.CO Garners More Hype, Plus One Unexpected Spokesperson

Since it first became open to public registrations on the second level last summer, the Colombian ccTLD .CO has garnered a good deal of attention.  Some have speculated that it will become a viable alternative to .COM, whereas others have written it off as a gimmick.  In a recent New York Times article that explored how different ccTLDs are used by commercial entities, FairWinds’ Managing Partner Josh Bourne offered his opinion on the .CO issue: “As long as it doesn’t become well known that it’s just a bastardization of the country code for Colombia, it could take off,” he stated.

One entity that has been touting the virtues of .CO is domain name registrar Go Daddy, which offers registration services for .CO domains.  The company, known for featuring attractive spokeswomen in its commercials, even decided to introduce a new “.CO girl” to promote the extension.  In the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl this weekend, the company produced a series of ads to generate buzz about who this new mystery woman would be.  And in the ad that ran during the Super Bowl, Go Daddy finally revealed her identity:

The new .CO girl is…Joan Rivers?  Or at least, Rivers’ head digitally transposed on another woman’s body?  I’ll be honest, I don’t think I want to go to GoDaddy.co to find out more.  The commercial was weird enough for me on its own.

This kind of stunt, in my opinion, definitely points more toward gimmick than legitimate.  This sentiment is echoed in a recent Fortune article, which points out that, as we’ve seen at FairWinds, the majority of registrations in .CO thus far have been defensive.

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