.NATIONWIDE New gTLD Application
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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company
Application Downloaded On: 05 Nov 2015
String: NATIONWIDE
Application ID: 1-1878-48436
Applicant Information
- Full legal name
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company
- Address of the principal place of business
1 Nationwide Plaza Columbus, Ohio - 43215-2220 US
- Phone number
+16142497111
- Fax number
+16148543676
- If applicable, website or URL
http://www.nationwide.com
Primary Contact
6(a). Name
Royce Workman
6(b). Title
Director – Enterprise Digital Experience
6(c). Address
6(d). Phone Number
(614) 249-3250
6(e). Fax Number
+16146778412
6(f). Email Address
Secondary Contact
7(a). Name
Brian Winterfeldt
7(b). Title
Head of Internet Practice, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
7(c). Address
7(d). Phone Number
(212) 940-6762
7(e). Fax Number
(212) 894-5585
7(f). Email Address
Proof of Legal Establishment
8(a). Legal form of the Applicant
Ohio Corporation for Non-Profit
8(b). State the specific national or other jurisdiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).
The entity is defined under Title 17 of the Ohio Revised Code. A copy of Title 17 of the Ohio Revised Code can be found at: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/17.
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
- I. (Irv) Bell Director
Barry J. Nalebuff Director
Brent R. Porteus Director
Daniel T. Kelley Director
Fred C. Finney Director
James B. Bachmann Director
Jeffrey W. Zellers Director
Keith W. Eckel Director
Kenneth D. Davis Director
Lewis J. Alphin Director
Lydia M. Marshall Director
- Diane Koken Director
Stephen S. Rasmussen Director
Terry W. McClure Director
Timothy J. Corcoran Director
Yvonne M. Curl Director
11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners
Name
Position
David G. Arango Division President - Titan Insurance
Gale V. King Executive Vice President - Chief Human Resources Officer
Gary Douglas Senior Vice President - President and COO - Farmland Mutual Insurance Co. & Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Co.
Harry H. Hallowell Senior Vice President - Chief Investment Officer
- Lynn Greenstein Senior Vice President - President and CEO – Nationwide Bank
Kirt A. Walker President and Chief Operating Officer - Nationwide Financial
Lawrence A. Hilsheimer President and Chief Operating Officer - Nationwide Direct & Customer Solutions
Mark A. Pizzi President and Chief Operating Officer - Nationwide Insurance
Mark R. Thresher Executive Vice President - Chief Financial Officer
Matthew Jauchius Executive Vice President - Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer
Michael C. Keller Executive Vice President - Chief Information Officer
Michael D. Miller Executive Vice President
Michael W. Mahaffey Senior Vice President - Chief Risk Officer
Patricia R. Hatler Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Governance Officer
Sandra L. Rich Senior Vice President - Chief Compliance Officer
Stephen S. Rasmussen Chief Executive Officer
Terri L. Hill Executive Vice President - Administration
- Kim Austen President and Cheif Operating Officer - Allied Group
11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares
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.
NATIONWIDE
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.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. (“Applicant”) has consulted with its registry service operator regarding any potential rendering or operational problems with the applied-for .NATIONWIDE gTLD (the ʺTLDʺ) . Because the applied-for TLD uses standard characters under The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) standard, the registry service operator has ensured us that there are no known or likely operational or rendering problems.
- 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.
Nationwide is a long-standing Fortune 500 company and a leading provider of domestic U.S. property and casualty insurance, life insurance and retirement savings, asset management, and strategic investments. Nationwide employs a mutual ownership structure which allows Nationwide to more effectively align its businesses with meeting the needs of our policyholders and customers, free of the influences exerted on publically-traded companies. Nationwide’s operating structure combined with the diversity of its businesses builds a solid foundation for a strong and stable company. As a result, Nationwide has grown to be one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the world and today people know “Nationwide, Is on Your Side.” Indeed, Nationwide owns several trademarks in the United States and internationally for the NATIONWIDE service mark, namely, U.S. Reg. Nos. 0,854,888, 1,793,850, 2,017,147, 2,371,088, 3,328,956 and 3,328,989 for various insurance, financial, mortgage, and banking services.
