Case study: GoDaddy and the Super Bowl

The story
GoDaddy was a small group in the crowded internet domain name registration sector. Started in 1997, the company had grown mainly through word of mouth. By early 2005, GoDaddy had a 16 per cent market share, with about 7m domain names under management.

The challenge
GoDaddy wanted to use more formal marketing to help it expand. How could it maximise the effectiveness of its advertising?

The initial strategy
Bob Parsons, chief executive, made two key decisions. The first was to advertise during the Super Bowl, the most viewed television event in the US. With about 100m people in the US tuning in each year, the ad slots are also the most expensive. As such, they become a Super Bowl talking point.

In 2005, a standard 30-second spot cost about $2.4m – this year’s rate was $2.8m-$3m – but GoDaddy purchased two spots, a huge investment for a small company.

Second, the ad was designed to be provocative. The 2005 spot comprised a spoof congressional hearing in which an attractive woman explained why she wanted to advertise GoDaddy during the Super Bowl. When she stood up to display the logo on her tight shirt, a strap snapped, forcing her to grab her chest.

The ad did not explain the company. The idea was to create excitement and interest in GoDaddy.com.

What happened
After the first spot, Fox, the TV network airing the Super Bowl, dropped the second one after nervousness about negative public reaction. Panellists on the Kellogg School of Management’s first Super Bowl Advertising Review, set up to assess strategic strengths and weaknesses, gave the ad a mediocre grade because it did not communicate a clear positioning or consumer benefit.

But GoDaddy says the controversy generated nearly $12m of free publicity.

It experienced a significant jump in web traffic, followed by extra sales: the company’s global market share rose to 25 per cent the week after the game.

The subsequent strategy
Each year since 2005, GoDaddy has aimed to run one or two ads during the Super Bowl that feature a “GoDaddy girl”. They have included race car driver Danica Patrick and fitness coach Jillian Michaels.

The aim has been to create a media buzz around the airing of the ad. For this year’s Super Bowl, the identity of the newest “GoDaddy girl” was a mystery, revealed on the night as Joan Rivers, the 77-year-old comedian. Her subsequent Tweets about her Photoshopped body in the ad are only adding to the publicity.

The results
GoDaddy said this week that its 2011 Super Bowl ads drove record web traffic. According to GoDaddy, 15 minutes after its first Super Bowl commercial aired, its domain name registrations rose by more than 466 per cent compared with last year.

GoDaddy now manages more than 46m domain names and is four times the size of its nearest global competitor. Sales have grown from about $200m to an estimated $950m in 2010.

The lessons
First, GoDaddy capitalised on the power of controversy and used the free publicity it generated to build its brand.

Second, marketers should make the most of integrated marketing. GoDaddy used its provocative advertising to drive traffic to its website, where it delivered product benefit.

Third, there is power in being different. GoDaddy’s creative treatment does not appeal to everyone, and even offends some. But this gives the campaign energy. The brand is selling domain names, not milk, so controversy may be less problematic for this brand than for others.

Finally, if an idea works, stick with it. Marketers often tire of their advertising before consumers do. As Mr Parsons has commented: “I’ll keep doing it until it stops working.”
- Financial Times, 9 Feb 2011