GoDaddy

Go Daddy is an Internet domain registrar and Web hosting company that also sells e-business related software and services. In 2010, it reached more than 45 million domain names under management. Go Daddy is currently the largest ICANN-accredited registrar in the world, and is four times the size of its closest competitor.

Go Daddy started advertising in the Super Bowl in 2005. Since then, the company expanded its marketing to include sports sponsorships.

Go Daddy filed for an IPO in 2006, but later canceled it, due to "market uncertainties". In 2011, Go Daddy confirmed that KKR, Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures had closed a private equity deal.

History

Go Daddy was founded in 1997 as Jomax Technologies by Bob Parsons, a former US Marine. He had previously sold his financial software services company, Parsons Technology, Inc. to Intuit in the mid-nineties for millions of dollars and took a very early retirement. The company Jomax changed its name to Go Daddy in 1999 when a group of employees were brainstorming on a more memorable name than Jomax Technologies. Someone said, "How about Big Daddy?" A quick check revealed that the Internet domain of that name was taken. Then Parsons said, "How about Go Daddy?" The name was available, so he bought it. Parsons said the company stuck with the name because it made people smile and remember it.

Go Daddy has grown to become the largest ICANN-accredited registrar on the Internet. In 2001, soon after Network Solutions was no longer the only place to register a domain, Go Daddy was approximately the same size as competitors Dotster andeNom. In April 2005, it surpassed Network Solutions in domain names registered.

In 2002, Go Daddy sued VeriSign for domain slamming and again in 2003 over its Site Finder service. This latter suit caused controversy over VeriSign's role as the sole maintainer of the .com and the .net top-level domains. VeriSign shut down Site Finder after receiving a letter from ICANN ordering it to comply with a request to disable the service. In 2006, Go Daddy was sued by Web.com for patent infringement.

In 2007 and 2008, the company lobbied in favor of legislation that would crack down on unscrupulous online pharmacies and child predators.

In March 2010, Go Daddy stopped registering .cn domains (China) due to the high amount of personal information that is required to register in that country. Some called it a public relations campaign, since it closely followed Google's revolt in China.

As of December 2011, Bob Parsons had ceded the CEO role of Go Daddy to Warren Adelman, who had been with the company for about 10 years.

On 10th September 2012, Godaddy.com was subject to a severe DDos attack. Millions of websites & emails were affected

Awards

In 2012, Go Daddy was recognized as a Fortune 100 “Best Companies to Work For” honoree. Go Daddy was selected for its outstanding benefits, unique perks, diversity and company camaraderie  Go Daddy is the only company headquartered in Arizona to be ranked on the prestigious 2012 list.

In 2012, Go Daddy was honored with a Gold Stevie Award for the "Customer Service Department of the Year in Computer Services."

In 2012, Go Daddy was voted "Best Registrar" in Domain Name Wire’s annual survey, claiming 43 percent of the vote.

Go Daddy was honored as one of the Phoenix Business Journal's Best Places to Work in the Valley for the eighth consecutive year. In 2011, Go Daddy ranked #4 among extra large-sized companies.

Go Daddy's Arizona, Iowa, and Denver offices were honored with the 2011 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility. As a recipient, Go Daddy ranks in the top 20 percent.

In 2011, Go Daddy received three awards in the International MarCom Competition, receiving industry recognition for its creativity in the 2011 Super Bowl Campaign, the .CO Product Launch and the Go Daddy Cares story.

In 2011, Go Daddy ranked on Inc. Magazine’s “Inc. 500/5000” list for an eighth consecutive year. [30] This is a list of the nation's fastest-growing privately held companies.

Go Daddy's X.CO received the first ever Bulby Award at the Inaugural Bulby Awards for Best Use of a Single Letter Domain.

In 2011, Go Daddy was honored as the Best Security Team by SC Magazine. The SC Magazine Awards were organized to honor the professionals, companies and products that help fend off the myriad of security threats confronted in today's corporate world. Go Daddy was also a 2012 finalist.

In 2010, Go Daddy ranked as one of three finalists in the BBB of Great Arizona Business Ethics Awards. BBB's Board of Directors and Foundation established the BBB Business Ethics Awards to recognize those firms whose business practices and related activities exemplify the BBB's mission and principles and to ensure the marketplace remains fair and honorable.

