Mar 25 2008
Traditional Media Still Doesn’t Have A Clue, What A Shame
In today’s troubling times for print media, you would expect a traditional media company to take advantage of a rare opportunity to own the city.com that all their print publications cover. An opportunity of this magnitude to own your city.com brand does not fall into your lap. With such a name, your complete established network of publication profits would increase almost instantly online. This has been proven many times, with the latest example being Madison.com.
Well, it happend to fall on the lap of Oklahoma Publishing Company (OPUBCO). They own a large amount of publications in the Oklahoma City area. The domain of course was OklahomaCity.com. I am sure readers are guessing that the OPUBCO Group became motivated to discuss negotiations to acquire this elite domain. After all, there is no other domain in the world that perfectly describes the area they cover in detail.
This is the response I received from the OPUBCO Group today, “I appreciate the offer, however, we will pass at this time.”
The names you ask that delivers their complete publication network for Oklahoma City, OklahomanDirect.com, NewsOK.com, and OPUBCO.com.
There you have it, why would they need a name like OklahomaCity.com with names that are descriptive of the area like these that say it all.
I honestly had to sit back and scratch my head on this response. Is $800,00 to much to ask for a city that does $43 billion in commerce yearly?
What is missing here? I will tell you that it is education of effetive marketing on the internet and what an elite geo domain can do to exploit local advertising for your business. Traditional media continues to stay unfocused on changing times and continues to miss opportunities that will never be made available again.
Education is the only thing that will open their eyes, of course, they have to be willing to learn new things. The old ways are pretty much obsolete.
Who knows, maybe they will reconsider the acquisition of OklahomaCity.com, the key to the city for the world. 
that sucks.
Did you talk to the right person? (ie, CEO?)
If not, you might want to consider a Fedex to the right person with a well thought out letter.
did you tell them that the name is an asset that gets amortized? A lot of these companies are on big quarter to quarter profit pushes and focus entirely on that. If the head honcho VP of finance thinks he’s going to lose $800k from his bottom line he won’t even consider it. But 800k / 15 years / 4 quarters = $13,000 per quarter for 15 years.
good luck
**SMO**
Gordon,
I contacted all the right people. Decision makers, or at least those with a directline to the big boss. I was short and articulate on the availability of this name. If they do not see the value at first glance, who am I to try and sell it. It would be a waste of my time after that response. Now if they would have asked some questions, then I would have sold the heck out of it!
You can lead a horse to water, but you can not make that horse drink it.
All in all, life is good. The name will continue to go up in value whether it sells or not.
Exactly the reason why they should not have the name. The future is for those that can see it. There is a huge divide here between those that get it and those that don’t. The internet is too dynamic for everyone to see at this stage. Let them have their last days in the sun. The future looks very bright for the rest of us.
**SMO**
100% concur Michael. It is just amazing that they have decided in 1 day to pass this opportunity. I am sure they have been to conferences that stress the importance of the internet in future media. Then again, the Dallas Cowboys passed on Cowboys.com. It happens!
For that kind of money, try to get a meeting with them and several other Players in that city. If you can set up a few face to face meetings, I’d bet you’d have a sale.
If they won’t buy then sell them advertising on it. THAT they understand.
Funny how companies will spend all kinds of money to advertise but put little value on owning an asset like this that drives in pre-qualified leads day after day, year after year.
I would agree with that
Old media are stuck and think no one can touch them.
and they dont deserve the name.
To the old man of media,
Sit down in the nursing home and make way for the new kids on the block.
they just dont get it.
I don’t know…is it worth $800k to them? You say Madison.com was worth it, and I don’t have the details, but do you know exactly how profitable that domain has been for Madison.com? Were you able to convey this to the OK group?
My point is that, while the domain is probably worth the price, you need to convey the value to the potential buyer in actual hard dollar terms. How much will their page views increase? What value will this deliver? Quantify the name recognition. Quantify everything.
Until you can do this, I can’t really blame them for passing.
***SMO***
Andrew,
The Madison Capital Times stopped printing newspapers because Madison.com had faster growth and profit opportunity. They figured if they focused on this asset, they would be able to continue to build their media empire. I am sure it is working out fine for them with their established network.
