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.viking New gTLD Application

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New gTLD Application Submitted to ICANN by: Viking River Cruises (Bermuda) Ltd.

String: viking

Originally Posted: 13 June 2012

Application ID: 1-1691-8656

 

Applicant Information

 

  1. Full legal name

Viking River Cruises (Bermuda) Ltd.

 

  1. Address of the principal place of business

5700 Canoga Avenue

Suite 200

Woodland Hills CA 91367

US

 

  1. Phone number

01 818 227 1234

 

  1. Fax number

01 818 594 8446

 

  1. If applicable, website or URL

http:⁄⁄www.vikingrivercruises.com

 

Primary Contact

 

6(a). Name

Gretchen Olive

 

6(b). Title

Director of Policy & Industry Affairs

 

6(c). Address

 

6(d). Phone Number

01 302 6365401

 

6(e). Fax Number

01 302 6365454

 

6(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Secondary Contact

 

7(a). Name

Richard Marnell

 

7(b). Title

SVP of Marketing

 

7(c). Address

 

7(d). Phone Number

01 818 594 8407

 

7(e). Fax Number

01 818 594 8446

 

7(f). Email Address

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Proof of Legal Establishment

 

8(a). Legal form of the Applicant

Corporation

 

8(b). State the specific national or other jursidiction that defines the type of entity identified in 8(a).

Bermuda

 

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.

Viking River Cruises Ltd.

 

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

Anton Hofmann Director

Charles Duro Director

Guy Nathaniel Christian Cooper Director

Torstein Olav Hagen Director

 

11(b). Name(s) and position(s) of all officers and partners

Torstein Olav Hagen Chairman

 

11(c). Name(s) and position(s) of all shareholders holding at least 15% of shares

Viking River Cruises Ltd. 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

Conyes Dill & Pearman Legal Counsel

 

Applied-for gTLD string

 

  1. Provide the applied-for gTLD string. If an IDN, provide the U-label.

viking

 

14(a). If an IDN, provide the A-label (beginning with "xn--").

 

14(b). 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.

 

14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (in English).

 

14(c). If an IDN, provide the language of the label (as referenced by ISO-639-1).

 

14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (in English).

 

14(d). If an IDN, provide the script of the label (as referenced by ISO 15924).

 

14(e). If an IDN, list all code points contained in the U-label according to Unicode form.

 

15(a). If an IDN, Attach IDN Tables for the proposed registry.

Attachments are not displayed on this form.

 

15(b). Describe the process used for development of the IDN tables submitted, including consultations and sources used.

 

15(c). List any variant strings to the applied-for gTLD string according to the relevant IDN tables.

 

  1. 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.

Applicant anticipates the introduction of this TLD without operational or rendering problems. Based on a decade of experience launching and operating new TLDs, Afilias, the back-end provider of registry services for this TLD, is confident the launch and operation of this TLD 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 this TLD;

 - 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 this TLD

 

  1. (OPTIONAL) Provide a representation of the label according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/).

 

Mission/Purpose

 

18(a). Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD.

  1. a) Describe the mission⁄purpose of your proposed gTLD

 

Viking River Cruises, the world’s leading River Cruise Line, was established in 1997.  Viking has offices in Los Angeles, Boston, London, Cologne, Sydney, Basel, St. Petersburg and Beijing.  Viking River Cruises expanded into the American market in 2000, establishing U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles, California. As a result of additional purchases and new builds, today Viking River Cruises operates a fleet of 28 ships with nearly 4,800 berths, while employing approximately 1,800 people worldwide.

Viking River Cruises continues the Viking tradition of exploration on the world’s great waterways. The company’s Board of Directors includes prominent investors and financial leaders with impressive credentials in cruising and shipping. It is led by Chairman and CEO Torstein Hagen, a former McKinsey Partner and Harvard Business School graduate and one of the original founders of the company. As the leader in the river cruise industry, Viking River Cruises boasts unique features:

  • World’s leading river cruise line®
  • Has the most experience and knowledge of river cruising, having purchased Europe’s venerable KD River Cruises with 40 years of river cruising experience
  • Owns docks in many European cities, ensuring prime docking locations for easy passenger access and the ability to walk directly into town in many ports
  • Most of Viking’s 28 ships were built since 2000, and the rest have been recently refurbished.

