Juan at SXSW 2012
It’s hard to believe we’re rounding out yet another year. 2012 was huge for .CO, so I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you some of my favorite highlights of the past twelve months.
A Super Bowl Ad? Hell Yeah!
In February, .CO was showcased in our second Super Bowl ad with our partner GoDaddy. The ad featured NASCAR superstar Danica Patrick and .CO-er super-model Natalia Velez (nataliavelez.co) – and it brought the .CO message to millions of Super Bowl viewers around the world. Exciting stuff!
SXSW
Just a month after the Super Bowl, our team packed up and hit Austin, Texas for South by Southwest (SXSW) – pitching and partying with a fabulous group of .CO VIP’s who were treated to special access and seating at events, opportunities to pitch in front of key influencers, media interviews and more. SXSW is insane, there’s nothing like it in the world – and our whole team is excited to go back and spoil our .CO-ers rotten again this year!
Our Growing .Community
Today there are over 1.4 million .CO domain names registered by people in over 200 countries worldwide. The .CO namespace has grown more than 24% from 2011 to 2012 – and renewals remain consistently strong. Our .COmmunity is only getting bigger and better, with tons of startups, small businesses, innovators and entrepreneurs choosing to build the future on .CO every day.
You can’t imagine how exciting it is for me to wake up each morning and to learn about all the cool companies, brands and big ideas that are being brought to life on the .CO platform. In 2012 we were extra proud to welcome the Startup America Partnership (S.co), LeWeb (Leweb.co), Tech Cocktail (Tech.co), Lean Startup Conference (Leanstartup.co) and StartUp Britain (Startupbritain.co), among hundreds of thousands of others, to our growing community.
More than a Domain
This year, we had the chance to meet lots of our awesome .COmmunity members by hosting .CO-er dinners in different cities around the world, including Paris, London, New York, and San Francisco. Filled with delicious food, great company and excellent conversation – our .CO-er dinners also gave us valuable insights about what makes our customers tick.
More than anything, we learned that our customers want us to be more than just a domain. That’s why this year we launched a membership program to provide valuable networking, promotion and support to help .CO users to build and grow successful businesses. The first of its kind within the top-level domain industry, our membership program gives our customers the fuel they need to take action on their ideas – and to succeed. As part of the program, we’re hooking people up with coveted tickets to events like Startup Weekend and Lean Startup Conference, access to co-working spaces in key cities, personalized SEO consultation, promotional support, and more — all for free — just for being a part of .CO.
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Already, there’s lots to look forward to in 2013. Aside from the full launch of our Membership Program in March, yesterday we announced our third consecutive Super Bowl ad with Go Daddy. With more than a hundred million eyes on our commercial, we’ll be using our 30-second spotlight on the world’s largest stage to inspire people to seize the moment –to take the plunge and to actually launch their big ideas online!
On that note, happy New Year — and we look forward to sharing another great year with you!
