Twitter Can’t Take Down GoDaddy
Twitter backlash at GoDaddy ads is amusing, but it won’t add up to much.
The Monday following the Super Bowl is filled with analysis. Not regarding the football game, but the commercials. Reglike received literally thousands of search visitors Monday from people searching for GoDaddy’s Super Bowl ad.
GoDaddy sturred up its contrived controversy again. And, once again, many people complained regarding its sexist commercials. The difference this year is that Twitter is all the rage, and Twitter has a way of taking social conversations to the next level.
A backlash ensued on Twitter as people started tweeting with #NoDaddy. Competitors took notice and started pushing their own products. Former #1 registrar Network Solutions offered a special discount code to clients. NameCheap ran a banner on its site asking, “Not happy with your current registrar or its advertising methods?”
But for all the complaining, the backlash won’t go anywhere. One social media blogger suggested it really could have an impact, like the Kryptonite lock picking debacle.
C’mon guys, GoDaddy has done the same stunt for 5 years. Its public relations group puts out a timeline of the controversy. The registrar sits back, watches the media hits roll in, and realizes that no press is bad press. (OK, so there is such a thing as bad press. And GoDaddy responds to it.)
There’s a reason Network Solutions is now only the fourth largest registrar and GoDaddy is biggest. It’s not only price. GoDaddy marketed the heck out of itself. It loses a handful of clients every year who find the commercials offensive (the same people who still drink Budweiser despite its commercials), but picks up many more. Like it or not, it’s brilliant marketing.
Perhaps the saddest thing is seeing all the tweets from people lamenting the fact that their alternative is to pay Network Solutions or Register.com $35 a year. It’s 2009, for crying out loud. There are hundreds of registrars, and no one needs to pay more than $10 for a domain name. (Shameless plug: read reviews of registrars at Registrar Judge.)
So my hats off to GoDaddy. I thought people would be tired of the same old thing by now, but you’ve managed to rack up a bunch more free media attention. Count this article as another media hit.
