The Domain Name Association is writing to voice strong support of the .CLUB proposal. The Domain Name Association (“The DNA”) is a non-profit global business association that represents the interests of the domain name industry. Its members are groups, businesses, and individuals involved in the provision, support, and sale of domain names. This includes such organizations as domain name registries, registrars, resellers, and registry service providers, as well as those with an interest in internet naming and innovation with domain names. Our members contribute annually to be members, and volunteer time towards creating resources to aid in general awareness and education about the new namespace of 2018 and the future. We often perform outreach to help educate the audiences of people that are not those with existing awareness, and we are presented with magnificent campaigns that could aid in helping to remedy the awareness gap. Even the most pragmatic of these initiatives have prices that are beyond the reach of our modestly run, member-funded organization. The proposed awareness campaign outlined by .CLUB is completely aligned with the core mission of The Domain Name Association, which is, “Highlight the use, potential and benefits of domains and DNS and a vibrant, robust, and trusted domain name system while fostering innovation, sustainable growth and utilization in the marketplace.” Within our mission, we work to spread awareness, in responsible and constructive ways, engaging the public and responding to inquiries and questions. We educate and evangelize healthy use of domains in a the many ways that they enable the Internet to properly function. The one most challenging obstacle to our mission is that in order to reach the public who can most benefit from awareness of domains - those outside the typical ICANN or domain/hosting conference - is available funding to support it. We also get distracted by helping to educate on what ICANN is and is not with the general public, and work to aid in misconceptions that are perpetuated by certain quarters within the ICANN community who seem generally averse to market expansion and namespace growth. The DNA's first priority is to educate Internet users around the world about the benefits of domain names, DNS, and top-level domains (TLDs). This is not limited in any way to the new gTLDs - this is general awareness of gTLDs, ccTLDs, and new TLDs released through ICANN’s New gTLD Program, such as GeoTLDs, Brand TLDs, Verified TLDs, and an expanded number of generic top level domains. The general Internet user is barely aware of ICANN, much less that their namespace landscape is constantly evolving and changing, and research shows that Internet users are often unaware of these changes or how to best engage with existing and new gTLDs. We are working together within TheDNA to develop educational resources and campaigns to prepare users for these changes and support the success of domains and top-level domains. These efforts are constantly measured against budgetary constraints, and pragmatically hobble those efforts to match the available budget out of necessity. There is a large gap in awareness of the evolution to the naming system. This began in 2013 as the domain name system started to expand at the root system. Since that time, individual companies in the registry and registrar businesses have spent money to market their individual TLDs. While this works to help spread awareness as individual initiatives, they are entirely focused on the for-profit activities of specific TLDs or companies. This can provide some modest benefit to overall awareness of the current namespace, but there needs to be awareness campaigns that support the healthy use and adoption of domain names in general. TheDNA has stepped up in the span since to fill a rather large void in neutral awareness about the positive benefits of domain names, the changes in the namespace and advantages of healthy domain name use and activities. We have made some modest gains in spreading awareness, but the industry needs a larger infusion of capital towards reaching users to ensure the security, stability and inter-operability of the DNS. "Digitalization" of the world is happening at a growing pace, and domain names are part of that important story. TheDNA wants to help spread awareness of the benefits of using domain names across the various places that these crucial identifiers can aid in users finding what they are looking for, quickly. We are encouraged that there can be some attention and resourcing made available to helping to address awareness of domain names, as this is the opportunity to promote healthy and functional use of domain names within the awareness efforts, and positively impact the industry and beyond. In service to the domain industry, -Jothan Jothan Frakes Executive Director, The Domain Name Association 401 Edgewater Place, Suite 600, Wakefield, MA, 01880 USA P: +1.727-351-2345 E: jothan at thedna.org W: thedna.org W: inthewild.domains Twitter: @dnassoc