Why Vertica should have choosen a different url
On our way home this evening we passed by several bus shelters, all of which had ads for Vertica Residental Services (a company that helps make apartment living easier). I’m using the image below to illustrate my point and because it was too cold out to take a photo.
Jason took one took at their ad and started snickering. I ask (I’m curious!) and he points out that the largest type on the ad is their website ‘ vertica.ca‘ or more importantly ‘verti-CA.CA‘. Caca, as in slang for defecation. Indeed.
I’m going to assume that most people wouldn’t have noticed this, but Jason did which means that other people must have noticed as well. Not necessarily a major problem… unless it gains momentum and takes over. Would you be willing to take a risk like that with your brand image and name?
The problem stems from using .ca as their top level domain. Switching to .com would solve this (although it would also mean that they wouldn’t immediately and visibly branded as being Canadian). Sometimes I find it hard to conceptualize that something so small can potentially have such a big impact.
Maybe its worth having your 10 year old check over your product names and branding. Just in case they notice something rude that our adult sensibilities overlook.
More from jananas
- Why can’t I keep my email address when switching providers?
- I’m on a Boat (in Vancouver)
- Homemade Swift as a Birthday Present
4 Comments so far
Leave a reply
they may have not had much of a choice…
vertica.com is already taken by another company. .ca was probably their best option since the other domain extensions in my opinion don’t really convey “a professional company”
and choosing something like verticacanada.com… for one would have had the same problem, and would also be too long of a domain name for most people to remember
Destroy my argument with technical realities why dontcha
sorwee jananas
but then, almost nobody noticed the problem with the McWrap….(Mc Crap)