History
Go Daddy was founded in 1997 as Jomax Technologies by
Bob Parsons, who previously founded the software development company Parsons Technology, Inc. The company 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 it was taken. Then Parsons said "How about Go Daddy?" The name was available, so he bought it.
[7] CEO Bob Parsons states the company stuck with the name because it made people smile and remember it.
[7]Go Daddy has grown to become the largest ICANN-accredited registrar on the internet.
[8] 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 and
eNom.
[9] In April 2005 it surpassed Network Solutions in market share in terms of total
domain names registered.
In 2007 and 2008, the company lobbied in favor of legislation that would crack down on unscrupulous online pharmacies and child predators.
[15][16]In March 2010 Go Daddy stopped registering .CN domains (China) due to the high amount of personal info that is required to register in that country. Some called it a PR campaign since it closely followed Google's revolt in China.
[17]Awards
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.
[18]In 2009 Go Daddy was voted "Best Registrar" Domain Name Wire annual survey for the 4th consecutive year.
[19][20]Marketing
Go Daddy's advertising is produced in-house, and typically contains sexually suggestive material (with the exception of their
NASCARadvertising; the sanctioning body has a policy that censors sexually suggestive ads on cars and television broadcasts)
[citation needed]. CEO Bob Parsons refers to the marketing as "GoDaddy-esque" which he describes as "fun, edgy and a bit inappropriate."
[21] Most of Go Daddy's early TV ads starred former
WWE Diva Candice Michelle, in some sort of sexual-related theme. She has been referred to as "Miss GoDaddy.com" or "The Go Daddy Girl" by fans and on WWE TV 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.
[22] 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.
[23] 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, CEO Bob Parsons said of Rawson at a news conference in Phoenix.
[24] 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.
[25][26]An order was placed
[when?] with Orange County Choppers for a custom bike to raise contribution 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 90.
[27]Super Bowl XLII advertisement
Development
On August 13, 2007, Bob 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 ad 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.
[28] 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 ad 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 ad before its second scheduled airing. Go Daddy had hoped to broadcast a spot called "Exposure" featuring Go Daddy Girl
Danica Patrick and animatronics 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."
[29] 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 website 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" ad before the game ended and reported 1.5 million visits to the GoDaddy.com Website.
[30]The 2008 Go Daddy ad 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 PR strategy, saying "it will probably produce a Pavlovian response in getting actual viewers in their own living rooms to do the same."
[31] Go Daddy's Super Bowl XLI ad was criticized, in
The New York Times as being "cheesy";
[32] in
National Review as "raunchy, '
Girls-Gone-Wild' style";
[33] and "just sad" by Barbara Lippert in
Adweek, who gave the ad a "D".
[34] 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.
[35] IAG Research, which rated the effectiveness of likeability and memorability of the ads, ranked Go Daddy's spot as second for most-recalled.
[36]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.
[37] 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.
[38][39] Go Daddy posted Internet-only versions of its commercials during the game. These are extended versions with more risque content.
[40]Reactions
"Baseball" was the most watched Super Bowl commercial according to TiVo, Inc.
[41] According to comScore, Go Daddy ranked first in advertiser website follow-through.
[42] 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" ad pointing to the Web, Goulding said.
[43]Indy 500
In 2009, for a third consecutive year, Go Daddy was the presenting sponsor of the
Indianapolis 500 race broadcast on ABC.
[44] 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."
[45] The ad teases to an edgier Web version that drove a 570% traffic increase to GoDaddy.com.
[46]Super Bowl XLIV advertisements
Development
In September 2009, Go Daddy announced they would be returning advertisers in the 2010 Super Bowl, purchasing two spots.
[47] 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.
[48] The second ad called "News" has news anchors conducting a 'gotcha' interview with Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick about commercials known for being too hot for television.
[49]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" ad 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."
[50][51]NASCAR and JR Motorsports
A fourth spokesman, with commercials which are not sexually suggestive, has appeared in ads starting in 2008. These advertisements, which air in
NASCAR broadcasts, feature NASCAR Nationwide Series owner
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who owns, designed, and occasionally drives the #5
JR Motorsports Chevrolet in the series. Go Daddy's sponsorship of the team includes five races in 2008 with
Mark Martin and
Ron Fellows (who won the
NAPA Pièces d'auto 200 présenté par Dodge in the Go Daddy Chevrolet) sharing duties in the races along with Earnhardt Jr., who designed the paint scheme for the car, which in true Earnhardt tradition, is dominated by black with green and orange (the colors of Go Daddy) nearer to the back of the car. GoDaddy.com also has sponsored the
Randy Moss Motorsports (aka Morgan-Dollar Motorsports) truck when
Landon Cassill drives it, both in the original #46 and later as #81, as Cassill is a Hendrick Motorsports Developmental Driver, which includes selected
Nationwide Series races in Earnhardt's #5 car.
Go Daddy has also sponsored
Brad Keselowski in the #25 for
Hendrick Motorsports on a limited basis in the
Sprint Cup series (owing to the "part-time rookie exemption" to a four-car limit). After a successful 2008 season, Go Daddy is expanding its 2009 NASCAR sponsorship with the
JR Motorsports organisation, sponsoring 20 Nationwide Series races as primary sponsor, split between the #5 and #88 teams. The #88 deal gave Keselowski a full 35-race NASCAR Nationwide Series sponsorship for 2009 split with
Delphi and
Unilever. Go Daddy will also be the primary sponsor for seven races in the
Sprint Cup Series with Keselowski driving.
