.ESURANCE New gTLD Application
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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Esurance Insurance Company
Application Downloaded On: 11 Apr 2015
String: ESURANCE
Application ID: 1-1987-61342
Applicant Information
- Full legal name
Esurance Insurance Company
- Address of the principal place of business
650 Davis Street San Francisco, California - 94111 US
- Phone number
+1 415 875 4500
- Fax number
+1 415 875 4751
- If applicable, website or URL
Primary Contact
6(a). Name
Bryan Peck
6(b). Title
Director of Web & Content Production
6(c). Address
6(d). Phone Number
(415) 875-4532
6(e). Fax Number
6(f). Email Address
Secondary Contact
7(a). Name
Jeff Young
7(b). Title
Producer
7(c). Address
7(d). Phone Number
(415) 875-4500
7(e). Fax Number
7(f). Email Address
Proof of Legal Establishment
8(a). Legal form of the Applicant
Corporation
8(b). State the specific national or other jurisdiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).
Wisconsin
8(c). Attach evidence of the applicant's establishment.
Attachments are not displayed on this form.
9(a). If applying company is publicly traded, provide the exchange and symbol.
9(b). If the applying entity is a subsidiary, provide the parent company.
9(c). If the applying entity is a joint venture, list all joint venture partners.
Applicant Background
11(a). Name(s) and position(s) of all directors
Name
Position
Alan S. Gellman Director
Charles S. Lee Director
Elinor C. MacKinnon Director
Eric Brandt Director
Gary C. Tolman Director
Jonathan D. Adkisson Director
Mark D. Pitchford Director
11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners
Name
Position
Alan S. Gellman Vice President
Charles S. Lee Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
- Scott Harper Assistant Treasurer
Daniel G. Gordon Assistant Secretary
Elinor C. MacKinnon Vice President
Eric Brandt Vice President
Gary C. Tolman Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Jeffrey L. Huebbers Vice President
Jesse E. Merten Assistant Treasurer
Jonathan D. Adkisson Treasurer, Actuary and Chief Financial Officer
Lisette Willemsen Assistant Secretary
Mark D. Pitchford Vice President
Sarah Ainslie Assistant Secretary
Stephanie D. Neely Assistant Treasurer
Waqas Durrani Assistant Secretary
11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares
Name
Position
Esurance Holdings, Inc. Not Applicable
11(d). For an applying entity that does not have directors, officers, partners, or shareholders: Name(s) and position(s) of all individuals having legal or executive responsibility
Applied-for gTLD string
- Provide the applied-for gTLD string. If an IDN, provide the U-label.
ESURANCE
14A. If applying for an IDN, provide the A-label (beginning with "xn--").
14B. If an IDN, provide the meaning, or restatement of the string in English, that is, a description of the literal meaning of the string in the opinion of the applicant.
14C1. If an IDN, provide the language of the label (in English).
14C2. If an IDN, provide the language of the label (as referenced by ISO-639-1).
14D1. If an IDN, provide the script of the label (in English).
14D2. If an IDN, provide the script of the label (as referenced by ISO 15924).
14E. If an IDN, list all code points contained in the U-label according to Unicode form.
15A. If an IDN, upload IDN tables for the proposed registry. An IDN table must include:
the applied-for gTLD string relevant to the tables,
the script or language designator (as defined in BCP 47),
table version number,
effective date (DD Month YYYY), and
contact name, email address, and phone number.
Submission of IDN tables in a standards-based format is encouraged.
15B. Describe the process used for development of the IDN tables submitted, including consultations and sources used.
15C. List any variants to the applied-for gTLD string according to the relevant IDN tables.
- Describe the applicant's efforts to ensure that there are no known operational or rendering problems concerning the applied-for gTLD string. If such issues are known, describe steps that will be taken to mitigate these issues in software and other applications.
Esurance Insurance Company, anticipates the introduction of this .ESURANCE gTLD without operational or rendering problems. Based on a decade of experience launching and operating new TLDs, Afilias Limited (ʺAfiliasʺ) the back-end provider of registry services for the .ESURANCE gTLD, is confident the launch and operation of this gTLD presents no known challenges. The rationale for this opinion includes:
-The string is not complex and is represented in standard ASCII characters and follows relevant technical, operational and policy standards;
-The string length is within lengths currently supported in the root and by ubiquitous Internet programs such as web browsers and mail applications;
-There are no new standards required for the introduction of the .ESURANCE gTLD;
-No onerous requirements are being made on registrars, registrants or Internet users, and;
-The existing secure, stable and reliable Afilias SRS, DNS, WHOIS and supporting systems and staff are amply provisioned and prepared to meet the needs of the .ESURANCE gTLD.
