The .pfizer Dot Brand

Pfizer Inc. is a leading global pharmaceutical corporation serving the needs of consumers around the globe. The company has more than 110,000 employees who work in 46 countries. Pfizer products are generally only available on prescription from pharmacies. Pfizer also offers a range of products for the care of animals and livestock.

The future mission and purpose of the .pfizer extension is for it to become a "trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace". It will be a trusted source of information for consumers (who may be seeking health advice), medical professionals, investors, the media and the general public. The issue of trust is a paramount concern.

The TLD will provide a virtual avenue that will deepen and broaden Pfizer's customer relationships and interaction. It will be a new and innovative channel to increase interest in Pfizer goods & services, ad campaigns, public interest content and awareness initiatives etc. It will help to differentiate the company's offerings in the online space.

As Pfizer continues to expand, it is in the company's desire to pursue and develop opportunities to market and distribute its online content and products to consumers, in the U.S. and internationally, on various platforms, including the Internet and mobile devices, among others.

The new TLD will provide the company with an unlimited number of intuitive, short and memorable domain names which will help to meet the increasing demands of consumers for new channels on new devices. It will increase consumer recognition of the company's goods & services. Pfizer hopes that ultimately the string will attain the same level of trust that is currently enjoyed by the .edu and .gov gTLDs.

Pfizer has a four stage roll-out plan for its brand TLD:

1. A limited number of .pfizer domains will be registered to enable initial planning and operational & security testing etc by personnel.

2. Widespread internal corporate use of the string. Potential strategies to migrate content over to the new TLD will be evaluated. The possibility of extending registration rights to licensees and other partners will come under initial consideration.

3. At this stage content may be permanently migrated over to the new .pfizer TLD, depending on an assessment of Stage 2. The timeline will depend upon "business, strategic, and industry factors at the time". Registration rights may be extended to partners at this point.

4. Based on an ongoing evaluation of previous stages, and taking into consideration changes in the domain name system and in particular the general impact of the other brand domains, the company will continue its implementation of the new string. Pfizer believes it will take at least five years to fully assess the impact of the new TLD program and plan its future expansion.

The potential use of the .PFIZER gTLD by these or other business segments will also be driven by Pfizer's future business strategies as identified in its annual report and investor filings...

The company anticipates that the total number of registrations will be less than 10,000 in the first five years of operation.

Pfizer intends to closely monitor and analyse the general success of the new gTLD program and in particular the implementation of the brand domains. It is very aware that its new TLD has great potential to play an important online strategic role.

The Applicant makes note that at the time of filing, there had not been enough time and available market information to comprehensively evaluate all potential best-in-class case use options. Hence, Pfizer will proceed cautiously since factors such as consumer recognition and the response of search engines are currently unknown.

...Pfizer's driving factor in securing the .PFIZER gTLD in ICANN's first round is precautionary in nature...

...Pfizer plans to start using .PFIZER domains initially as redirects to existing .COM domains...

If the .pfizer string roll-out proceeds in accord with the company's strategic goals, then .pfizer domains will become primary addresses. The TLD has real potential to serve as a cornerstone of Pfizer's strategy to leverage emerging technologies and distribution channels to communicate its offerings. Ultimately it has the potential to provide a valuable, unified, trusted ecosystem experience.

If a complete launch unfolds, Pfizer will use various ad, media, outreach and email campaigns to communicate with the public and medical professionals etc.

The existing Pfizer.com website has provided a trustworthy platform for information about the company's offerings and their safety since 1992. (Specialist information is also available to medical professionals with approved accounts.)

Through Pfizer's website, consumers are unable to purchase products (as this requires a prescription...), but visitors will find valuable information regarding Pfizer's research and development projects, product safety and side effects, and general health and wellness.

Pfizer and its back-end registry services provider Neustar, Inc. will work in the public interest to act as responsible stewards of the .pfizer string. The company will implement robust security policies to prevent the online sale or distribution of illegal pharmaceuticals. Privacy and confidentiality will be protected. Intellectual property will also be protected.

These policies will also serve to combat any possible abusive or malicious activities such as fraud, phishing, pharming, spam, piracy, cybersquatting, malware distribution, fast flux hosting, botnets and so on. Further, Neustar is experienced in working with law enforcement agencies in this regard.

Pfizer points out that its brand TLD will be a single applicant registry — a foundation stone that will create a trusted online environment for consumers.

This verified ecosystem provides consumers with a single, trusted source for Pfizer goods and services with a substantially lower risk of fraud and/or scams. Pfizer does not anticipate consumer vulnerabilities... ...In fact, the expectation is that the usage of a .PFIZER gTLD will eliminate many of the vulnerabilities that Pfizer consumers face in the wider Internet today.

Geographic Dot Brands

Pfizer is very aware that the use of geographic terms in the domain name system is a sensitive issue for national governments.

It is also keenly aware of the rationale for this — for example the prevention of false descriptions of the source of goods.

Hence Pfizer will initially reserve from registration country & territory identifiers as described in Specification 5 of the New gTLD Applicant Guidebook.

These geographic signifiers are contained in a UN Group of Experts manual on geographic names, a UN Working Group list of standardized geographical terms and the ISO 3166-1 list.

The Applicant makes special note that its wide-ranging global operations include having employees in 46 different countries. Besides using a variety of country code domain names such as Pfizer.ru, Pfizer.de and Pfizer.co.nz, company websites contain menu options where consumers can select relevant, targeted content by location. Pfizer has long used these geographic signifiers responsibly and without misleading the public.

Given this geographic approach to finding Pfizer content... ...Pfizer intends to explore the option of providing a hierarchical and intuitive framework for the .PFIZER namespace by using geographical identifiers at the second level within the .PFIZER namespace.

Pfizer is therefore interested in being able to use country terms within the .pfizer string in a logical, functional and intuitive way. The company looks forward to collaborating with other dot brand applicants to work with ICANN, the GAC, governments and public authorities to obtain the release of country names.

NOTE: second level = left of the dot

Possible .pfizer Brand Domains

Health.pfizer
Pharmaceuticals.pfizer
Research.pfizer
News.pfizer
Search.pfizer
Information.pfizer
Safety.pfizer
Help.pfizer
ClinicalTrials.pfizer
Children.pfizer
Professionals.pfizer
AnimalHealth.pfizer

Notes

Brand names mentioned on this site are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective corporations. This site claims no association with or endorsement by any of these corporations and their marks are mentioned only to illustrate opinion presented in the public interest.

All quotations on this page are from the respective companies' official ICANN brand TLD applications unless otherwise stated.

Many possible theoretical dot brands are mentioned (in English). There are also countless possibilities in other languages. This has significant potential value for international navigation.

This site is focused on reporting the strategic impact of the brand domains on internet communication, competition and commerce, and some comment is speculative.

It is not a comprehensive overview of what some of the world's largest corporations have chosen to reveal about their plans for the implementation of their proprietary domain strings.

ICANN is particularly concerned with the technical, financial, security and legal issues associated with the new TLDs. These issues are beyond the scope of this website.

For a comprehensive overview of the brand domains and their impact on the web, refer to ICANN's website and the individual applications (large parts of which are publicly published).

If you have a particular interest in an individual company, the public aspects of their applications are available for download via these ICANN links: You can also search a complete list of applicants there.

ICANN new gTLD applications

ICANN official website

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