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

Prototypical answer:

GOALS AND INTENDED USE OF .SWISS
The beneficiaries of the proposed gTLD can be divided into the two groups: registrants and internet users, with customers of Swiss International Air Lines being a subgroup of the internet users group that is of particular interest for Swiss International Air Lines.

The own gTLD will be used as an innovative marketing instrument that differentiates Swiss International Air Lines within the airline and travel segment and emphasizes the premium positioning of Swiss International Air Lines. Due to the intended use of the .swiss gTLD as a brand gTLD, the registrants are in fact Swiss International Air Lines and its employees, respectively.

OVERVIEW OF MAJOR BENEFITS FOR REGISTRANTS AND INTERNET USERS
Swiss International Air Lines expects four major benefits from its own brand gTLD:
- protection of its brand ʺSwiss International Air Linesʺ online:
Because ʺSwissʺ as a term is too generic to be protectable by copyright law (only the word-picture logo of Swiss International Air Lines can be and is protected), the ability to build a clearly branded and fully controllable online environment is a first time opportunity which is of extraordinary importance for Swiss International Air Lines.
- reinforcing the communication of its core values online:
Being able to use more concise URLs, with the top level domain being the brand name itself, will increase the perception of the brand by internet users, thus not only clearly communicating the source and quality level of the information provided, but most of all boosting the awareness of the brand. Control over all copy, imagery, and other content presented on .swiss pages will ensure that .swiss will be a sign for quality in the internet and tightly coupled with the values Swiss International Air Lines represents.
- increasing the conversion rate in the online sales process:
Enhanced usability throughout all phases of the sales process (see elaboration below) and uncompromised trustworthiness of the booking and payment system are expected to yield a seven-digit increase in direct online sales by Swiss International Air Lines.
- increasing customer retention:
New possibilities for personalization, better usability, and increased brand equity will increase customer retention and lead to more repeat business and a higher share of wallet of the customers. Loyalty schemes could benefit from giving valuable customers prestigious and easy to memorize personal accounts, accessible via URLs like urs-seeli.swiss.

USABILITY AND SECURITY BENEFITS
For internet users in general, and existing or potential customers of Swiss International Air Lines in particular, the applicant expects major benefits in terms of usability and increased security for online transactions (booking and payment).
Other TLDs that are open to the public allow cyber criminals to use an ever growing multitude of attacks (such as typosquatting, spoofing, or cache poisoning) - even for SSL-protected pages - to acquire payment or login data, which in a lot of cases can effectively be countered with a fully controlled, own gTLD. Therefore, Swiss International Air Line effectively protects its customers from online fraud and data theft by introducing its own gTLD.
Most of all, Swiss International Air Lines expects a noticeable improvement of the user experience throughout the entire customer lifecycle from search over booking to after sales support by using distinct and concise URLs, less levels of nesting in site structures, and pages that are more clearly focused on a particular use case. Furthermore, people will benefit from the consistently designed information architecture and user interactions employed on all .swiss pages.

REGISTRATION POLICIES
Swiss International Air Lines will employ special registration policies to ensure the optimal allocation of domains and prevent abuse or delegation of domains that could raise sensitivities. The registration policies lay out binding requirements for all registrants and are readily accessible for any Swiss International Air Lines employee. For each requested domain registrants have to describe the intended use and benefit expected from the domain.
A dedicated gTLD team at Swiss International Air Lines will then perform several checks on the request, such as compliance with international law (in particular trademark law), potential sensitivities by communities, and fit with corporate identity guidelines of Swiss International Air Lines (such as language, offical terms and wording, spelling etc.).
During the process, the registrant and the gTLD team of Swiss International Air Lines stay in close contact to discuss and resolve any issues. Only if a request passes all requirements, the domain is delegated to the registrant.

PROTECTION OF PRIVACY
The applied-for gTLD is a designated brand TLD which will be used exclusively by Swiss International Air Lines as a single registrant TLD. As such, the risk of abuse or violation of rights is tightly controlled, because the high standards of Swiss International Air Lines with regard to ethics, compliance with international law, and content quality will without restrictions be carried over to managing the TLD.
All people involved in the process of registering and assigning domains are employees of Swiss International Air Lines who represent the interests of the company and have been thoroughly briefed on the purpose of and restrictions associated with the new gTLD. All domain registrations will undergo the same diligent review and approval procedure already applied to the web presence of Swiss International Air Lines.

OUTREACH AND COMMUNICATION
In preparation of the introduction of the gTLD in the (internal) sunrise and land rush phases, Swiss will employ an internal information campaign over the course of several months. All departments and branches worldwide will be informed about use cases, benefits, policies, and restrictions related to the new gTLD. In an open process, employees can discuss questions, discuss applications, and suggest domains to be delegated. This not only ensures the best possible exploitation of the new gTLD as a marketing instrument, it also makes sure that every Swiss International Air Lines employee is able to respond to questions from people outside of the organisation and speak as one voice.
External communication about the new gTLD will take place over the channels already employed by Swiss International Air Lines, such as the company web presence, online advertising, social media, newsletter marketing, customer magazines, in-flight marketing, print media, press releases etc. Swiss International Air Lines will also actively communicate this innovation in online communication to get additional media coverage. As mentioned above, every employee of Swiss International Air Lines shall be able to answer questions on this topic, for example when asked by a passenger during a flight. Subject of the external communication of the new gTLD will be the new URLs and the benefits this change entails.

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