In article <3FD86D54-7FE4-4E1D-8C8D-A4D79F030DAD@pch.net> you write:
That’s the main reason for having a brand TLD at this point, from my point of view. It’s the reason I’d get one in a heartbeat, if I could afford the fees.
Well, actually, you can't get one. The 2013 round is still working out some issues, e.g. two companies both named Merck who hate each other want .MERCK and neither will budge. There may be another round but given the stupendous non-success of the current round, I wouldn't hold my breath. Also, with only one exception, all of the brand TLDs are in fact run by a handful of of familiar back end services. (The exception is a phone company in the Philippines that rolled their own, pretty marginally.) PCH presumably has the infrastructure to run one, but you're really just as well off becoming a registrar and managing your 2LDs in well run TLDs. You can do that now, it's a lot cheaper.