- OPTIONAL.
Provide a representation of the label according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/).
18A. Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD.
18.1 Mission and Purpose of .ESURANCE
The content of this Answer to Question 18 set forth below describing the plans for Esurance Insurance Company’s (“ESIC”) registry constitutes the “purpose” of the registry as that term is used in paragraph 1.b. of Specification 9 of the Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement found in Module 5 of the Applicant Guidebook dated January 11, 2012 (the “Purpose”). ESIC will publish its Charter and its policies, guidelines, and other supporting documentation related to the implementation of the registry consistent with the Purpose, all prior to launch. All second level domain names registered by ESIC on behalf of itself or an affiliate will be registered through an ICANN-accredited registrar and will be consistent with the Purpose.
The .ESURANCE gTLD registry will be a standard, not a community-based, registry. The .ESURANCE gTLD registry will be a standard registry restricted to ESIC and potentially its qualified subsidiaries, affiliates or business partners having the Required License (as defined below). The registry will be closed to registrants who do not have a formal, written trademark license agreement from the ESIC affiliate which owns the ESURANCE mark, specifically allowing the registration of a second level domain name in the .ESURANCE gTLD registry (the “Required License”). There will be no market for second level registrations outside of registrants which are affiliated with ESIC and⁄or which have the Required License.
ESIC, together with its affiliates, is a leading online insurance company serving the wide-ranging needs of more than 509,000 current policyholders across the United States. ESIC’s affiliate, Esurance Insurance Services, Inc. (“EIS”), currently holds the intellectual property assets for ESIC and its subsidiaries and through which it operates a powerful, flexible technology platform, including the EIS website, that provides cutting-edge service to its customers across a wide range of insurance offerings including, but not limited to, cars, apartments, homes, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, boats, and other personal property.
The predecessor to EIS was launched in December 1999 as an online service offering car insurance in four states. Leveraging the benefits of the Internet and 24⁄7 customer support, EIS has grown into a company comprised of more than 1,800 employees located in 14 offices offering coverage to nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population. ESIC looks to leverage the potential use of .ESURANCE to expand upon its and its affiliates’ innovative use of online and mobile tools.
The intended future mission of .ESURANCE is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace for ESIC and potentially its qualified subsidiaries, affiliates, or business partners having the Required License, all with the goal of advancing ESIC’s business interests and ability to effectively compete in the marketplace.
Although ICANN has not specifically recognized a .BRAND gTLD classification in the current gTLD application round, it is widely anticipated in the brand owner community that this will become a specialty subset of gTLDs. .ESURANCE is intended to be one of those .BRAND gTLDs, with the goal of protecting ESIC’s online presence and identity, expanding its marketing and promotion efforts, providing a more secure channel for online products and services, and offering a platform through which to consolidate many of the intellectual property activities of ESIC.
ESIC intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within .ESURANCE to ESIC and potentially its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. This initial limited use will allow ESIC to establish its operations and achieve full sustainability. This limited distribution, coupled with its Purpose and the other requirements set forth in Specification 9 of the Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement, is intended to exempt ESIC from any annual Code of Conduct Compliance requirements.
ESIC currently plans a four-stage rollout for .ESURANCE:
- Stage One
The initial stage of implementation of the gTLD will involve ESIC registering a limited number of .ESURANCE second-level domain names.
This initial use will provide ESIC’s IT and security personnel the time to run a number of assessments for seamless and secure access using .ESURANCE domain names, interoperability with various software and Web-based applications, and unbroken and secure use of all names. This initial allocation will also allow the appropriate ESIC staff to coordinate with the internal and external staff responsible for the application, delegation, and setup phases of the .ESURANCE gTLD to ensure a proper transition from delegation to full operation.
- Stage Two
Once all testing has been successfully completed, ESIC may begin allocating domain names in .ESURANCE for more widespread internal corporate use. During this same period of time, ESIC will begin evaluating strategies to potentially migrate traffic away from its current patchwork network of second-level domain names, which are registered in a variety of gTLDs and ccTLDs, to .ESURANCE.
It is in Stage Two that ESIC will evaluate expanding the operations of .ESURANCE to permit registration by qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. Should an assessment of its expansion strategy lead to a decision to extend registration rights to business partners having the Required License, this expansion is currently planned to take place during Stage Three, and likely after the first three years of operation. However, any expansion would be consistent with the Purpose and conditioned upon a review of Specification 9 (Registry Code of Conduct) set forth in the Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement to ensure compliance with ESIC’s business model.
