.club Pre-Register Domain - .club Domain Information

Mission and Purpose

This response provides an overview of our mission and purpose. It is supplemented by further detail in the responses in questions 45-50 which quantify our assumptions and goals relative to the ‘most likely' projection and addresses contingencies in the ‘worst case' projection to deliver on our mission and purpose. Following is an overview of the following areas;

- Business Goals,
- Mission and Purpose,
- About .CLUB,
- Strategic Overview, and
- Market Need, Size and Character.

Business Goals
Secure the leadership position, providing domain registration and web service offerings to club niche markets, delivering indispensable value to clubs and strong returns for investors.

Mission and Purpose
.CLUB Domains, LLC d/b/a .CLUB is a new company entering the Domain Name Registry and Web Service space with a mission to provide domain registration and relevant EASY-TO-USE web services to meet the online needs of clubs, similar societies and associations of all types and sizes.

- .CLUB will provide services to the highest service level in the domain registry space and as such will be known for our professional management, customer care excellence and service performance.

- .CLUB will deliver niche-focused web services designed to help clubs establish engaging and effective online club membership experiences.

- .CLUB will foster innovation to help clubs grow and manage their membership base.

At .CLUB we help your club;
1. Secure a great domain name
2. Grow club membership
3. Improve member involvement and value
4. Reduce management costs


About .CLUB
.CLUB DOMAINS, LLC is a Fort Lauderdale, Florida based company formed for the purpose of becoming the ".CLUB" registry. We intend to become the leading provider of relevant easy-to-use web services to club markets. The Company is founded by a proven successful Internet entrepreneur, Colin Campbell.

An Internet pioneer since 1993, Mr. Campbell, built several Internet companies including; Tucows Interactive, Internet Direct Canada Inc. (merged with Look Communications in 1999), and Hostopia.com Inc. (IPO TSX: H in 2006 and sold to Deluxe Corporation in 2008).

Under Colin's leadership, Hostopia.com established itself as the market leader in its space, delivering white-label web services to its communication service provider customers. Services included domain name services, hosting, email and web applications designed to meet the needs of small and medium sized businesses. Additionally, Hostopia operated several retail brands, selling directly to its' markets. At the time of Colin's departure, Hostopia hosted more than 500,000 websites, served more than 4,500,000 email addresses and managed close to 1,000,000 domain names both as a registrar (through wholly owned subsidiary, Abacus of America) and as a reseller of registrar partners, including Tucows and Register.com.

Colin has been an active member of the Internet community in the past, serving as director for the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP), and the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), and undertakes guest speaking engagements at a number of universities speaking on Entrepreneurship.

Colin's leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and track record of success make him a compelling business leader. As a result, upon approval of the .CLUB TLD application, Colin will bring aboard an experienced leadership and operating team with many years of experience in the space. This team will form and help Colin realize the .CLUB DOMAINS, LLC mission and purpose.



Strategic Overview
The following provides an overview of .CLUB's strategic approach to the market.

A CLUB is; a: an association of persons for some common object, usually jointly supported and meeting periodically; also : a group identified by some common characteristic b: the meeting place of a club c : an association of persons participating in a plan by which they agree to make regular payments or purchases in order to secure some advantage d : a nightclub e : an athletic association or team.

Market Need
Club membership communities share common interests, band together to a common purpose, provide for their members a forum for the expression and sharing of ideas, coordination and management of events, launch of membership programs and provide services to serve their Club's community of interests.

Today clubs do not have a gTLD that addresses their specific identity needs and are forced to select domain names which do not most accurately represent themselves. For example; BoyScouts of America could not select scouting.com since it is owned by a fantasy football organization. .CLUB will provide for these groups a unique and representative online address that is clearly recognized as a club entity. Similarly, there are no web service providers who offer a service suite that addresses specific club needs. Clubs must source various web services and adapt them to their club purpose. In summary, there is need for;

- Unique domain name identities for clubs, and
- Web service suite designed to address online club needs.