The proposed .viking gTLD is a restricted, exclusively-controlled TLD that would serve the purpose of enhancing and expanding Viking River Cruises’ ability to:

  • create a connected digital presence and personalized brand experience for clients and business partners;
  • deliver product and service marketing⁄advertising;
  • enable marketing campaign activation;
  • facilitate secure interaction and communication with individuals and entities with whom Viking River Cruises has a business relationship;
  • improve business operations;
  • simplify Internet user navigation to information about Viking River Cruises products and services;
  • demonstrate market leadership in protecting client⁄member privacy and confidential information online; and
  • meet future client expectations and competitive market demands.

 

18(b). How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

  1. b)                 How do you expect that your proposed gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users, and others?

 

Answers should address the following points:

  1. What is the goal of your proposed gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels, or reputation?
  • The goal of the proposed .viking gTLD in terms of specialty, service levels and reputation are:

o Specialty – Viking River Cruises is a leading provider of travel services and vacation destinations. In the course of its business with client⁄members, highly-sensitive, personal and confidential information is collected and shared between authorized parties.  To further demonstrate Viking River Cruises’ commitment and market leadership in the area of data confidentiality and privacy within the travel industry, Viking River Cruises intends to utilize the .viking gTLD to create a restricted, exclusively-controlled online environment for client⁄members and other business partners with the goal of further securing the collection and transmission of personal and other confidential data required for contracted services and other service delivery related activities.  

o Service levels –One of the key goals of the proposed .viking gTLD is to create a restricted, exclusively-controlled online environment for client⁄members, contractors and other business partners which will increase client confidence and trust in conducting business online.  Through greater use of online tools by client⁄members, Viking River Cruises expects to further streamline business processes, reduce turn-around times, provide more personalized service and improve overall client service delivery and satisfaction.

o Reputation – Viking River Cruises has a reputation of stellar client service, innovation and market leadership. With more and more travel seekers booking their travel online, one of the goals of the proposed .viking gTLD is to position Viking River Cruises to meet future client expectations and competitive market demands to ensure it can continue to grow its reputation in the employment industry and in the global marketplace.

 

 

  1. What do you anticipate your proposed gTLD will add to the current space, in terms of competition, differentiation, or innovation?
  • Viking River Cruises plans to operate the proposed .viking gTLD as a restricted, exclusively-controlled TLD and as such will not be commercially offered for registration⁄use by the general public.  Thus, Viking River Cruises will have exclusive ownership and control over all second-level registrations within the TLD and their use.   As a result, we believe the proposed .viking gTLD will add to the current names space in three (3) areas:

o Competition – As technology advances, so too do client expectations of companies online.  They expect that companies will utilize the latest and greatest technology and online practices to improve the user experience protect their information and deliver quality service.  Viking River Cruises anticipates that the proposed .viking gTLD will enable it to communicate, interact and protect data in ways and under conditions not possible under the existing namespace, thus enabling Viking River Cruises to meet future client expectations and competitive market demands.

o Differentiation – While today companies like Viking River Cruises can register brand strings at the second-level (e.g. rivercruises.com), the proliferation of cybersquatting and typo squatting has placed a great burden on consumers to carefully tread online because there is no guarantee on the face of the domain name string that what looks like a branded website is indeed an authorized website of the brand owner.  The proposed .viking gTLD will enable clients⁄members and other business partners and Internet users to distinguish on the face of the domain name alone whether the site is an authorized company site because the gTLD will be a restricted, exclusively-controlled online environment where only authorized company web properties and e-mail will exist and operate online.

Innovation - The proposed .viking gTLD as a restricted, exclusively-controlled TLD will provide Viking River Cruises with a new platform on which to build future innovation of its online brand presence.

