Thought Convergence, parent company of domain monetization leader TrafficZ, recently announced the acquisition of Name Intelligence, parent company of DomainTools. In a press release issued this morning, the deal was announced, although the price was not revealed. On Jay Westerdal’s blog, Jay added:

“We are going to have more resources at our disposal now to focus on bigger projects, the synergies in this deal were awesome. I would not have signed onto the deal unless it allowed DomainTools to better serve the entire Domain Ecosystem. I will be joining the board of Though Convergence and look forward to working with the entire team in both LA and Seattle. The integrity of our DomainTools data is not in jeopardy with this deal and DomainTools website will remain as a trusted third party to everyone regardless of their affiliations.”

It should be added that DomainNameNews.com first reported that a deal had been reached a couple of weeks ago, although it was publicly announced this morning.

Each year before the holidays, domain investors wonder whether the coming season will mark a breakthrough for interactive marketing campaigns. As online media continues to grow and thrive, we continue to wonder why companies still devote so much advertising spend on traditional media (print/tv) when statistics seem to indicate that people are spending more time online than reading the newspaper.

Will this be the year companies devote the appropriate advertising spend for online activities? Rick wonders aloud whether companies will finally “get it” and convert some of their traditional print and television advertising dollars into online spends. My gut says this won’t be the year, but I think things are beginning to change. Interactive marketing is fun, less inhibited, and better able to engage the viewer… I digress, but more on that in a future post!

From Rick’s Blog:

“So will THIS be the online Christmas many have always expected? Will the same sorry folks be marched out to tell you not to spend online? How dangerous it is? Marched out like a political attack machine because they know their days are numbered? These people who are funded by those with most to lose. Is this the year they get it? Can they figure out that Google is approaching $800/share for a reason? That they are the fastest growing, most valuable company in the world for a reason? Can they figure out that the newspapers are not only going down in circulation but in readerehip as well?? Same with other mediums. And talk about “Stickyness”…….Imagine how many MINUTES someone used to read a newspaper or magazine and how many minutes they read now?”

Read the rest of this post here.

LowerMyBills Lowers Its Ad Bill

People have been speculating about what impact the struggling mortgage market will have on PPC advertising, a source of revenue for many domain owners. New York Times blogger Brad Stone blogs about how Experian’sLowerMyBills.com has reduced its web advertising in light of the recent mortgage crunch.

While LowerMyBills.com is a big internet advertiser, I don’t believe there will be a major impact on PPC revenue. While the mortgage market is under pressure due to subprime mortgage borrowers defaulting on their loans, other types of mortgages are still in high demand. I believe other advertisers will fill the void, competing for the lower risk (and higher value) mortgages in the form of keyword bidding. I don’t own many high performance mortgage domain names, but it would be interesting to see if there has been an impact on revenue.

American Airlines seeks damages against GoogleAmerican Airlines filed a lawsuit against Google for selling Adwords related to its trademarks (including “American Airlines”. Personally, I think the claim is ludicrous. In my opinion, the term “American Airlines” is about as generic as they come. Why can’t US Airways, another “American airline,” purchase the keyword “American airlines?” Why shouldn’t anyone who sells anything associated with American airlines buy this particular keyword? Perhaps searchers are looking for the airline, but maybe they are just looking for information about an American airline.

I hope Google fights this and wins, because this claim seems over the top to me.

Owen Frager takes Goodby, Silverstien and Partners to task in his post, “The Duh Factor,” where he is critical of Hyundai’s advertising agency for directing consumers to thebigduhsale.com rather than an easier to remember domain name like bigduh.com or an even better one-word generic domain name for a campaign that is now in market. Although they were able to register thebigduhsale.com for around $7 compared to paying considerably more for a name in the aftermarket, they will never know how much revenue was lost due to customers’ confusion.

Having worked at one of the largest direct marketing agencies in the world, I know advertising agencies are reluctant to suggest buying a domain name in the aftermarket, fearing the added expense would doom the entire pitch. Agencies need to start looking at the big picture and think more like consumers rather than marketers. While at NYU, Dr. Marjorie Kalter, the director of my program, taught us that we need to think like direct marketers AND like consumers when we are creating good direct marketing.

If Hyundai’s agency thought like the consumers they were pitching, do you think they would find it easier for a consumer to remember and navigate to thebigduhsale.com? I think the answer is pretty clear, and Hyundai’s advertising agency missed the mark.

Incidentally, the domain names Rebate.com and Rebates.com sold in the DRT Auction for $1 million. These domain names could have been used indefinately for current and future marketing efforts had this agency inquired. I don’t know who won these great domain names yet, but hopefully it is a company that can fully unlock the power of these great names.