Working Draft of the ICANN Communications Department Plan

["Chris Chaplow" <chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you for this opportunity to comment.



Andalucia.com   believes that the communications plan should be as
international as possible and focus on areas and languages where the
knowledge and understanding of the gTLD program is currently low.


We agree that “it will eventually target the general public as well as a
series of specific audiences on the premise that a rising tide lifts all
boats” we think that it should address internet users on the forthcoming
changes to help reduce confusion and not seem like an advertisement for
ICANN selling a comercial product for 185k$. 


Be aware that much of the news and blog comments to the Singapore board
decision articles has incorrectly stated “This gTLD is its just <ICANN /
industry / business > on a money making exercise”.  We recommend
research/evaluation of recent blog and news comments so that the
communications can focus on  popular misgivings.


“A variety of media and marketing tools will be used with the coordinated
support of the ICANN community. Our outreach will be based on ICANN’s five
geographic regions  – Africa, Asia/Australia/Pacific, Europe, Latin
America/Caribbean and North America. Critical program documentation will be
available in the six official United Nations languages – Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Russian and Spanish.” 


We support and underline this aspect and believe that the diverse ICANN
community and constituency groups can help and should be utilized as much as
possible.  PR is more cost effective that advertising (print or Internet)
but does require more management work.   


We do not see where this objective dovetails into the communications plan’s
focuses on four key communications areas  (page 4):   

Advertising
Top-tier international press coverage
Regional launches / road shows
Social and other online media



We deduct that the RFP issued  (750k $) for the Advertising area alone (
<https://community.icann.org/display/newgtladvertising/Home>
https://community.icann.org/display/newgtladvertising/Home)  

We have concern if too much of the budget is spent on expensive advertising
campaigns. What are the budgets for the other three elements i.e. Press
(PR), Regional launch, and Online Media?

We looked in the new GTLD budget of 21Oct2010
<http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/explanatory-memo-new-gtld-program-
budget-22oct10-en.pdf>
http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/explanatory-memo-new-gtld-program-b
udget-22oct10-en.pdf    and found 700k$ under development phase and 500$
under deployment phase.   Is 1.2m$ the total budget?

 

We also recommend that a cross check should be carried out to see how the
plan aligns with the latest ICANN strategic plan and that RFP venders be
made aware of the strategic plan.


Submitted respectfully,

 

Chris Chaplow
Managing Director
Andalucia.com S.L.
Avenida del Carmen 9
Ed. Puertosol, Puerto Deportivo
1ª Planta, Oficina 30
Estepona, 29680
Malaga, Spain
Tel: + (34) 952 897 865
Fax: + (34) 952 897 874
E-mail:  <mailto:chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Web:  <http://www.andalucia.com/> www.andalucia.com
Information about Andalucia, Spain.