 

  1. What goals does your proposed gTLD have in terms of user experience?

 

  • The Internet has been plagued by cybersquatting, typo squatting, phishing, pharming and identity theft scams.  This malicious online conduct has shaken the trust and confidence of consumers to share information and transact business online.  Thus, the proposed .viking gTLD has the following user experience goals:
  •  

o Simplify purchase and unify the full breadth of products and services offered by Viking River Cruises;

o Improve and streamline manner in which client⁄member and other business partners can interact with Viking River Cruises in the online digital space;

o Foster trust and  confidence in online interactions by client⁄members and other business partners with Viking River Cruises;

o Reduce the risk of Internet users being misled, believing and⁄or acting on erroneous, information about Viking River Cruises, its business partners and⁄or its products and services presented online by unauthorized 3rd parties; and

o Simplify online navigation to Viking River Cruises products, services and affiliate information.

 

  1. Provide a complete description of the applicant’s intended registration policies in support of the goals listed above.

 

The proposed gTLD will be a restricted, exclusively-controlled gTLD where only Applicant, affiliated entities and authorized business partners will be permitted to register second-level domains for Applicant business purposes only for a term of one to ten years.   Affiliated entities who are part of the same corporate organization as the Applicant who seek registrations for second-level names under the TLD will be required to present evidence in writing to accredited registrar(s) for the TLD demonstrating explicit authorization from an officer of the Applicant company to register second-level names within the TLD to protect against unauthorized registration within the TLD by unaffiliated third parties.  Applicants and affiliated entities owned and⁄or controlled by the same corporate parent company will supply corporate contact and ownership information, not personal information,  for each registration obtained under the TLD for display in the TLD WHOIS.

 

To the extent second-level domain names are ever registered to Applicant’s business partners and⁄or affiliates that are not owned by Applicant or its corporate parent company, registrants will be required to execute a registration agreement that incorporates 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.  Such registration may also be subject to additional terms and conditions under separate business partner and⁄or affiliate agreements with Applicant entity.  Registrations by business partners or affiliates not owned by Applicant or its corporate parent company will require written, pre-approval by designated individual(s) at Applicant company, must provide corporate contact information, not personal information, for WHOIS purposes and must be made with Applicant’s registrar of choice.  Registrants must not use the domain name in any way that may damage or diminish Applicants brand reputation, business relationships or other business interests.  Failure to do any of the above, will result in the immediate suspension of registrant’s registration agreement and⁄or all deletion of all domain names currently registered in the TLD.  

 

  1. 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.

 

The proposed .viking gTLD will be a restricted, exclusively-controlled TLD where Viking River Cruises will have exclusive control.  Corporate contact information will be clearly listed in the WHOIS record for each registration within the TLD.  Thus, there are no measures that need to be proposed to protect the privacy or confidential registration information of registrants⁄users of the TLD.  However, Viking River Cruises is investing in the proposed .viking gTLD to further demonstrate its commitment and market leadership with regard to privacy of consumer data (as evidenced by its current data privacy policy, http:⁄⁄www.vikingrivercruises.com⁄privacy.aspx), as Viking River Cruises believes the utilization of the proposed new gTLD could position the company to more fully meet online challenges that may threaten the security of client⁄member data in the future.  

 

Privacy Policy

Viking River Cruises is committed to respecting and protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy applies to the Viking River Cruises website and governs its data collection, usage and services. This privacy policy also discloses how we collect, protect, use and share information gathered about you on our website.

 

Information We Collect

You can use our website without divulging any personally identifiable information including your email address. Our website does not collect personally identifiable information about individuals except when such individuals specifically provide such information on a voluntary basis, such as when registering at our website, requesting a brochure or video, or accessing our “request a reservation” or “book now” feature. Viking River Cruises uses such information collected to provide the products or services you request, to improve and customize the content you see, and to contact you about special promotions and new products if requested.

 

Personal Information

Viking River Cruises collects personally identifiable information on the site. Personal information includes, among other things, a user’s name, address, business address, telephone number, business telephone number, and email address. Fields in which we collect such required information are marked with an asterisk (*). We also may ask you for your date of birth and information about your interests so that we can combine such information with the information described above. We use that information so that both you and we can take advantage of the interactivity of the internet to provide you with services and offers. You may always choose whether to respond or not. We also receive personally identifiable information when you apply for a job in the “employment” section of the site. Any such information gathered through that section will be used solely to evaluate whether your background and experience make you a candidate for a career with Viking River Cruises.

