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Category: Integrated Marketing
February 4, 2009
GoDaddy Superbowl Ad: Sex Still Sells (and Influences Searches)
When I saw the GoDaddy Superbowl ads I thought, Oh GoDaddy. There you go again. It was so typical and expected of them, I couldn’t even bring myself to be offended. But I did wonder, was it really working? Sure, an ad with two naked women in a shower that ends with a message to check out the web site to see how the scene ends would drive traffic to the site, but would it be qualified traffic? Would any of the video seekers actually register domains and start web sites?
Apparently so. GoDaddy said they gained a “record number of new customers and total orders” from the ads, a 110% increase over last year’s Superbowl.
Clearly, the ads drove people to search. [godaddy] was the #3 hot trends by game’s end and remained at #21 hours later.
TV ads inspire searches and as long as you can be found for what people are searching for, those searches can inspire clicks. And those clicks lead to purchases. It’s a formula that works.
GoDaddy was smart to stay focused on their brand name, which they already ranked #1 for, rather than send viewers to a microsite devoted to the Superbowl videos.
As Wired points out, the ads themselves didn’t work for everyone. But their use of online video integrated with an offline campaign and easy discoverability in search can definitely work for most businesses, even when they choose a subject matter a little less likely to lead to boycotts.
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Vanessa,
Funny, a week ago I figured there was a small chance of blogger-people banding together and forming a citizen-fleshiness campaign around GoDaddy (for, or against), which could out-PR the super ads.
Nobody on the blogs has ever accused me of being over-optimistic!
Jon
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The ads do work and I’m afraid I’m guilty of logging onto their site to see the ads. What I don’t understand is how this traffic results in such an increase in business. Do people watching these ads suddenly think, wow I need a domain name or I should set up a hosting account? And if they are, what types of web sites do they set up? Adult oriented or tributes to Nascar.
Provocative ads still work to arouse the basic senses. But I still wonder how on earth it helps in a 110% increase in sales? Do people really buy from these companies…and WHY? Is it a gesture of paying-back? Gratitude!? Compliment!? I mean I would watch these ads gladly (blame my male hormones for that) but buying domain name and hosting space then and there? Totally out of question. Maybe a few brand new web business entrats but 110%!!??? debatable….than agin, knowing GoDaddy, they can come up with any statement…
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