GoDaddy was once known for outlandish Super Bowl commercials that sometimes used scantily-clad models. Now the web-services giant is getting ready to return with a promotional message that taps science rather than scandal.
The company will take to Super Bowl LIX next year to tout Airo, an artificial-intelligence service that helps small-business owners establish an online presence more quickly. The product launched in late 2023.
“The GoDaddy many remember from the Super Bowl between 2005 and 2017 focused on bold, sometimes provocative, approaches to democratize ideas, reminding everyone they could claim their part of the Internet,” says Rachael Powell’s, senior director of marketing, global brand, creative and research at GoDaddy, in remarks sent via email. “While those ads strengthened and solidified GoDaddy brand awareness and made our brand synonymous with domains, we’ve evolved.”
A new 30-second Super Bowl ad from GoDaddy will appear during the fourth quarter of the next Super Bowl, slated to air on Fox on February 9, 2025. It is expected to help the company kick off a year-long campaign in the U.S. The company’s in-house creative agency teamed up with the ad agency Creative Meats to develop the commercial, which is directed by Ian Pons Jewell.
The appearance will not be cheap. Fox, which recently said it had sold out all of its commercial inventory for the NFL extravaganza, has been seeking in some cases more than $7 million for a half minute of ad time.
Despite, the high cost, there’s still value in the Big Game, says Powell. “The Super Bowl provides an unparalleled platform and viewership base to connect with an extensive captive audience,” she says, noting that the event “creates an opportunity to get in front of millions all at once.”
GoDaddy was once one of the Super Bowl’s most durable sponsors, buying commercials steadily between 2005 and 2015. Many of them were provocative, with the first telling the story of a woman in a tank top who has a wardrobe malfunction while testifying before Congress. Another one, broadcast in 2009, showed Nascar driver Danica Patrick in a shower with other women.
In 2015, the company scuttled its original Super Bowl concept after viewers had a bad reaction to the spot, which told the story of a lost dog who manages to return home only to find its owner has put it up for sale on a GoDaddy website.
There are many reasons to try a different tactic. GoDaddy, once led by entrepreneur Bob Parsons, these days is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Consumers are more sensitive in 2024 to content that might be perceived as demeaning. And GoDaddy had by the end of its initial Super Bowl tenure tried to show it was growing up, with a commercial that tried to demonstrate what GoDaddy can do for small businesses, rather than aiming to generate controversy.
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