Network Solutions Decides To Obscure Common Words, Just To Get Some Trademarks?
from the this-is-no-longer-a-blog,-it's-an-nsSpaceLog dept
johnjac points us to a nice little rant from John Graham-Comming about how Network Solutions has obfuscated the common (and easily understood) names of a bunch of its basic services. So, "Domains" has become "nsWebAddress," "web site" has become "nsSpace" and "SSL Certificates" becomes "nsProtect." Why? Well, the speculation in the comments is that this is all for trademarking purposes -- as each of those new terms is accompanied by the old (TM) mark. But, of course, it just makes things that much more confusing for users. Once again, this idea that "more patents/copyrights/trademarks must be a good thing" is put to the test...Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: trademarks
Companies: network solutions
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. . . btw, who is the idiot who thought this was a good idea.
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Even weirder, it *looks* like Macintosh (Nextstep) system calls.
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They are doing what companies have done for probably a century or more: Move from a generic term "hosting" and create a branded product "nsspace" and go from there. It isn't an attempt to trademark anything anyone else was using, they are just moving to get a branded product out there for something more people consider generic.
It's actually very good marketing.
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I'll repeat... Le Big Mac? What on earth is that?
Again, although a little annoying, there's not too much confusing about nsEmail; nsMarketing; nsWebAddress; nsHosting; nsSpace (which is not hosting but rather storage) and so on... I'm in a pretty big hurry and not confused.
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Meh. I'm not in an nsHurry, and it's needlessly nsConfusing.
nsMorons
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Marketing strategy aside, do you think the new names will actually create more customers as a result & would you bet a years salary on that?
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Honestly, it's hard to see how, but companies spend tons on this each year so it must be working, right?
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It's actually very bad marketing...
nsSpace™ - Sounds like a government agency
nsProtect™ - Sounds like a contraceptive or maybe a brand of bank safe
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How is this bad?
Sure the names may be a little annoying, but it's what successful companies do. Even heard of the Big Mac? (Mike, do I need a license to say that?)
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Re: How is this bad?
See, this is the problem. You're explaining to people who think your marketing sucks why it doesn't?
The problem isn't them, it's your marketing. Pretty much by definition.
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I'd actually argue the opposite.
Sure the names may be a little annoying, but it's what successful companies do. Even heard of the Big Mac? (Mike, do I need a license to say that?)
You are confusing "branding anything" with "smart branding." Understand that difference and you understand everything.
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Re: Re: How is this bad?
Obviously there is good and bad branding. I just don't think Netsol's branding was a bad move. It's opinion, but I am somewhat educated in the matter, as I'm sure ChurchHatesTucker and Mike are...
Reasons:
The new logo and brand are pretty slick visually.
"Prefix" branding has proven pretty successful on the interweb. Examples: MS Word, MS Excel, iPhone, iThis, iThat, etc... So this could be a move to establish a household identity for the prefix "ns".
It also gives Netsol the choice to use the prefix when unique matters. For example in domain names (ironically). Much like how movies add "themovie" to a domain name to ensure its availability.
Anywho, I'm not trying to say that Netsol revolutionized anything, but I think the change was a positive.
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Sometimes, the perception of extreme bias you create around copyright and trademark undermines the thoughtful, intelligent *important* stuff that you often share with us.
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what if
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nsDNShijacking
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