The traditional DNS is familiar, mature and crowded.
That is useful for reach, but not always for standing out.
Most businesses now use the same basic tools: a conventional domain, social handles, QR codes and paid advertising.
The harder everyone competes in the same places, the harder it becomes to look different.
That is where a different DNS can become interesting from a branding and marketing point of view.
Not because a business needs to abandon its .com.
Because it can add another layer.
A Handshake name can become a campaign address, a memorable brand asset, a product identity or simply something unfamiliar enough to make people stop and ask what it is.
That question has value.
The Address Can Be the Advertisement
There is already a strong example of this.
In 2015, Coca-Cola Puerto Rico launched its EmotiCoke campaign using emoji .ws domain names on billboards.
These were not simply emojis placed beside a conventional web address.
The emoji was part of the address.
That was clever on several levels.
Coca-Cola used emojis associated with happiness symbols that could be understood almost universally without needing much explanation.
It then placed those symbols inside real web addresses.
The choice of .ws was important too.
Emoji could not simply be registered as ordinary .com domain labels under the conventional internationalised domain name system.
But .ws operated differently and became one of the namespaces where emoji style domain registrations were possible.
That gave marketers an opportunity they did not have with something as familiar as .com.
Coca-Cola took advantage of it.
Instead of forcing the campaign into the same naming space everyone already knew, it found a namespace that allowed the idea to work.
The agency behind the campaign also liked the fact that .ws could be interpreted as “We Smile.”
The result was more than a web address.
The address itself became part of the advertising.
Read the Adweek coverage of Coca-Cola's EmotiCoke campaign
Sometimes Unfamiliar Is the Advantage
Coca-Cola did not need an unusual web address.
That is exactly why the example matters.
One of the strongest and most recognisable brands in the world was still willing to put something unfamiliar in front of people.
There was a risk that some would not immediately understand it.
But that was also part of what made it noticeable.
Sometimes the unfamiliar is the advertising.
And there is another lesson in the way Coca-Cola approached it.
When the conventional naming space did not allow the idea it wanted, the campaign looked elsewhere.
That is interesting from a marketing perspective.
Sometimes the opportunity is not in using the same naming system as everyone else.
It is in finding one that lets you do something they cannot.
A Different DNS Can Be Another Branding Surface
Handshake is still unfamiliar to most people.
From an adoption point of view, that creates obvious challenges.
From a marketing point of view, however, that unfamiliarity could also be an advantage.
The space is not saturated.
Traditional online branding is crowded with familiar formats:
.com
.net
.org
.com.au
social handles
QR codes
They all have value.
But they’re also everywhere.
Handshake offers another canvas.
A company could potentially build a campaign around:
brand/
wines/
a broader category word
a product name
or even an emoji or symbol.
A business may also have the opportunity to use a much grander name than would normally be realistic within a conventional domain structure.
A category.
A concept.
A single word.
A symbol.
Something that can become part of the campaign itself.
The point is not necessarily that everyone will immediately understand it.
Maybe the point is that they do not.
What is that?
That moment of curiosity is attention.
And attention is where marketing begins.
From Emoji Domains to Handshake
There is even a playful bridge between emoji domains and Handshake today.
🆔.ws redirects to Handshake.org.
It is a small example, but it demonstrates the idea neatly.
An unusual address can create curiosity before someone even reaches the website.
And inside Handshake, that idea can potentially be explored much further.
A company wanting to use a symbol, an emoji or a broader name is no longer restricted to thinking only in terms of what a traditional domain name is supposed to look like.
That creates room for experimentation.
For more on experiencing emoji and unconventional names within Handshake, see How Do I Experience It?.
Marketing Where Others Are Not
There is potentially a large amount of marketing territory within Handshake that remains unexplored.
That matters because most digital advertising environments are already heavily saturated.
Handshake is not.
A company experimenting with a Handshake name could potentially reach a different demographic particularly people interested in new technology, digital ownership, visual identity and ideas that simply look different from the usual online landscape.
There may also be value in the name itself becoming part of the story.
⚪️ A bigger name.
⚪️ A category word.
⚪️ An emoji.
⚪️ A symbol.
A different kind of address.
Something people have not seen before.
That does not mean abandoning the conventional internet.
Keep the .com.
Keep the normal channels.
Keep everything people already understand.
But there may also be value in branding somewhere your competitors are not yet looking.
Coca-Cola’s EmotiCoke campaign is still being discussed more than a decade later because it did something unusual enough to be remembered.
Memorable marketing does not always come from doing what everyone already understands.
Sometimes it comes from showing people something unfamiliar.
And, if it is done well, something they may still be talking about years later.
Own The Name | Own The Rules | Own The Dot.