Nationwide’s overall mission is to protect what is most important to the millions of policy-holders, contract holders, participants and beneficiaries. Indeed, Nationwide takes customer service seriously. As one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the world, Nationwide knows that putting its customers first has allowed Nationwide to become the industry leader that it is today. Accordingly, Nationwide strives to create the best outcomes for its clients and customers with insurance and financial solutions that are secure, creative, and responsible.
In line with Nationwide’s general purpose and mission as described above, the purpose of the proposed gTLD (“the TLD”) is to further assist Nationwide in accomplishing its mission of providing the most secure online insurance and financial services to customers, clients, affiliates, and subsidiaries. In keeping with its mission to offer insurance and financial services in a safe, responsible, and consumer-driven manner, upon delegation of the TLD, Nationwide will initially conduct consumer and technical research to assess effective and safe ways for Nationwide to market its insurance and financial services to its consumers and to safely offer insurance and financial services by leveraging the new TLD. During this initial research period, Nationwide will not use the TLD to provide any information or services to the public, but reserves the right to use the TLD for internal purposes, including consumer and security-based testing of the TLD for later public use. If testing does not indicate that Nationwide can fulfill its mission with the TLD or it is clear that its customers will not robustly use the TLD, Nationwide reserves the right to continue to use the TLD for internal purposes only.
If testing shows that there is consumer demand for use of the TLD and that Nationwide’s services can be provided in a secure and useful manner, then Nationwide will consider using the TLD to promote Nationwide’s products and services, and to allow its customers to access policy information and transact insurance and financial business on websites under the TLD. If the use of the TLD expands in this way, Nationwide will consider and test the possibility of extending the use of domain names within the TLD to Nationwide’s Affiliates (as defined in Applicant’s registration policy below) to sell and distribute Nationwide’s goods and services, but will oversee and control such use at all times to ensure that all uses of the TLD stay consistent with Nationwide’s purpose and mission. At no time will Nationwide offer, sell, or lease domains in the TLD to other companies or third-party users not affiliated with Nationwide.
18B. How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?
- What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?
Specialty
Currently, there is no top-level domain dedicated to insurance and financial services, and no top-level domain dedicated to Nationwide’s brand. The goal of the TLD, in terms of specialty, is to provide a TLD dedicated to providing information about Nationwide to internet users and providing insurance and financial goods and services to customers under its famous and trusted brand. Allowing Nationwide to control its own Internet space for its well-known and famous brand will give it the ability to customize its domain and website names, and will signal to Internet users that websites under the TLD are indeed securely controlled by Nationwide and safer than if they were accessing a website hosted at a non-branded, non-industry-related domain name in the .com, .net, or .biz gTLDs. This specialty will benefit Internet users seeking secure online insurance and financial services without the worry that they will become the next phishing victim.
This specialization simultaneously makes it easier for Internet users who are looking for Nationwide-related information or customers seeking policy information to locate this information more efficiently. The appendage of the TLD will indicate to users what they can expect to find at that website under the TLD, namely, premier and secure insurance and financial goods and services offered solely by the famous and reputable company called Nationwide. It also has another added benefit in that web addresses will become shorter—one impact of a dearth of ‘good’ web addresses has been for them to get longer over time. Using the TLD not only means Nationwide’s sites can benefit from having an important keyword in their web address, but it will also be much faster to type in the address. Built into a wider process and opportunity of web optimization and marketing, the inclusion of the TLD keyword in every domain name will likely have positive implications for security and global promotion purposes by making it easier for Internet users to locate Nationwide and its goods and services using search engines or similar technology. This will increase relevant traffic to these websites, promote healthy competition, and facilitate use and trust by financial service consumers who prefer shorter domain names and want a trusted source of the services they seek.
Service Levels
The goal of the TLD will be to ensure the highest level of security, quality, and customer service levels to Nationwide’s customers and clients, for whom security is a high priority concern in connection with its vulnerable insurance and financial goods and services. Primarily, this entails ensuring that only Nationwide and its Affiliates are able to register and⁄or use the second-level domain names within the TLD, and applying the same high online service levels that Nationwide provides through its current domain names in other top-level domains. Regarding security concerns, this entails contracting with and using proven industry experts to provide the highest possible quality in registry and registrar services so as to not compromise the security and stability of the highly confidential information that Nationwide’s consumers may provide through the TLD.
