Germans know better: BMW won't spend a euro on a 4-letter .com
A lot of speculation over the so-called LLLL.com domains has come in full cycle.
During the past couple of years, the next alternative up from 3-letter .com domains has seen some great sales, followed by some hard falling of prices.
While sales vary depending on letter quality, some holders of 4-letter .com domains still keep their head in the clouds, demanding pre-2008 prices.
The answer comes in the peculiar form of dashed domains and one such great example is the web site BMW-i.com which contains impressive video about the new cutting edge, electricity-powered automotive technologies employed by BMW.
Normally one would think that the almighty BMW, one of the world’s greatest automakers would chase after the 4-letter .com domain, BMWI.com – which appears to be used as a placeholder for some obscure Asian company by the name of “Business Model World Infrastructure“.
Yeah right. 😉
By launching BMW-i.com the German automaker proves one more time that when marketing a new campaign the medium is not as important as being able to get the message through to the masses. If a 4-letter .com domain is taken, the added dash will ensure an instant product launch without investing a large budget in order to acquire the domain.
A domain name with four letters and a dash is perceived by domainers to be a low caliber entity. Rick Schwartz would have called it “pigeonsh*t” but BMW says it’s “wunderbar” 😀
One key piece of info missing. In Germany the dash is considered the norm and in some cases preferred.
Shane – maybe it’s common with two word or longer compounds but definitely rare when 4 letters are involved.
You see, the Germans love dashes in everything. They love to drink their beer with a dash of their finger stikin in their nose.
Even to pronounce their long last names, they need dashes—Frank-ker-bauer