I've mulled over the GoDaddy discussions here, here, and here...
Of course, a business owner can do what he/she wants with their money...
However, as a marketer, I cannot help but question whether this is the most effective way for a company to intro-launch themselves.
From a target audience perspective... How many Super Bowl viewers are techies who currently have their own domain/site and don't already know about the GoDaddy option OR have been contemplating a site and will use this ad as a 'call to action' to log-on and acquire their first domain name?
The answer is some.
From an effective reach perspective... How much impact can a lesser known company really make with a single 30-second spot?
The answer is some.
How many people might be away from the TV and peeing during that 30-second spot?
The answer is many.
Yes, we do talk about our favorite Super Bowl commercials around the coffee pot on Monday morning – but how many of us are buying more Bud (best ad 1999–'03) or gulping more Pepsi (best ad 1994-'98) because of these ads?
I think the challenge is that we hate to see so much money spent so quickly for such little impact.
Super Bowl ads are a gamble - putting a very tall stack of chips on lucky number 23 and hoping the ball stops there. How can GoDaddy execute something meaningful vs. a potential flash-in-the-pan?
I was schooled early on: "don't to bring up an issue unless you can offer up solutions." Therefore, I'm presenting a few of my own suggestions for GoDaddy's $2.4 M spend. I believe these will build better awareness of their business and drive traffic to their site. In addtion to sales gains, the media coverage, good will, and intrinsic value gained by implementing these suggestions would more than double the investment.
For reference, $2.4 M equates to 268,156 domain names purchased via GoDaddy at $8.95 each... or web hosting for 607,594 at $3.95 a year via GoDaddy.
Be Generous
The clever tagline for GoDaddy is "make a name with us." They could make a name for themselves with these ideas. (And for some of these ideas, make a difference in the community as well).
- Offer 607,594 non-profit companies free web hosting of their sites for a year.
- Give each of the 75,000 attendees of the Super Bowl a free year of web hosting and five coupons to pass to friends, each good for a free year of web hosting.
- Make goodwill by supporting Goodwill – donate 240,000 pairs of kid's shoes or blankets for needy kids.
For those 'less needy' but still a generous offer...
- Target folks with existing high-speed cable-modems at home. Offer to pay a free month ($39.95) of their current high-speed modem bill for switching or starting a site with GoDaddy. Offer would be good for the first 60,000 interested.
- A la WKRP - Drop over 4,000 desktop computers ($600 each) onto the crowd at Alltel Stadium during the Super Bowl game. Have the home page of the browser set to GoDaddy.com
Target Audience
- Run a 4-color print ad each month for two years in the following magazines which reach a GoDaddy audience:
- MacAddict (2 page spread) -> $273k per year
- Wired Magazine (1/2 page ad) -> $166k per year
- PC Magazine (full page) -> $761k per year
On the other hand, choose three additional magazines and only run a year's worth of full-page ads.
- Become the source of choice for future domain/host users. Give graduating tech-college students their own free domain. You could create nearly 27,000 users and evangelists (that's 5,400 per US state) who would potentially buzz about your service.
Broad Audience
- For the entire next 52 weeks place a 4-color ad in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Have your ad be clever, engaging and change it every week. Like the Sunday comics, surprise us. That's about $2.08 M right there and uses up that money.
- Reach the 3.1 M subscribers of Sports Illustrated and run 10 4-color adds next year in their national edition -> $2.4 M
With all that said, I hope we eat our words and we all get re-schooled on what the Super Bowl can do for an advertiser. I hope it's an incredibly fruitful marketing spend... and you 'make a name for yourself.'
You Go, Daddy.
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