- Stage Three
Depending upon the analysis of the evaluations undertaken in Stage Two, ESIC may begin to implement the permanent migration of Internet traffic away from the gTLDs and ccTLDs in which ESIC’s domain names are currently registered, and toward the new gTLD. It is in this stage that ESIC also may implement any decision to extend registration rights to qualified affiliates and subsidiaries, consistent with the Purpose and in compliance with Specification 9 as noted above. The dates of such expansion are subject to change depending upon business, strategic, and industry factors at the time.
After consideration of the following factors: analysis of ESIC’s existing domain name portfolio; internal analysis of marketing initiatives; and the fact that ESIC will have full control over the number of registrations in the .ESURANCE namespace, ESIC is confident that the number of domain name registrations will be less than 10,000 in the first five years of operation.
- Stage Four
Based on its experience in Stage Three, including any expansion in that phase, ESIC will assess whether its business plan and expansion strategy should be augmented by extending registration rights to business partners having the Registered License. It is anticipated by ESIC that changes to the domain name industry, and particularly the impact of .BRAND gTLDs, will take at least five years to be realized and assessed.
Any decision to allow registrations by business partners having the Required License will take into account this experience as well as the technical analysis of potential expansion.
Utilizing current projections based upon ESICʹs existing businesses, future business plans, current domain name portfolio, and other strategic factors, ESIC estimates that second-level domain name registrations will be in line with the projections set forth in the financial template provided in the answer to Question 46 of this application.
For the avoidance of doubt, the timeframes associated with various Stages set forth above are estimates only. Such timeframes are subject to change, including delay or early action, depending on ESIC’s business needs.
18B. How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
18.2 How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
ESIC believes that the proposed .ESURANCE gTLD has the potential to offer numerous benefits to Internet users and consumers and to establish a trusted online marketplace for the millions of customers using ESIC’s online resources, the investors and third parties seeking information, and the general Internet user population.
In addition, .ESURANCE will provide ESIC and potentially its qualified subsidiaries, affiliates, and business partners having the Required License with short and memorable Internet addresses and an increased ability to navigate to information about ESIC products and services, while minimizing the cost and need for defensive registrations because domain names within the .ESURANCE gTLD will only be allocated internally to ESIC and potentially its subsidiaries, affiliates and business partners having the Required License.
ESIC intends to also use .ESURANCE to develop a potential platform for the secure access to, and research, purchase, and distribution of ESIC content, services, and information to consumers, in order to minimize the potential for phishing, pharming, or other harmful online activities.
ESIC believes that a .ESURANCE gTLD can provide a single, online source identifying function for its global customers, instead of the current mix-and-match approach that ESIC is currently forced to resort to as it expands into different markets around the world.
18.2.1 What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?
The primary mission of the .ESURANCE gTLD is to provide a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive online marketplace to aggregate content and other offers and services. As ESIC and its affiliates continue to expand, the company will want to pursue and develop new opportunities to market and distribute its information, products, and services to consumers in the U.S. and internationally, on a variety of platforms, including the Internet and mobile devices. Given that customers increasingly demand access to ESIC policy information through a variety of channels, which include domain names and the address bar, ESIC believes that a .ESURANCE gTLD has the potential to provide an innovative, virtual avenue by which to access content from ESIC and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates, which will deepen and broaden the companyʹs relationship with consumers.
Most importantly, ESIC will be able to provide access to information about its products and services in a namespace less affected by piracy, cybersquatting, and other malicious activities. Providing consumers with a trusted experience is a paramount goal to ESIC, and the .ESURANCE gTLD will be used to further that goal. Given the high saturation of insurance-related sites, including many that offer misleading or incorrect information to users, the .ESURANCE gTLD offers assurance that current and prospective ESIC policyholders are receiving authorized, up-to-date information, all in the global public interest.
While insurance providers, such as ESIC, fight never-ending battles to protect their valuable intellectual property from fraud and piracy on the Internet, a .ESURANCE gTLD potentially offers legitimate consumers a safer and more intuitive means of accessing authorized content from ESIC.
18.2.2 What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?
As a branded gTLD, the primary driving factors of applying for the .ESURANCE gTLD are differentiation and innovation. The success of the gTLD will not be measured by the number of domain names registered. Instead, it will be measured by the level of consumer recognition and trust that is placed in the .ESURANCE gTLD.
