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Month: December 2007

Roundup: Holiday eCards and Virals, Part 1

Published December 17, 2007

Cartoon_santa
Chestnuts roasting on the open fire … eCards filling your cluttered inbox.  Facebook apps make your profile all aglow … Merry Christmas to you (apologies to Mel Tormé and Robert Wells).
Yup, it’s that time of year, when clients and agencies alike show off their creative chops and sometimes cheeky spirit with fun holiday messages.  Sometimes it’s an eCard, sometimes it’s a video, sometimes it’s a cool website … but the best Christmas gift would be it going viral.
We take a look at some of the promotions that we’ve been sent this year or discovered.  Part of what is interesting to me about these is how they came to my attention … only a few came through email, several came through Facebook or other social networking links.

Virgin Mobile Canada’s Go Jesus
Funky video from Virgin Mobile Canada showing how things *could* have gone down on Christmas Eve. 

I think it’s pretty funny and definitely fits in with Virgin’s brand.  Feels like it goes on a smidge too long .. but if you’re into this kind of dancing and music, you probably won’t notice.  This was sent to me directly via email.

Continue readingRoundup: Holiday eCards and Virals, Part 1
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Drunken Sailors on a Deadline: How Not to Buy a Domain Name

Published December 17, 2007

One of the most interesting things I get to do in my role as General Manager, Domain Portfolio at Tucows is manage the sale of domain names that we own to third party buyers. Since joining the company, my team and I have dealt with countless inquiries from prospective domain name buyers looking to acquire a domain name from our portfolio. I’ve seen all sorts of approaches taken, some good, some not so good, and I wanted to share with you the story of one sale that we made because it’s a textbook case of how NOT to buy a domain name.

One morning, we received an "urgent" email and series of phone calls from an agency wanting to purchase a particular domain name.

That was their first mistake.

They explained that they were looking to acquire this domain name on behalf of one of their clients and that they needed to close the deal with us by the end of the day. Apparently, they had shortlisted several different domain names for this client and urgently needed to be able to tell their client that same evening that they’d secured one of the domain names.

That was their second mistake.

When it came time for me to negotiate the price of the domain name with the agency, it quickly became apparent to me that I was dealing with people who were spending money that wasn’t their own and – worse – could care less. Technically, of course, this was correct – the agency was buying the domain name on behalf of their client – but they obviously didn’t care how much their client would have to pay for the domain name as long as it was within a loosely defined range.

That was their third, and biggest, mistake.

Continue readingDrunken Sailors on a Deadline: How Not to Buy a Domain Name
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