Marketing

Parsons refers to the marketing as "Go Daddy-esque", which he describes as "fun, edgy, and a bit inappropriate". Most of Go Daddy's early television ads starred former WWE diva Candice Michelle, usually appearing in a sexually suggestive manner. She has been referred to as "Miss GoDaddy.com" or "The Go Daddy Girl" by fans and on WWE television shows, where she also does the "Go Daddy Dance" (twirling her arms around her body while slowly turning) as part of her wrestling gimmick.

In 2006, Go Daddy began sponsoring IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, who subsequently joined the "Go Daddy Girl" lineup and began playing a prominent role in the company's commercials. In March 2009, Go Daddy announced professional poker player Vanessa Rousso as the newest Go Daddy Girl. Vanessa competed in the Go Daddy sponsored NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship the same month, finishing second and making history by being the first woman to make it to the finals. Also in March 2009, Go Daddy added pro-golfer Anna Rawson, bringing the Go Daddy Girl spokeswomen count to four. She is edgy, she is fun, she is hotter than firecrackers, she is very clever and everything we look for in a Go Daddy Girl, Parsons said of Rawson at a news conference in Phoenix. In August 2009, another Go Daddy Girl was announced. A Russian native, Marina Orlova is an online linguist, explaining the origin of words on her HotforWords.com Web site. A New Yorker magazine blogger called her the sexiest philologist in the world.

In 2010, Go Daddy announced it is adding "America's Toughest Trainer" Jillian Michaels as a Go Daddy Girl. Michaels joins race car driver Danica Patrick as a Go Daddy Girl, a move that Parsons said should attract new customers. Michaels is a well-known celebrity, famous for her role as a health and wellness coach on NBC's hit show, "The Biggest Loser".

An order was placed with Orange County Choppers for a custom bike to raise contributions for charity and was revealed in Miami, Florida, and featured the models Candice and Danica. The episode was documented by the reality show American Chopper episode number 82.

Super Bowl XLII advertisement

Development

On August 13, 2007, Parsons announced that Go Daddy may be sitting out Super Bowl XLII. "There's always the possibility that we might not be able to get an appropriately edgy advertisement approved," he said. "All things considered, there's a strong argument for staying on the sidelines this year and taking that Super Bowl advertising money and using it for other opportunities," he added. However, on January 28, 2008, during a telecast of World Wrestling Entertainment's RAW program on USA Network in a reverse of field, it was disclosed by Go Daddy spokesperson (and WWE diva) Candice Michelle that there will be an advertisement during the game, which featured a "behind the scenes" look into that ad. Once again, Go Daddy went through more than a dozen submissions before it was able to get a commercial approved by Fox, the same network that had pulled its Super Bowl XXXIX advertisement before its second scheduled airing. Go Daddy had hoped to broadcast a spot called "Exposure" featuring Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick and animatronic beavers. But Fox deemed the spot too racy for prime time television and told Parsons it would not air it unless he removed the word "beaver". Parsons refused, and Go Daddy instead aired a completely different commercial, called "Spot On". The spot was essentially an "Ad to an Ad" and told viewers to go to the company's Web site to see "Exposure". "Spot On" aired in the first quarter of Super Bowl XLII, and the company quickly deemed it an enormous success. Go Daddy logged more than one million views of the "Exposure" advertisement before the game ended and reported 1.5 million visits to the GoDaddy.com Web site.

Reactions

The 2008 Go Daddy advertisement has been both maligned and praised. Ad Week's Barbara Lippert described it a "poorly produced scene in a living room where people are gathered to watch the Super Bowl. As we watch them watch, a guy at his computer in the corner of the room drags the crowd over to GoDaddy.com to view the banned ad instead." But Lippert, like others, also acknowledges the shrewdness of the public relations strategy, saying "it will probably produce a Pavlovian response in getting actual viewers in their own living rooms to do the same." Go Daddy's Super Bowl XLI advertisement was criticized in The New York Times as being "cheesy"; in National Review as "raunchy, 'Girls-Gone-Wild' style"; and "just sad" by Barbara Lippert in Adweek, who gave the advertisement a "D". However, Reprise Media, reviewing the success of Super Bowl advertising in getting potential customers online, listed the 2007 commercial as one of only eight "Touchdown"-worthy ads among the day's high-priced advertisers. IAG Research, which rated the effectiveness of likeability and memorability of the ads, ranked Go Daddy's spot as second for most-recalled.

