Vanity URLs trade uniqueness-per-character for memorability. Where an auto-generated slug like `g7f9k2` packs maximum entropy into six characters, a vanity slug like `join` or `press-kit-2026` is trivially memorable, speakable on a podcast, and readable off a billboard. The tradeoff is namespace pressure: there is only one `/join` on any given host, so teams compete for the short common words and must govern assignments centrally. Vanity URLs are especially valuable in broadcast contexts — television ads, conference stages, posters, voice-over ads — where the listener cannot click anything and must successfully type the address later. Many URL shorteners gate vanity slugs behind paid plans because maintaining a healthy namespace and moderating abuse is expensive, while random slugs can be issued at essentially zero marginal cost. When combined with a branded domain (like `news.nike.com`), a vanity URL becomes a full vanity link that reads as a sentence: `news.nike.com/just-do-it`. The governance question always precedes the technical one — who can claim `/sale`, for how long, and what happens when the campaign ends.