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RegistryPro C/o Hayes
& Curran, Solicitors 6 Fitz William
Square Dublin, Ireland Re: Impact of Large Firm Participation
on Market Penetration of the .Pro TLD
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen: As
part of the determination of the target market penetration in connection
with the strategic marketing plan prepared in conjunction with your
New TLD Application to ICANN, we considered the significance of lawyers
and accountants located in large firms.
For several reasons, we elected not to make any specific assumptions
with respect to this portion of the target market. First, as
a percentage of the whole, this subset of the professional target market
(which includes doctors) could not be expected to impact worldwide totals
more than 1-3%. Although highly
visible, this subset of legal and accounting professionals represents,
in the aggregate, less than 10% of all legal and accounting professionals
who would be eligible for .Pro designation. Second, the
effect this subset is likely to have on the marketing plan for .Pro
would almost certainly increase market penetration.
The rationale for this is that initial feedback indicates that
large firms would register their individual practitioners “in bulk,”
which would have the effect of increasing market penetration of that
sector to 100% rather than the average assumption in the application
of 26%. Since large firms engage in “early trend-following” behaviors (as
evidenced by recruitment and publication strategies), they are likely
to buy bulk registrations. In
the event that any large firm determines not to “bulk” register its
professionals, those individuals may still elect to obtain their .Pro
domain name on their own. The precise approach to incentivizing key decision
makers in large firms needs further research, which we are prepared
to conduct at your direction if you are awarded the bid. Accordingly,
in conjunction with our opinions and advice rendered in connection with
the New TLD Application for .Pro, we adopted a conservative approach
and did not assign specific weight to the bulk registration of lawyers
and accountants who practice in large firms. Very
truly yours, STC Associates |
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