Given the events of the past year, nothing indicates the recent trends associated with digital brand management will reverse.  As we look to 2011 the emerging theme seems to be “preparedness”, but that is a good approach no matter what the state of the business or economy.  As you look over our list and possibly contemplate your own, being prepared for whatever the year holds is dependent upon making smarter decisions. 

Our “Top-ten digital brand predictions for 2011”:

  1. Domain name registration in existing TLDs will continue due to the growing importance of domain names both from trademark protection and in revenue generation perspectives. 
  2. More country code TLDs will promote their extensions as viable “domain name shorteners” such as .gl – the short URL for Google using the ccTLD for Greenland.
  3. Infringement risk in IDNs will remain low.
  4. Domainers will take the lead in IDN registration resulting in greater costs for businesses later on when acquiring names in the secondary market.
  5. Apps to allow email to work with IDNs will become common, and phishing scams will increase in countries with IDNs.
  6. The New gTLD program will finally launch in 2011 with more applications than originally anticipated.
  7. There will be at least one application for “.bank” and it will be only slightly less contentious than “.xxx”.
  8. DDoS attacks will occur with greater frequently and more companies will be targeted.
  9. Privacy concerns will prompt draft legislation restricting social network information collection.
  10. IP departments will focus on policy creation and enforcement to combat abuse and liability in social media.