Emma Stone still doesn’t really own her domain

\n Squarespace ran a{\" \"}\n Super Bowl ad\n {\" \"}\n wherein Emma Stone lives on a solo Shutter Island/Alcatraz¹\n {\" \"}\n continually searching emmastone[dot]com{\" \"}\n and shattering computer after computer when (re)discovering that her\n personal domain is: Unavailable.\n

\n The ad is different from most Super Bowl domain ads past because it’s\n about a personal{\" \"}\n domain—not a small business nor corporate domains. Squarespace spent $8\n million in 30 seconds, and at $14-20 per dot com, it could take years to\n get that back in personal domain sales alone.\n

\n Squarespace set up a minisite on{\" \"}\n emmastone.com{\" \"}\n to anticipate all the Big Game viewers who’d naturally wonder what’s\n actually on Emma Stone’s website. Although it’s not really Emma Stone’s\n website. It belongs to Squarespace, or at least she’s agreed to let them\n use it to sell domains. Emma Stone said herself the “commercial is based\n on true events,” which{\" \"}\n \n apparently\n {\" \"}\n included buying the domain from the original owner who’d registered it\n for their niece in 2001.\n

\n The minisite’s tagline reads, “Get your domain before you lose it.” Emma\n Stone’s domain remorse becomes your domain FOMO. Other than that, it’s\n just a domain search box and a{\" \"}\n \n 90-second pitch\n {\" \"}\n from Emma Stone.\n

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\n That is why I have now registered emmastone[dot]com, emmastone.news,\n emmastone.world, emmastone.condos, emmastone.life, emmastone.cool. And\n many, many more.\n
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\n Not only is Squarespace pushing personal domains—they’re also pitching\n gTLDs. And again, none of those are actually Stone’s—they all redirect\n to the same Squarespace minisite. The gTLD nudge didn’t make the cut for\n the 30-second spot, but I wonder if it has any portent on Squarespace’s\n plans for the 2026 gTLD round (the first wave of new domain extensions\n since 2012). Squarespace does not presently run a registry—only the{\" \"}\n registrar, which got 10x bigger after Squarespace{\" \"}\n \n acquired Google Domains\n {\" \"}\n a few years ago—but they could become a registry in the 2026 round.\n Applications open by April 30th, and Reveal Day (when we all find out\n who applied for what) will be ~August 12th.\n

\n GoDaddy has been running Super Bowl ads since 2005, most of which don’t\n talk about domains at all. Like car insurance, domain registrars are a\n commoditized, thin-to-no-margin business. So like car insurance football\n ads (think: Geico, Allstate, Progressive, State Farm), GoDaddy\n ostensibly gave up on differentiating its product—or never tried—and\n instead opted for celebrities and shock value.\n

\n I don’t mind Squarespace spreading domain FOMO, and it was fun to see\n the commercial and get “did you see the domains ad?” texts from friends\n and family. I’m on board with everyone owning their personal domain,\n although probably for{\" \"}\n different\n {\" \"}\n reasons, and\n from any at-cost registrar—Cloudflare, Porkbun, Vercel, et al.\n

Footnotes

\n (1) I don’t know if that’s what they were going for, but the commercial\n was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos who also directed Stone in{\" \"}\n Poor Things, which I have not seen! The{\" \"}\n \n press release\n {\" \"}\n includes a quote from Stone that the ad was filmed in her own home,\n apparently.\n