Abstract Although a popular and eficient communication medium, the Internet is no longer a novel concept to advertisers or consumers. This research uses a content analysis to conirm that the use of domain names is widespread and to establish that some companies are investing time and creativity in naming domains. This research employed a content analysis of 1,023 print ads in 15 different magazines. A grounded theory approach was used iteratively to identify 10 underlying themes for website naming. The research uncovered themes that offered functional value to consumers by including information that points them to more speciic material along with categories that use a more novel approach to naming websites utilizing current campaigns, promotions, or making clever links to the brand. The themes are discussed in detail along with overall implications for marketing creativity. Keywords: Internet, Branding, Creativity, Advertising, Websites, Novelty, Content Analysis, Domain Name. A New Domain for Advertising: A Content Analysis of Website Names Susan Myers* Introduction During the 2007 Super bowl, Snickers aired a commercial featuring two mechanics who in their haste to devour a candy bar, accidentally kiss. The humourous commercial ends with the two men acting manly, and includes a website in the ad-but rather than the typical brand website name snickers.com, the domain name included in the ad was afterthekiss.com. This is just one example of a growing trend of non-brand name websites. The willingness for companies to abandon the brand for a more novel concept begs the question whether domain names can offer a strategic outlet for creativity in advertising campaigns. In today’s marketplace almost every brand has a domain name and website, and these locations are often included in the communication materials. Having a website is no longer a point of differentiation. Even a great website can get lost in the persuasive clutter. Brands must be motivated to ind new ways to stand out. As the Snickers example illustrates, some companies are investing time and creativity on domain name development. Capitalizing on emotion, humour, surprise or simply making sense for the brand and/or the context offer a new domain for website naming and brand building. Branding A brand is an intangible asset of a company-it is a distinguishing name and/or symbol intended to identify the offerings of a seller and to differentiate those offerings from competitors (Aaker, 1991). From a consumer perspective, brands are how they identify with speciic products and services (Weilbacher, 1995) and may offer consumers some combination of symbolic, functional, and, experiential beneits (Park, Jaworski, and Mclinnis, 1986). Functional beneits focus on solving problems. Symbolic beneits are those that link a consumer to a desirable self image, role, or group. Experiential beneits are aimed at things like sensory pleasure and cognitive stimulation. Keller (2003) describes consumer brand-knowledge as the accumulation of descriptive and evaluative brand- related information that have personal meanings and are stored in consumer memory. Companies desire to transform these sets of associations into an overall brand identity. Scholars suggest that a brand image should be well planned, nurtured, and supported (Knapp, 2000) and that companies with a cohesive, distinctive, and relevant * Assistant Professor of Marketing, Department of Marketing & Management, University of Central Arkansas, United States. Email-id: smyers@uca.edu