.CLUB - The Registry
First and foremost .CLUB is a Domain Registry business. We will focus to launch the registry and sell through established registrar channels, building upon our extensive experience and relationships in the industry. Second, we will establish the business as a registrar to facilitate the operation as a direct selling and servicing organization centered at www.my.club.

.CLUB - The Web Service Provider
Our vision includes the introduction and expansion of a niche focused web service suite over time, designed to serve the needs of club markets. Our mission is to make it EASY to help clubs set up and manage their club on the web, help them be discovered, deliver engaging functions for their membership, manage and grow their club.

.CLUB DOMAINS, LLC will always make domain name registrations available for purchase separately from any of our web service offerings.


Market Need, Size and Character
Club, similar society and association markets are considerable in number, dynamic in their state of evolution and diverse in their core purpose. What they have in common are people who share common interests, seek to share experiences, learn and benefit through their club memberships.

The niches in this market ecosystem for which our gTLD and value proposition is designed includes a number of club categories, including; 1. Social Clubs, 2. Sporting Clubs 3. Special Interest/Hobby Clubs, 4. Country Clubs 5. Buying Clubs, 6. Fraternities and Sororities, 7. Personal Clubs, 8. Professional Clubs, 9.School Clubs, 10. Service Clubs, and 11. Night Clubs.

In addressing each of these niches within the club market, we will employ various research methods through outreach to further quantify, characterize and profile members, obtain contacts and engage operators and members both through direct outreach and by promoting .CLUB online.

While the niches are diverse, their needs share common traits and it is to these needs we see a large underserved market need that we will design and deploy services. Further market need, size and character information and research supporting this plan are submitted in our response to Question 46.

In addition, we provide a description of our market approach and our operational approach for Sales, Marketing, Product and Customer Care in our response to Question 46.

In 18b and 18c we provide information and our vision of how .CLUB will promote competition, consumer trust and choice and how we intend to set policies, processes and practice safeguards to mitigate issues involved in the introduction and expansion of .CLUB.

Benefits to Registants and the Internet Community

For this response, we provide a high level overview of how the .CLUB gTLD will benefit registrants and the Internet community as a whole. We describe our area of specialty, provide a vision on our service level and reputation goals, discuss how .CLUB will aid the competitive landscape with both a differentiated and innovative service offering which will in turn, enable our club market registrants to differentiate and innovate their own service offerings to their members. In addition, we will include an overview of our registration policies and commitments to protect registrant privacy of their confidential information. Overviews are provided in the following areas;

- Benefit to Registrants, Internet Users and Others
- Goals in areas of Specialty, Service Levels, or Reputation.
- Promoting Competition, Consumer Trust and Choice
- Differentiation and Innovation
- Goals in terms of User Experience
- Privacy and Confidential Information
- Policies, Terms and Conditions
- Safeguards to Mitigate Issues with Introduction
- Outreach to Achieve Market Benefits


Benefit to Registrants, Internet Users and Others

Benefits to the .CLUB registrants and Internet community will include;
1. Ability for clubs to secure a domain name that best matches and represents their identity,
2. Offer easy-to-use web services for clubs that meet their needs, and
3. Establish for Internet users the nature of the entity when they search or go to a .CLUB address.


Goals in areas of Specialty, Service Levels, or Reputation
.CLUB will focus all efforts to address the specific market needs of the club niche markets. We recognize that to be successful .CLUB must deliver a quality service level and we will back that up with a Service Level Agreement as a component of our terms and conditions, with 100% uptime for DNS services as specified in the ICANN Agreement and at 99.5% uptime guarantee for web services. Our specialty, service level standards and reputation represent our brand promise to the market articulated as the .CLUB identity with Easy-To-Use web services for clubs to set up and manage their online presence. Consistent with our mission, .CLUB will be known as a reputable trusted provider to club markets.


