Monday, June 29, 2009

Ancestry.com Name Change and YouTube Videos

I heard a rumor at the SCGS Jamboree that The Generations Network (TGN) was going to change their corporate name to Ancestry.com Inc. I forgot to wear my reporter's hat that day (and didn't have my trusty ballpoint pen) and I cannot remember who told me that - I don't think that it was an Ancestry employee.

If the name does change, this will complete a the circle - Ancestry.com, Inc. changed to MyFamily.com, Inc. in 1999, and then to The Generations Network in 2006, according to Wikipedia. Why change? Will they bring all of their properties under the Ancestry.com URL?

I just saw a tweet from Ancestrydotcom highlighting several new Ancestry.com YouTube videos at http://www.youtube.com/AncestryCom. There are five videos posted now. I watched one - they are short (one minute) and quite moving. The one I watched opens with a man trying to discover his roots, finding an ancestral record in Ancestry's databases, shows some vintage photos or movies, and tells about discovering a living relative who had more information about his ancestor.

Updated 11:30 a.m.: Ancestry sent out a press release this morning about their new "My Story" advertising campaign - the five YouTube videos - you can probably read it on several blog sites. Elyse Doerflinger attended the "What's New at Ancestry.com" presentation at the SCGS Jamboree and saw them played.

3 comments:

Jean-Yves said...
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Jean-Yves said...
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Craig Manson said...

With the apparent success of television advertising in the last year, "Ancestry.com" has become a very valuable property. It's probably the best known genealogical commercial name among the general public. It would make some sense to "brand" other products with the "Ancestry" label.