 

Non-Personally Identifiable Information

In addition to personal information, Viking River Cruises may also gather non-personally identifiable information, which may be used by Viking River Cruises. Generally, “non-personally identifiable information” means information that is collected through “traffic data” and may entail the use of “cookies,” “IP addresses,” “pixel tags” or other numeric codes used to identify a computer or monitor how or when a user accesses the site or communications.

 

Registering at Our Website

When you register at our website, we request your email address, name and ZIP code. We do not currently sell our subscribers’ email addresses to third parties. We may share your email address with third parties to deliver brochures, videos, information about cruise promotions, news and other information about our website, products, services or special promotions on our behalf.

 

Email Promotions

You may subscribe to our email promotions program by registering on our website. You may unsubscribe or change your email address for email promotions at any time by following the instructions given within each email promotion.

 

Pixel Tags and Cookies

We use an email delivery and marketing company to send emails. Pixel tags and cookies are used in those email messages and at our website to help us measure the effectiveness of our marketing and how visitors use our site. Pixel tags (sometimes also called “clear GIFs”) are small graphic files, invisible to the human eye, which allow websites or other online services to track users. Viking River Cruises and our third-party advertising company uses pixel tags in HTML-enabled email to track whether (and when) the recipient opened the message. The data on your use of our site may be linked to the Personal Information you have chosen to share with us when you register. Most internet browsers automatically accept cookies. However, you can instruct your browser, by editing its options, to stop accepting cookies or prompt you before accepting a cookie from the sites you visit. If you decide not to accept our cookies, your ability to use some features on our site may be impaired. Certain visitors to our site may have previously received targeted promotional materials relative to the site. Viking River Cruises may share site usage information about such visitors with reputable third parties for the purpose of targeting future campaigns and upgrading visitor information used in reporting statistics. Although our marketing company logs the information coming from our site on our behalf, we control how that data may and may not be used.

 

Children

Viking River Cruises does not sell products for purchase by children. If you are under 18, your parents are responsible for approving your use of this site.

 

Privacy and Change of Control

In the event Viking River Cruises goes through a business transition, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, users’ personal information will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred.

 

Consent and Changes to Privacy Policy

By using this site, you consent to the collection, use and storage of your information by us in the manner described in this Privacy Policy and elsewhere on the site. We reserve the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time. If this Privacy Policy changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this page. Regularly reviewing this page ensures that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with other parties.

 

 

 

Describe whether and in what ways outreach and communications will help to achieve your projected benefits.

 

Prior to using the proposed .viking gTLD for product and service marketing⁄advertising, marketing campaign activation, interaction and communication with individuals and entities with whom Viking River Cruises has a business relationship, and⁄or implementing new online navigation strategies, Viking River Cruises anticipates conducting a multi-faceted outreach and communications campaign that will likely involve all communication channels, including but not limited to TV, radio, mobile, print, social media, direct mail,  online advertising and marketing via our active, client and affiliate-facing websites and other public relations activities to:

  • Further communicate Viking River Cruises’ commitment to online consumer safety and data privacy;
  • Inform the market of Viking River Cruises’ ownership and planned use of the proposed .viking gTLD;
  • Clearly define the expected benefits to client⁄members, prospective client⁄members, contractors, other business partners and Internet users at large.  

Future outreach and communications campaigns will be carried out as when needed to reaffirm and clarify the above.  Viking River Cruises believes outreach and communication will be critical to building trust and confidence in the legitimacy of the TLD.   

 

18(c). What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?

  1. c) 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?

 

Answers should address the following points:

 

  1. How will multiple applications for a particular domain name be resolved, for example, by auction or on a first-come⁄first serve basis?
  • There will not be multiple applications for a particular domain in the proposed .viking TLD because this will be an exclusively-controlled TLD were only 1 party, Viking River Cruises, .will be able to seek registrations.

 

  1. Explain any cost benefits for registrants you intend to implement (e.g., advantageous pricing, introductory discounts, bulk registration discounts).
  • This question is not applicable to an exclusively-controlled TLD, like the proposed .viking TLD.

 

  1. 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.
  • The proposed .viking TLD will be a self-funded, exclusively-controlled TLD available only to Viking River Cruises.  Thus, there will be no per domain name registration cost incurred by any party for this TLD and thus, no price changes and⁄or escalations for which registrants will need to be notified.