In case some of you hadn’t heard, the domain that holds the plural form of our mascot’s name, sundevils.com, actually redirects to the University of Arizona’s official online store. I have no idea who from the UofA was the founder of this idea, but I for one am very disappointed in ASU for dropping the ball on this.
It’s sad that our “New American University” doesn’t have officials that are aware enough to be concerned about brand ownership. The internet isn’t really a “new” thing I have to think. Almost everything is online now. The .com era is long come and gone. Companies have known the importance of purchasing domain names relating to their name, brand, and product for years. ASU should own everything from sundevils.com to maroonandgold.com and everything in between. The 7 dollars it costs to buy these domains I think is well worth the prevention of public humility the alternative brings.
I wish I knew more about the details of this situation so I could report more. Maybe some of you know more. Is ASU taking any action to buy the domain back. Also, if the U of A refuses to sell the domain there should be a case that ASU can make regarding trademarks or patent issues… #justsaying
2 responses so far ↓
1 Duyen P. Tran // Sep 2, 2010 at 7:48 pm
That’s interesting– as I type in http://www.sundevils.com into the web browser, I find that the site is actually not a online clothing store and is not affiliated with UofA. Sundevils.com for me, is actually a travel and tourism site.
Nonetheless, we were having a conversation about name branding in our online media class. That’s surprising that ASU, as big as we are, has not claimed that url somehow.
2 jkieth // Sep 2, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Yeah I’m not sure what your browser is doing to you. It may be a cache issue or something. But people have been talking about this for a couple of weeks now. If I click on the link in your comment it takes me to the U of A site. Sad I know…
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