OPUBCO is a traditional media company, if anyone knows about branding, it is a Print Media Company. They know the power of the internet, it is nothing new to them. This opportunity is a no brainer in their industry and articles have been published on domain names for years. Chances are that the decrease in print advertising revenue might not have allowed them to acquire this elite name at this time for $800K. These are hard times for alot of print media giants across the industry. To quantify things, you have to be given the opportunity. The reply says it all.
Some will say, do not take no for an answer, but guess what, there is no emergency to sell OklahomaCity.com. So need to do all of that. When the right media company comes along, the name will sell itself. That is the beauty of a premium geo domain.
Crazy decision–that is hands-down the #1 intuitive name for anything having to do with Oklahoma City, whether it is news, events, jobs, hotels, etc., etc. OklahomaCity.com just makes sense. Their three existing names aren’t very descriptive or memorable at all.
Michael makes a good point–if they can’t understand this, it’s probably best that they don’t get the domain–put it in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.
Have you contacted the local TV stations? They would love a story like this as a little 30 second pitch at the end of their newscast…”Oklahoma City’s piece of the internet pie is up for sale for a whopping $800,000″….might get seen by the right person and then you never know.
As you know, the city is doing great these days - and it looks like they are getting a basketball team.
people are dumb.
***SMO**
Gordon,
I am writing something up for the news agencies in the local area. Well is they announce it. Thanks for the idea. Additionally, I alsp approached one of the major news channels in the area about the possible acquisition. No word yet.
That’s a great suggestion Gordon. It would make a great story and might move the right group to buy that name. Has anyone seen this clip on domain names yet? I was surprised to see how these commentators at Fox News reacted.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gXvuSOeXsvg
Good article Steve.
We’re bucking into the same type things with our ‘Numbers That Work’ domains that look like phone numbers. I guess it’s the ‘if it wasn’t invented here’, it’s not valid attitude.
If parking continues its slide, content and true marketing innovation will rise and as Michael pointed out the future looks bright for the rest of us.
Interesting.
I think the fact that they are about to have an NBA team is a huge bonus as well. Just wait a few years.
Gordon’s suggestion is good. I remember the guy who was trying to sell State.st domains or something like that got in all of the business journals. The Oklahoma Business Journal would be a good place to start.
As a Texan, I should point out that once you go north of the Red River you run into some slow people. So you’re going to have to be patient and explain things in simple terms
Maybe the $800K is not worth for them to purchase it. Maybe they are targeting oklahoma.com domain itself.
Emil:
That’s an excellent point. Even though I’m a big proponent of city.com over state.com, there are some examples where the state.com may trump the city.com. For example, I’d rather have Hawaii.com over Honolulu.com (though not by much) and Wyoming.com or Cheyenne.com.
Regardless, OklahomaCity.com for 800K is a must for any local media (newspaper, radio, TV) in Oklahoma City.
Why don’t you try to sell it to someone in Seattle. There’s a huge mess between Seattle and Oklahoma City regarding the Sonics…the basketball team. In fact, the Sonics name will stay in Seattle. Why don’t you issue a press release saying “The Sonics might be leaving, but OklahomaCity.com can be owned by Seattle.” and hope Marchex or some rich Seattle guy picks it up, or the group in OK hustles to get it.
lets form a group purchase
advertise it at all forums (especially here and at “my” place…
1000 peeps at $800 each and as peeps want to cash out the income from the name does the buying…finally leaving a few lucky owners
I’ve been dying to do this since the cowboys.com deal.
PS…at the very least we should be able to develope it and double our $$$ in a short time…
I think this is a God shot. I may be wrong but i think you’re right where you need to be.If I were you I’d just take the next indicated step- get your geo on! Show em what oklahomacity is made of!(develop that dot com)
Wow I missed those response.
Hi Steve, I think the notification is not working for me. Please check. Actually I never get any email from simplygeo regarding my subscriptions to any articles I post a comment.
Or it is configured that way?
***SMO***
Emil,
Do you click on the subscribe button at the end of each post? I will check into it. I do not thing anyone is experiencing the same problem. Please let me know if there are others.