Using this benchmark, ESIC strives to build consumer recognition and trust that rise to the level of that found in the .EDU and .GOV gTLDs.
As noted above, ESIC, together with its affiliates, forms a leading insurance services company that leverages emerging technologies to deliver information, products, and services to its consumers on a national scale. The .ESURANCE gTLD has the potential to serve as a cornerstone of this online strategy, if the potential consumer benefits that ICANN experts have forecasted become a reality.
A .ESURANCE gTLD also ties in closely with ESIC’s commitment to the environment. In addition to a claim vehicle fleet that is 100% hybrid, by offering a paperless customer experience, ESIC estimates that it has helped save over 3,520 trees since 2000. By providing increased opportunities for consumers to use the Internet to engage in commerce in a safe and trusted environment, ESIC minimizes the potential negative impact on the environment.
18.2.3 What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?
ESIC believes that the .ESURANCE gTLD will provide a single, trusted ecosystem experience for the millions of current and prospective policyholders in North America seeking information about its and its affiliates’ services. ESIC currently offers the following services online 24⁄7 through its flexible technology platform: delivering fast and accurate car insurance quotes; the ability of customers to manage their policy in real time; and filing a claim and checking its status online.
As one of the pioneers in the online insurance sector, ESIC will look to integrate these existing services into the new gTLD hierarchy and infrastructure, while evaluating other potential opportunities for innovation.
At minimum, the proposed .ESURANCE gTLD will provide consumers with short, memorable, and intuitive domain names to navigate the ESIC website. The general availability of these shorter domain names is a critical aspect for the growing number of consumers that navigate the Internet and use ESIC’s services through mobile devices. In addition to providing consumers with short, memorable, and intuitive domain names, ESIC hopes to have robust safeguards to minimize any fraudulent activity within the .ESURANCE gTLD.
The initial use of the .ESURANCE gTLD will involve ESIC registering a conservative number of second-level domain names. This initial use will provide ESIC’s IT and security personnel the ability to run a number of assessments for seamless and secure access to the ESIC website, and interoperability with various software and Web⁄mobile-based applications. Once appropriate security and stability issues have been satisfactorily addressed, ESIC plans to begin allocating domain names for internal corporate use and may redirect new .ESURANCE domain names to pre-existing content.
This phased rollout will likely take place over a multi-year period, but is subject to change depending upon a range of external factors, and will be in line with ESIC’s marketing strategy and technology needs.
18.2.4 Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.
The .ESURANCE gTLD is initially intended to be exclusively used by ESIC and potentially its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. Should business partners eventually be allowed to register second level domain names, each will have the Required License which will terminate in the event of a misuse. The termination of the Required License will result in the deletion of any second level domain name(s) registered to any such business partner. Because of this intended use, any registration and use requirements are more appropriately vested in these corporate⁄affiliate agreements and in the Required License (if any), not in a domain name registration agreement itself.
While ESIC is fully supportive of, and committed to, ICANN’s bottom-up, consensus-driven model, the ESIC mark ESURANCE is a valuable brand whose protection is of paramount importance; therefore, any registration and use requirements (e.g., trademark quality control provisions) must, necessarily, vest in these other agreements.
Notwithstanding these concerns, ESIC will incorporate all required ICANN consensus policies and other legal⁄policy requirements imposed on new gTLD applicants into the terms and conditions of the domain name registration agreement that each registrant will execute.
18.2.5 Will your proposed gTLD impose any measures for protecting the privacy or confidential information of registrants or users? If so, please describe any such measures.
As an online business, ESIC recognizes first hand that this is an evolving area of law in which there is not a single international standard. ESIC respects the privacy of its customers and other consumers. As an insurance provider, ESIC is regulated by federal and state laws protecting the confidentiality and security of customer information, as well as ESIC’s use and disclosure of such information.
ESIC will ensure that the operation of the .ESURANCE gTLD will be consistent with relevant local and national laws governing privacy rights protection, as they are interpreted and applied, and has obtained a similar warranty from its backend services provider.
In addition, ESIC intends to incorporate contractual language in its Registry-Registrar Agreement (RRA) modeled after language which has been included in the template Registry Agreement and which has been successful utilized by existing ICANN gTLD Registry Operators.
The new gTLD Registry Agreement states “Registry Operator shall (i) notify each ICANN-accredited registrar that is a party to the registry-registrar agreement for the TLD of the purposes for which data about any identified or identifiable natural person (“Personal Data”) submitted to Registry Operator by such registrar is collected and used under this Agreement or otherwise and the intended recipients (or categories of recipients) of such Personal Data, and (ii) require such registrar to obtain the consent of each registrant in the TLD for such collection and use of Personal Data. Registry Operator shall take reasonable steps to protect Personal Data collected from such registrar from loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration or destruction. Registry Operator shall not use or authorize the use of Personal Data in a way that is incompatible with the notice provided to registrars.ʺ
18.2.6 Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.
ESIC sees the potential for this gTLD to serve as a component of ESIC’s future online strategic initiative. However, there remain a number of unanswered questions concerning consumer recognition and adoption of new gTLDs in the marketplace that first must be fully answered to ESIC’s satisfaction.
ESIC plans to start using these domain names primarily as redirects to existing .COM domains. After careful analysis and study of a targeted pilot rollout using the new .ESURANCE domains as addresses, ESIC may plan to engage in a broader, strategic initiative, should the results be positive. The actual usage of .ESURANCE domain names will dictate what public communications and consumer outreach may be done to encourage navigation to the .ESURANCE gTLD. This is not limited to, but may include advertising, media outreach, and email campaigns. However, there is currently no specific plan or budget for such communications given the uncertainty of consumer adoption of new gTLDs in the marketplace.
18C. What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs (e.g., time or financial resource costs, as well as various types of consumer vulnerabilities)? What other steps will you take to minimize negative consequences/costs imposed upon consumers?
18.3.1 What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs (e.g., time or financial resource costs, as well as various types of consumer vulnerabilities)?
ESIC has proposed operating rules to limit registration, as described herein, which will provide a number of benefits, as well as a trusted online environment for consumers of ESIC content and other information and services. Trademark and brand ownersʹ costs will be mitigated, since there will be no need to defensively register second-level domains in .ESURANCE.
In addition, this verified ecosystem will provide consumers with a single, trusted source for ESIC content with a substantially lower risk of exposure to phishing, fraud and⁄or other Internet scams, thus reducing the level of consumer vulnerability.
18.3.2 What other steps will you take to minimize negative consequences⁄costs imposed upon consumers?
ESIC believes that the proposed operation of the .ESURANCE gTLD as set forth in this application has no known negative consequences or cost implications for consumers.
On the contrary, the proposed gTLD provides ESIC with the ability to continue its history as a pioneer in the online insurance marketplace given the trusted nature of the .ESURANCE gTLD namespace, as described in detail above.
18.3.3 How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come⁄first-serve basis?
Given the restrictions on registration noted above, ESIC does not envision multiple applicants for the same domain name.
18.3.4 Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).
ESIC does not envision any pricing, introductory discounts, or bulk registration discounts because these marketing⁄commercial initiatives are inconsistent with the Purpose of the .ESURANCE gTLD. There is no anticipated market for second level registrations in the .ESURANCE gTLD.
Moreover, it is the current intention of ESIC to have ESIC provide domain name registrations to ESIC, and potentially qualified subsidiaries and affiliates, as well as business partners having the Required License, at cost or at no cost, though ESIC reserves the right to re-evaluate this decision and may choose to impose a nominal fee in the future. Any registrant fees imposed in the future will be consistent with the Purpose as well as the Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement and ICANN Consensus Policies.
18.3.5 Note that the Registry Agreement requires that registrars be offered the option to obtain initial domain name registrations for periods of one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten years. Additionally, the Registry Agreement requires advance written notice of price increases. Do you intend to make contractual commitments to registrants regarding the magnitude of price escalation? If so, please describe your plans.
ESIC is committed to providing the domain name registration periods set forth in the Registry Agreement. However, as noted above, the registration and use of a .ESURANCE domain name is restricted.
Therefore, providing contractual commitments in a domain name registrant agreement regarding the magnitude of price escalations does not seem relevant or appropriate. Additionally, as noted above, the current business model envisions ESIC providing domain name registrations at cost or at no cost.
ESIC acknowledges that the Draft New gTLD Registry Agreement requires that the Registry Operator “shall offer registrars the option to obtain registration periods for one to ten years at the discretion of the registrar.” However, the selection of the number of years for which a particular second level domain name is registered is a decision of the registrant and not the registrar. Given that all second level registrations will be consistent with the Purpose and restricted as set forth above, ESIC intends to only register domain names on an annual basis.
This is done to better account for costs on an annual basis as well as to provide for more concise financial statements in Question 46 (e.g., no multi-year registrations or deferred revenue).