Promoting Competition, Consumer Trust and Choice
.CLUB services will provide additional competition in the domain identity and web service markets. Clubs and club-like associations will have available not only an ample new supply of intuitive, marketable and reasonably available domain names, but also a new service suite designed to meet their online needs. Services will be more effective compared to existing gTLDs and web services on the market since they will be designed to meet the specific requirements of clubs. Additionally, since .CLUB is solely focused on the club market it is imperative the Company gain the trust of our market in all our interactions. We will do so by;
1. Recognizing and protect pre-existing registered clubs as having priority rights to a .CLUB domain during the Sunrise and Landrush periods.
2. Partnering with the best in the industry registry service and web service providers,
3. Conducting business in a professional manner and deliver service levels at or better than industry norms,
4. Designing and delivering focused and Easy-to-Use services that are demanded in our niche market,
5. Implementing outreach programs to bring awareness to and educate the market on the new, focused domain identity and club-centered web service suite; and
6. Using outreach to establish ongoing registrant and subscriber relationships and to inform our product roadmaps to ensure future service introductions address club pain points.

By all these measures we will promote competition, consumer trust and choice in the market.


Differentiation and Innovation
Based on needs discovery responses from club operators, we will design innovative services to satisfy those needs and build a reputation as the web service provider who is the most innovative, differentiated and responsive to the club market. .CLUB believes this market is currently underserved without a web service provider addressing their specific needs. .CLUB will fill this service vacuum with easy-to-use services to help clubs grow and manage their club. Focusing on the club category we will differentiate our suite of services by being focused specifically on our category needs. This is new, better and different than any other web service provider to clubs today and as such will help clubs themselves bring innovative services to their members.


Goals in Terms of User Experience
It is critical that domain registration, renewal and other registry services, along with all our web services, are easy for club operators and their members to use and derive value. .CLUB management's proven track record and experience building successful web service businesses provides us with the expertise required to deliver positive user experiences which include: simple value proposition messaging, ease of purchase, intuitive graphical user interface, elegant application design, easy and effective access to support services and valued best practice guideance. We know great user experiences results in business success and as such will prioritize this element of our service designs and deployments.


Privacy and Confidential Information
Protection of privacy and confidentiality is extremely important in the operation of a registry and any web service business. The company intends for users to perceive the TLD as a trustworthy source of online information, products and services. User trust is enhanced when users are confident that their private or confidential information is securely protected. The Company intends to provide a safe and legitimate Internet space, enhancing user experience by mitigating security-associated risks. With respect to WHOIS data, the Company intends to comply with ICANN policies and otherwise to ensure that complete and accurate WHOIS information is readily accessible for every .CLUB domain name.

The Company intends to deploy DNSSEC and to comply with all of the other policies and practices required by ICANN in the Registry Agreement and/or via any Consensus Policy. And of course, the Company complies with all applicable laws and regulations relating to internet security and the privacy of users' confidential information. Furthermore, the Company will employ all commercially reasonable practices with respect to the security of online transactions and users' private or confidential information.


Policies, Terms and Conditions
The .CLUB TLD will be open and unrestricted, allowing anyone to select an appropriate .CLUB domain name for their own legitimate purposes. Bad faith and other illegal uses of .CLUB domain names will not be tolerated. The Company will implement an Acceptable Use Policy as further described in response to Question 28, and also will implement the UDRP, URS and all other ICANN-required rights protection mechanisms. Further, the Company will implement additional rights protection mechanisms as described in response to Questions 28 and 29.

.CLUB will institute clear policies, terms and conditions to support our goals. Policies, terms and conditions will include but not be limited to those identified above and elsewhere in the application. No policy will be in conflict with ICANN Registry Agreement or any ICANN Consensus Policy. .CLUB will evaluate new policies as necessary to address emerging security or other threats.


Safeguards to Mitigate Issues with Introduction
.CLUB DOMAINS, LLC seeks to mitigate issues of abusive domain registrations. The following describes a few of our approaches to achieve this objective.

