Centraal Corp. in Palo Alto, CA said that its RealNames Web naming service has been
adopted by barnesandnoble.com, MGM and Toshiba.
RealNames now provides these brands’ customers the ability to easily and
precisely navigate to company or brand Web pages, from search sites such as
AltaVista and LookSmart. Spending was not disclosed.
RealNames covers all the product categories (Barnes and Noble books for
example), and media properties (such as MGM and United Artists film and
television titles or characters) so that visitors no longer have to guess the
URL.
“The premise of a RealName is simple: with a RealName, your brand name becomes
your RealName, and your RealName is your Web address. Branding can be
reinforced consistently across all media, while directing customers to company
Web sites,” said Ted West, executive vice president of sales and marketing at
Centraal.
Other RealNames subscribers include the Green Bay Packers, Kia, Honda, Sharper
Image and JP Morgan.