Super Bowl XLIII advertisements

Development

Go Daddy purchased two Super Bowl spots for different commercials, both of which NBC approved. The commercials featured Go Daddy Girl and IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick. In "Shower", Danica takes a shower with Simona Fusco Stratten as three college students control the women's maneuvers from a computer. "Baseball" is a spoof of the steroids scandal. While "Shower" won Go Daddy's online vote, "Baseball" was the most popular of the Super Bowl. Both helped increase domain registrations 110 percent above 2008 post Super Bowl levels. Go Daddy posted Internet-only versions of its commercials during the game. These are extended versions with more risque content.

Reactions

"Baseball" was the most watched Super Bowl commercial according to TiVo, Inc. According to comScore, Go Daddy ranked first in advertiser Web site follow-through. Rob Goulding, head of business-to-business markets for Google, offered an in-depth analysis of Super Bowl spots that aired during Sunday's championship game. He said the most successful were multichannel-oriented, driving viewers to Web sites and "focusing on conversion as never before." Go Daddy experienced significant Web traffic and a strong "hangover" effect of viewer interest in the days that followed due to a provocative "teaser" advertisement pointing to the Web, Goulding said.

IndyCar

In 2010, Go Daddy was again the presenting sponsor for the live race broadcast and the primary sponsor for IndyCar driver Danica Patrick. And, for the first time ever, Go Daddy broadcast user-generated commercials as part of its advertising strategy. The top three winners of Go Daddy's "Create Your Own Commercial" contest had their ads air during the race broadcast. Creators of the first place advertisement "Go Momma" received $100,000 in cash. The commercial features a mother who creates a Web site with Go Daddy in order to save time and still keep in touch with her family. In the thirty-second story, she posts her cherished family recipes on her Web site, even though she's not tech-savvy. The grand prize winner of the user-generated content contest is not only cleavage-free and smarm-free, it also celebrates an empowered woman of a certain age who uses Go Daddy to help her solve a family problem.

In 2009, for a third consecutive year, Go Daddy was the presenting sponsor of the Indianapolis 500 race broadcast on ABC. Go Daddy also debuted a new commercial called "Speeding" during the Indy 500. The commercial features Danica Patrick getting pulled over for speeding by a female cop wanting to be a "Go Daddy Girl". The advertisement teases to an edgier Web version that drove a 570% traffic increase to GoDaddy.com.

For the Las Vegas race in 2011, Go Daddy launched the Go Daddy IndyCar Challenge where the only participent, driver Dan Wheldon, would have won $2.5m each for himself and randomly selected fan, Ann Babenco, if he won the race, starting from last place. A 15 car pile up 12 laps into the race injured 4 drivers and killed Wheldon. 

Despite the tragedy (Wheldon had been set for the 2012 season with Andretti Autosport in the renumbered #27 Chevrolet), Go Daddy will return to Andretti Autosport with second-year driver James Hinchcliffe. Go Daddy's commercials with Andretti Autosport will focus on the "Mario Andretti Advice Show" gimmick, and later in the season Hinchliffe's "Mayor of Hinchtown" Web promotion is expected for Go Daddy promotion.

Super Bowl XLIV advertisements

Development

In September 2009, Go Daddy announced it would be returning advertisers in the 2010 Super Bowl, purchasing two spots. The commercials "Spa" and "News" starred Go Daddy Girl and racecar driver Danica Patrick. In "Spa," Patrick is getting a lavish massage when the masseuse breaks into a spontaneous Go Daddy Girl audition. The second advertisement called "News" has news anchors conducting a 'gotcha' interview with Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick about commercials known for being too hot for television.

Reactions

According to Akamai, there was a large spike in Internet traffic late in the fourth quarter of the game. This spike was tied to Go Daddy's "News" advertisement airing. CEO Bob Parsons said Go Daddy had "a tremendous surge in Web traffic, sustained the spike, converted new customers and shot overall sales off the chart."