A goal of .CLUB is to ensure existing registered clubs worldwide are able to secure the most relevant domain name to best represent their identity. While the .CLUB gTLD will not be restricted, we have identified the challenge of domain squatting on pre-existing registered club names and will discourage this activity. In an effort to ensure clubs secure their most relevant domain to represent themselves online, we will conduct targeted marketing communication and outreach to as many clubs as is possible to offer them corresponding names during and after Sunrise and Landrush periods.

A second major way that we will focus on mitigating issues with the introduction is through our partnership with a top tier registry services partner, Neustar, Inc. This will ensure best practice handing and world class systems available to the Company to ensure efficient operation of the registry back-end systems designed and well tested to handle abuse complaints expeditiously.

We provide further detailed description of all of our intended rights protection mechanisms in response to Questions 26, 28 and 29.


Outreach to Achieve Market Benefits
.CLUB will employ an aggressive outreach to club and club-like association markets to;
1. Make clubs aware of the new gTLD offering,
2. Educate clubs on the value of a .club domain identity and the services that will benefit their online presence and membership,
3. Offer Sunrise and Landrush processes, and
4. Conduct club needs analysis to inform web service product roadmap requirements.

After the initial launch period, estimated at approximately one year, we will continue to engage in regular communications to our gTLD registrants to;
1. Ensure satisfaction with the value of our services,
2. Inform our product roadmap innovation strategy, and
3. Inform the community on trends in web services best practices as a purely value added information to help registrants learn and improve their club operations and relevance to their membership.

Registration Phases Overview and Minimization of Social Costs.

This response provides an overview of .CLUB DOMAINS, LLC operating rules to minimize the social costs and negative consequences or costs imposed on consumers in particular how multiple applications will be resolved, cost benefits for registrants and our intentions and commitments on pricng policies. Overviews are provided in the following areas;

- Sunrise, Landrush Applications, Auctions, Premium Names and General Availability Overview
- Advantageous Pricing, Introductory Offers and Bulk Registration
- Minimize Social Costs
- Price Change Policy

Sunrise, Landrush Applications, Auctions, Premium Names and General Availability Overview
The Company will offer a phased launch consistent with many prior gTLD domain name launches. First, a Sunrise Period will be offered as required by ICANN, for trademark holders to register domain names that correspond to their marks. If there is more than one qualified Sunrise applicant, then they will be invited to participate in an auction to select the registrant of the contested domain name. After the close of the Sunrise Period, the Company will offer a Landrush period where it will take applications for domain names. In the event more than one applicant contends for any domain during the Landrush period, applicants will be invited to participate in an auction to select the registrant of the contested name. The Company intends to reserve premium names to be held by the Company for offfer and sale at the registry's discretion while complying with all ICANN rules and regulations. After the Landrush period the Company intends to take an estimated ten (10) to thirty (30) day break prior to General Availability to ensure resolution of contested or trademark related names coming out of Sunrise and Landrush. After that break, the Company will make unreserved and unregistered names generally available for open registration by any interested person or entity, on a first-come/first-served basis to register for one and up to ten years.


Advantageous Pricing, Introductory Offers and Bulk Registration
At launch we intend to offer domains during Sunrise and Landrush at a price point designed to support the costs of the outreach programs required to build awareness and education in our target market. Upon general release, our plan is to make domains available at a discounted rate through our retail channel and to our registrar partners. We will recommend and encourage introductory offerings in our channel.


Minimize Social Costs
The cost of a .CLUB domain will not be price prohibitive to new or existing clubs and over the long run will provide additional value to the clubs, due to the identifiable nature of the gTLD and the vertical-focused services designed to address clubs' needs. Our pricing will be competitively set within the price range of existing gTLDs to ensure take up and affordability of this top level domain.