Similarly to how it operates its current websites, Nationwide will further endeavor to provide quality customer service through the use of click-to-chat and click-to-call capabilities 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, which allows for live, real-time support for customers attempting to learn about or utilize Nationwide’s services online. Similarly, Nationwide will provide the highest level service to trademark and other legal rights owners by providing an easily accessible point-of-contact on any outwardly-facing domain names and websites.
Reputation
Nationwide already has a reputation for excellence, superior quality, and the highest level of data security in the insurance and finance industry, including online through its current websites and domain names. Indeed, insurance and financial websites are among the most vulnerable to fraudulent online activity, and Nationwide seeks through the operation of the TLD to maintain its reputation for providing the most secure online environment in the industry for all Internet users to feel secure in providing highly sensitive personal information to Nationwide. Nationwide also has a reputation of having enhanced technical capabilities and to be an early adopter of online technical advancements in the insurance and financial industry, such as by launching the first mobile phone application for an insurance company. The goal of the TLD, if made public, is to continue to promote Nationwide’s reputation for excellence and high levels of security and advanced and enhanced technical capabilities.
The TLD will strive to be known for ensuring only Nationwide and its Affiliates register and⁄or use domain names in the TLD, that those domain names are used for Nationwide-related purposes at the direction of Nationwide, that all information possible will be kept completely confidential, that the Whois is thick and reliable, and that the TLD is responsive to legal rights owners. Indeed, when Internet users visit a website within the TLD, they will know that Nationwide will be the entity providing its world-renowned services, and that they can expect the highest level of online service and security. In all, Nationwide will strive to continue to be known as an exemplary and model domain name services citizen throughout its use of the TLD.
- What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?
Competition
The TLD will enhance competition in the current Internet space by allowing Nationwide to control its own Internet presence and to have the flexibility to innovate, distribute, and create new online insurance and financial goods and services, and to reach new geographic areas in new ways. These innovations to how Nationwide will provide online insurance and financial services will promote competition among and incentivize other insurance and financial service companies that operate on existing and new top-level domains to also improve the security and quality of the insurance and financial goods and services they provide online. Nationwide also expects to accelerate the introduction of new goods and services in order to continue attracting new customers. Thus, the entry of the TLD will benefit consumers by increasing the likelihood of the successful introduction of new and innovative online goods and services through healthy competition and increased confidence about online security.
Differentiation
The TLD will be differentiated from all other top-level domains currently available in the marketplace because it will be able to affix Nationwide’s famous brand to second-level domains in the TLD and indicate to Internet users the source of the TLD. Indeed, no other top-level domain is similar in appearance, sound, or meaning to .[NATIONWIDE, is used exclusively for insurance and financial goods and services, and⁄or exclusively serves Nationwide’s users and customers. In terms of differentiated uses, Nationwide will be able to customize the second-level domains within the TLD so as to signify the good or service offered as well as the source of the service. Finally, only Nationwide and its Affiliates will ever be allowed to register and⁄or use domain names within the TLD, allowing the TLD to remain unique in that customers do not have to fear corruption, security, spam, phishing or false or inaccurate information. This differentiation will allow Nationwide to become a truly trusted TLD provider of online insurance or financial goods or services in contrast to current top-level domains.
Innovation
Nationwide is already a recognized leader in online insurance and financial innovation. Indeed, technology is at the forefront of Nationwide’s current online insurance and financial innovation. For example, one of the most crucial issues of importance to insurance and finance customers is security. The TLD, if publicly used, will allow Nationwide to provide information, goods and services to its clients and customers in a fast, but more secure and technologically advanced way and allow Nationwide to implement technical advances that may not have been capable before in a less secure environment.
Indeed, it is difficult in the current Internet space for Nationwide to innovate and to provide truly secure banking and financial websites. With the TLD, Nationwide can test the use of the TLD with consumers to facilitate their desired Web experience, and can test the use of the TLD to ensure Nationwide’s Internet-provided services meet the highest possible security standard. This innovation will promote competition in the Internet space and provide higher and faster levels of service to its users and customers. Moreover, the TLD will allow more people to have greater access to a dedicated and secure insurance and financial services top-level domain.
- What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?
