Whois Your GoDaddy?
October 22nd, 2008 by GCI Canada StaffI’ve been meaning to blog on this subject since “Joe the Plumber” found fame and — once the sponsorship deals come in — possible fortune. The AdAge article prompted me.
Seems like Nick Ragone is a smart guy. After John McCain mentioned Joe the Plumber for the fifth time in the latest TV presidential debate, he was communicating with his team the best way to use that instant buzz phrase to the best advantage of one of his clients. (I’m also sure he checked out this and this too, but alas, already taken in 2007. Good for that plumber’s page views, and probable spike in business.)
The PR manager for Ragone’s client ultimately turned down the suggested strategy, which I think was a smart move. He said: “As soon as that thing hit, we got media requests from around the country to see if there was a Joe the Plumber in their town. I got media requests from New York, Seattle, Denver and Hawaii.” The plumbing industry was hot for a brief while, and how many times can you say that? It was the fallout from a very prominent figure, mentioning the name of someone who could be one of us regular Joes [the Plumber].
I’m all over keeping an eye on what’s hot and trying to get some mileage out of it, but will anyone remember Joe the Plumber in a few months, or even do a search for it? Doubtful.
And even if a client does want to jump in, they have to move fast to greenlight it with their PR reps, or, allow them to act on their behalf and trust their insight and initiative. Be the heroes or the zeros.
It’s probably more lucrative in the long run (and, social analysts, correct me if this is totally wrong) to keep an eye on the media, try to see what’s coming down the line, and then do some speculation on potential desirable URLs. It’s worth a gamble of around $20 on GoDaddy [no affiliation] and I’ve banked a few myself that I won’t mention here for obvious reasons.
So, if you decide to snap up a few, here’s a very handy tool that claims to be the fastest domain-checker out there: domize.com/
~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada