Media Release - 19 November 2001
Religious Chiefs worldwide are set to enter a bidding war to protect their right to the most sacred icon in the world -
the Sign of the Cross.
In an unusual world first, the sign of the cross is for sale. It has had a value assigned to it and is tradable as a
dot.com, dot.net and dot.org.
Robert Wiles, CEO of global domain name registrar Pdom, says the symbols have been listed for sale on www.pdom.com. The
minimum asking price for †.com is US$20,000 while †.org and †.net are at US$4,000 and US$3,500 respectively.
Even religion is affected by the internet, said Robert Wiles. The sign of the cross is now able to be bought and sold as
an internet domain name. For the first time ownership of the symbol is an issue.
Wiles expects Church leaders will raise their eyebrows at the perceived exploitation of their most sacred icon, however
he says the Internet is becoming a key tool as people seek to discover more about themselves and their religion and
clear branding is essential to differentiate.
The sign of the cross is effectively the oldest brand in the world, said Wiles.
If the worlds most famous commercial brands like Coke, the Nike swoosh and MacDonald's are anything to go by,
potentially the sign of the Cross has to be worth billions of dollars.
We expect credible religious institutions will seriously consider securing †.com as their official internet address so
people can find them quickly and easily them on the web.
However there will be interest from a range of groups and individuals from the Church of the Latter Day Saints to
religious zealots and evangelists wanting a simple and memorable Internet address for their cause. It's even possible a
rock star would consider purchasing the symbol for their own unique celebrity website.
There are thousands of personal web sites devoted to religion on the Internet.
The availability of symbols as domain names follows the recent introduction to the market of a limited number of
international symbols for URL names by Californian based global domain name registry Verisign.
Symbols are new as net names, but it will only be a matter of time before they are snapped up by brand savvy companies
wishing to secure an Internet address based on a symbol, says Wiles.
For more information contact:
Pdom:
Jo Coughlan, VP Public Relations:
Johanna.Coughlan@pdom.com
+64 4 499 4809, +64 21 522 142 (mobile)
Robert Wiles, CEO:
+64 4 470 7835
Robert.Wiles@pdom.com
ENDS