If a public use is determined to satisfy its customers’ Web expectations and can be done securely, with the quality and breadth of resources similar to or exceeding that of its current domain names in third-party top-level domains, Nationwide will take great care to ensure that domain names in the TLD will ultimately serve the Internet user. Accordingly, Nationwide will rely on its consumer and security-driven testing to ensure that the TLD will provide the best user experience possible for those seeking fast, robust, reliable, and secure online insurance and financial goods and services and related information. Because users will know that all of the domain names in the TLD are owned and controlled by Nationwide, Nationwide anticipates that the TLD will eventually provide an enhanced and secure online technological experience for those interested in obtaining more information about Nationwide’s products and services, as well as conducting online banking and financial transactions.
- Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.
In support of the goals listed above, only Applicant through its authorized employees will be allowed to register domain names within the TLD for its own exclusive use. Accordingly, the general public will never be allowed to register, buy, or sell domain names in the TLD. Applicant, however, reserves the right to sell, distribute, or transfer control or use of any registrations in the TLD to any third party that is an Affiliate of Applicant for uses as specified by Applicant. Affiliate will be defined for the purposes of this application as (i) a person or entity that, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, Applicant, and (ii) “control” (including the terms “controlled by” and “under common control with”) means the possession, directly or indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management or policies of a person or entity regarding the use of a domain name within the TLD, whether through the ownership of securities, as trustee or executor, by serving as an employee or a member of a board of directors or equivalent governing body, by contract, by credit arrangement or otherwise.
As stated above, Nationwide intends to operate a closed registry in order to continue offer the high-quality online insurance and financial goods and services it currently offers on its branded websites in existing top-level domains. Accordingly, policies and decisions regarding the registration and use of domain names within the TLD will continue to be provided through an internal team consisting of Nationwide’s existing decision-making channels.
The TLD’s domain name policies will be limited by its abuse prevention and rights protection policies discussed further herein, and will strive to avoid registering domain names that are confusingly similar to third-party’s trademarks and related rights. Obscene, explicit, and offensive domain names will not be entitled to registration in the TLD.
- 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.
Keeping information secure and private is of crucial importance to insurance and financial institutions, whose websites are particularly vulnerable to online fraud. Initially, Nationwide intends to operate an internal registry with limited access so as to ensure the security and privacy of the information available. As Nationwide’s use may expand, Nationwide will take all available steps to maintain the security and privacy of the information collected therein, and will remain in compliance with the highest confidentiality and security regulations in relevant jurisdictions. We will continue to communicate our commitment to privacy to our customers and website users by publically posting them on our website.
- Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.
If the TLD is expanded to face the general Internet public, Nationwide will be able to incorporate the outreach and communication regarding the TLD into its significant, existing branding and marketing efforts to ensure that as many customers and users as possible understand the new resources available and how to interact with them to improve their consumer experience. Indeed, Nationwide will apply its existing outreach and communication methods to market to all Internet users that the TLD will provide better and more secure access to banking and financial information and goods and services to individuals, institutions, and other potential insurance and financial services customers.
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?
- How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come⁄first-serve basis?
Members of the public will not be able to register domain names in the TLD. Registration will be tightly controlled by Nationwide, and initially only a limited number of designated Nationwide personnel will be able to register domain names on behalf of Nationwide for purposes relating to Nationwide after approval by Nationwide’s existing business and marketing decision-making channels. Therefore, there will not be multiple applications for a particular domain name.
- Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).
Members of the public will not be able to register domain names in the TLD. Registration will be tightly controlled by Nationwide, and initially only a limited number of designated Nationwide personnel will be able to register domain names on behalf of Nationwide for purposes relating to Nationwide after approval by Nationwide’s existing business and marketing decision-making channels. Therefore, because Nationwide does not plan to sell the domain names in the TLD, there are no cost benefits for registrants to implement.
- 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.
Members of the public will not be able to register domain names in the TLD. Registration will be tightly controlled by Nationwide, and initially only a limited number of designated Nationwide personnel will be able to register domain names on behalf of Nationwide for purposes relating to Nationwide after approval by Nationwide’s existing business and marketing decision-making channels. Therefore, because Nationwide does not plan to sell the domain names in the TLD, contractual commitments to registrants regarding price escalation are not relevant to Nationwide’s mission or goals for the TLD at this time.