by the island nation of Tuvalu, was licensed and packaged as the ultimate domain for any media property. And though the domain hasn’t exactly become as popular as .COM, a precedent had been set — ccTLDs weren’t just for country-specific properties anymore.
Then along came Delicio.us, a company that cleverly embedded the United States ccTLD into its brand name.
First ccTLD were freed from their borders. Then they found themselves melded into brand names.
And here we are today, with a growing number of companies that have registered country code top-level-domains (ccTLDs) not as appendages to their brand names, but part of their brand names. By my count, more than a dozen ccTLDs are now used as parts of corporate brand names.
This list of companies and the countries they have registered their domains in is not exhaustive, but it’s a start:
- Bit.ly (Libya)
- Delicio.us (USA)
- drop.io (British Indian Ocean Territory)
- fav.or.it (Italy)
- good.is (Iceland)
- imo.im (Isle of Man)
- j.mp (Northern Mariana Islands)
- Kissa.be (Belgium)
- Knx.to (Tonga)
- look.fo (Faroe Islands)
- Mag.ma (Morocco)
- MyID.is (Iceland)
- notify.me (Montenegro)
- Outside.in (India)
- Bit.ly (Libya)
- Ow.ly (Libya)
- Page.ly (Libya)
- Pdk.to (Tonga)
- Pi.pe (Peru)
- Rafi.ki (Kiribati)
- Short.LA (Laos)
- Su.pr (Puerto Rico)
- Tr.im (Isle of Man)
- wp.me (Montenegro)
Have any to add to the list? Please comment below…
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8 responses so far ↓
1 Neville Hobson // Aug 16, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Matt Mullenweg (founder of WordPress) has a unique address: Ma.tt. It’s Trinidad and Tobago.
2 John Yunker // Aug 16, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Thanks Neville. I’ll have to add a new personal ccTLD list. Speaking of which, I’ll see if Honduras is selling their domain externally. Perhaps I’ll see if Jo.hn is available…
3 Gunnar Bittersmann // Aug 17, 2009 at 6:54 pm
There was RapidRabb.it (now renamed, but old domain name still works).
4 WordPress launches wp.me | Global by Design // Aug 27, 2009 at 2:21 am
[...] PS: I’ve created a new post dedicated to the ever-growing list of “countryless ccTDLs.” [...]
5 Neij // Aug 27, 2009 at 7:42 am
Isn’t .ly (as in bit.ly and ow.ly) Libya rather than Liberia?
6 John Yunker // Aug 27, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Yes! Thank you for catching that. I’ll update the post.
7 Bit.ly is leaving Libya for the islands | Global by Design // Sep 10, 2009 at 2:29 pm
[...] I added J.mp to a growing list of these branded country code [...]
8 Timo Reitnauer // Nov 14, 2009 at 1:44 am
You could also add the Austrian ccTLD .AT to the list.
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