Generics for branding, are they ok?

Am I idiot ... or are they?

[fischermx]

More often than not, I'm seeing people announcing sales of generic words domains with the phrase "ideal for branding", "ready for branding".
How can, for example, wines dot come be good for branding? Or dogs dot com? and so on.
Isn't the opposite?
I mean, ideal for brandings are made up domains!
Or at least domains compouned of two words that together sounds cool.

I'd like to hear any opinion, even if you think I landed on the wrong planet.

[Webwork]

Branding? Generic domains? Eh . . . maybe not quite.

Branding covers a multitude of issues - including consumer experience and consumer expectation. Therefore, the process of "branding" a generic domain would likely be the same as branding a unique domain.

Generic domain have qualities associated with branding, that are not branding per se:

Familiarity: Generic domains are familiar words or phrases, ones that are likely "already in memory".

Association: Generic domains have built in associations.

There's likely other examples of how generic domains have certain "built in" qualities that may - to a degree - overlap with those qualities or outcomes one seeking to build a brand would desire. Still, you can have a great domain name that is generic and not really "have a brand".

The classic example of a great domain in search of being an equally great brand is Business.com. Some domains may simply be too broad for their own good and some domain development efforts may not be up to the calibre of the domain itself. Business.com received $10 million+ in free promotion when the deal for the domain name was announced. Sadly, that buzz was wasted due to the ho-hum "we're some day going to be great" website. Better they should have spend $5 million in building up the website's content before announcing the domain deal.

Money.com is an example of a generic domain that is associated with a website that is up to the calibre of the domain. Money.com is basically the web address for a magazine that is a widely read resource for consumption by beginner to intermediate level investors, meaning about 97.5%+ of the population.

<MODERATOR'S NOTE: Please don't take license from the fact that I've mentioned Money.com and Business.com to begin posting other URLs. Unless any additional examples are of "like kind", that is, they are examples of other world class successes . . . or "miserable failures" . . please don't keep adding to the list.)

[edited by: Webwork at 1:21 am (utc) on Aug. 18, 2006]

[fischermx]

Totally agree about your examples, they are great domains.

But, in my case, for example, goodbye dot com, what about branding in that case?
Yes, it is a generic name.
Yes, it is an easy to remember phrase.
But, what happens, you go to your browser, type in goodbye dot com, then you read it again "g o o d b y e".
So, you read "goodbye?", "ok, goodbye!, chiao" and close the browser.
:)