Price Change Policy
Our approach to suggested listed retail and wholesale registrar prices for domain registry services is to launch and maintain our price points at a consistent and competitive level. Our view is that a competitive price point is required to ensure affordablity in our target market and to compete effectively with other gTLD options currently in market and those coming to market. Our view is that while .CLUB domains do offer added value to the target niche and affords a premium, we must be competitively priced. The price point decision drivers are;

1. Price is not an objection to end-user purchase in that it does not impose a high cost on consumers, and
2. We price to build and maintain a registry that is economically sustainable over the long-term.

Our intent is to maintain suggested retail and registrar list prices for the foreseeable future. However, the Company must reserve the right to increase pricing under certain circumstances including market forces which may negatively impact our margins and business viability. Additionally, we may periodically adjust for inflation. While we cannot fully predict all future cost input changes, we have no plans to increase suggested retail or registrar list prices beyond ten percent per year. Should market forces require us to increase domain registration or renewal prices to either maintain business viability of the registry or enable launch of new services, we will notify registrants and/or partners in accord with the ICANN Registry Agreement.

.CLUB DOMAINS, LLC has engaged Neustar, Inc to deliver registry services for the .CLUB TLD. This response describes measures for protection of geographic names at the second and other levels in the applied for gTLD and includes applicable rules and procedures for reservation and/or release of such names.

1. PROTECTION OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

1.1 Initial Reservation
.CLUB DOMAINS, LLC (.CLUB) is committed to complying with all of its obligations under the New gTLD Registry Agreement and as such will meet its obligations to initially reserve all of the enumerated geographic names. More specifically, in accordance with Specification 5 of the New gTLD Registry Agreement, the Registry Operator will initially reserve all geographic names at the second level and at all other levels within the TLD at which the Registry Operator provides for registrations.

.CLUB will support this requirement by using the following internationally recognized lists to develop a comprehensive master list of all geographic names that will be initially reserved:

-The 2-letter alpha-2 code of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including all reserved and unassigned codes [http://www.iso.org/iso/support/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/iso-31661_ decoding_table.htm];

-The short form (in English) of all country and territory names contained on the ISO 3166-1 list, including the European Union, which is exceptionally reserved on the ISO 3166-1 List, and its scope extended in August 1999 to any application needing to represent the name European Union [http://www.iso.org/iso/support/country_codes/iso_3166_code_lists/iso-31661_ decoding_table.htm#EU];

-The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, Part III Names of Countries of the World. This lists the names of 193 independent States generally recognised by the international community in the language or languages used in an official capacity within each country and is current as of August 2006 [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/ungegn%20tech%20ref%20manual_M87_combined.pdf]; and

-The list of UN member states in 6 official UN languages prepared by the Working Group on Country Names of the United Nations Conference on the standardization of Geographical Names [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/9th-uncsgndocs/ econf/9th_UNCSGN_e-conf-98-89-add1.pdf]

1.2 Release Mechanism
Notwithstanding the above, .CLUB believes that the use of geographic designations in connection with the .CLUB TLD will significantly benefit end users and the global Internet community in that it will assist them in locating registrants' services and locations by physical geography. Given .CLUB registrants' locations throughout the world, there is little likelihood of confusion between the second-level geographic registration and the country or country-code designation. For example, few consumers would be confused into thinking that the us.CLUB domain name is associated with the country-code TLD of the United States administered by the United States Department of Commerce, or otherwise confused about an association with the United States government. Therefore, although the geographic names will initially be reserved, .CLUB does believe that geographic names should be able to be released from reservation.

This is especially true of the two character second level domain names. .CLUB recognizes that there have been many successful and non-misleading use of two character second level names by gTLD operators such as AA.com, ge.com, and my.biz -- to name only a few. In the event that .CLUB wishes to register the two character strings, we shall propose to ICANN the release of such strings as required by the Registry Agreement.

In the event that .CLUB desires to use geographic reserved names, we will propose a release mechanism for ICANN approval as required by the Registry Agreement.