[52] GoDaddy.com signed a one-year deal with
Darlington Raceway to sponsor the 53rd Annual
Rebel 500, the fifth-oldest race on the Sprint Cup circuit.
[53][54][55] Keselowski got his third Nationwide victory at Dover - his first in the #88 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet.
[56][57] In the same season, Keselowski scored a second Nationwide victory in the #88 GoDaddy.com
Chevrolet at the first ever
NASCAR race at
Iowa SpeedwayAnd then at Michigan.
[58][59]For 2010, the Hendrick/Go Daddy association will continue;
Danica Patrick will drive a 12 race schedule in the #7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, and Mark Martin's #5 team will now have Go Daddy as its primary sponsor for the majority of the season.
[60][61]Philanthropy
In the last few years Go Daddy has made many donations to local, regional, national and international charities, including those that focus on
domestic violence,
child abuse, disabled children, teenage homelessness, Parkinson's research, breast cancer and animal shelters. Major recipients of Go Daddy contributions over the past several years include the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Phoenix Children's Hospital, the Arizona Humane Society, the Phoenix Zoo, Chrysalis, HomeBase Youth Services, and the Salvation Army. Go Daddy's employees have also participated in a series of events to raise money for charitable causes. In 2009 Go Daddy donated $50,000 to the Lincoln Family Downtown YMCA in Arizona when the organization requested only $1,000.
[62][63] Go Daddy also participated in the 11th Annual Arizona Humane Society Pet Telethon as the title sponsor. The company matched online contributions and donated a check for $100,000.
[64] In December 2009 at Go Daddy's annual Holiday Party, CEO Bob Parsons and Danica Patrick announced that Go Daddy would be donating $500,000 to the Phoenix-based UMOM New Day Center to fund the Danica Patrick GoDaddy.com Domestic Violence Center.
[65]In November 2008, more than 700 Go Daddy employees participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes in Tempe, AZ. Other Go Daddy employee efforts have included the annual Toys for Tots drive, as well as donations to St. Mary's Food Bank during the holiday season.
[66] In April 2006, the company donated $10,000 to the
OpenSSH development program, which is managed by
OpenBSD.
[67] They have also donated $10,000 in March 2006 to
Perverted-Justice.com in which volunteers pose online as minors to find child predators and report them to law enforcement.
[68]Controversies
"Fines"
Go Daddy frequently "fines" customers accused of spamming or other policy violations. When accused of a policy violation customers are given the option of paying a US $199 fine and staying with Go Daddy, or paying a US $75 administrative fee and initiate a transfer within 24 hours to another web host & registrar, or having their domain names suspended and made nontransferable until they expire if they do not pay.
[69][70]Suspension of Seclists.org
On January 24, 2007, Go Daddy deactivated the domain of computer security site, Seclists.org, taking 250,000 pages of security content offline.
[71] The shutdown resulted from a complaint from
MySpace to Go Daddy regarding 56,000 user names and passwords posted a week earlier to the full-disclosure mailing list and archived on the Seclists.org site as well as many other websites. Seclists.org administrator
Gordon Lyon, who goes by the handle "Fyodor", provided logs to CNET News.com showing Go Daddy de-activated the domain 52 seconds after leaving him a voicemail, and he had to go to great lengths to get the site reactivated. Go Daddy general counsel Christine Jones stated that GoDaddy's terms of service "reserves the right to terminate your access to the services at any time, without notice, for any reason whatsoever." The suspension of seclists.org led Lyon to create nodaddy.com, a
consumer activist website where dissatisfied Go Daddy customers and
whistleblowers from GoDaddy's staff share their experiences.
[72][73][74]Deletion of FamilyAlbum.com
On December 19, 2006, Go Daddy received a third party complaint of invalid domain contact information in the
WHOIS database for the domain FamilyAlbum.com.
[75] Go Daddy wrote a letter to the owner of FamilyAlbum.com saying "Whenever we receive a complaint, we are required by ICANN regulations to initiate an investigation as to whether the contact data displaying in the WHOIS database is valid data or not."
[75] "On 12/19/2006 we sent a notice to you at the admin/tech contact email address and the account email address informing you of invalid data in breach of the domain registration agreement and advising you to update the information or risk cancellation of the domain. The contact information was not updated within the specified period of time and we canceled the domain," Go Daddy added.
[75] The editor of "Domain Name Wire" said that since domain names are valuable, it was reasonable to expect that the registrar would try to contact the domain owner by phone or postal mail.
[75] On February 28, 2007 Go Daddy offered to get the domain name back for the previous owner if he would indemnify Go Daddy from legal action by the new registrant.
[76] Go Daddy stated that the new owner paid $18.99 for the domain, the price of a backorder, not a regular registration.
[76] On November 2, 2007, Domain Name Wire reported that it appears that Go Daddy no longer cancels domains for invalid WHOIS.
[77] The editor on Domain Name Wire received a message from a reader who is trying to acquire a domain with obviously false WHOIS information.
[77] The message from Go Daddy said "The domain has been suspended due to invalid WHOIS. The domain will remain in suspension through expiration, including the registry’s redemption period, unless the owner updates the contact information before that time."
[77]Shutdown of RateMyCop.com
On March 11, 2008, Go Daddy shut down RateMyCop.com — a
RateMyProfessors-type site where people would comment on their interactions with law enforcement officers — after complaints from police officers.
[78] After being contacted about the shutdown, Go Daddy responded that it was due to "suspicious activity".
[citation needed] However, the owner of the site was later told by Go Daddy that the site was shut down for reaching its three terabyte bandwidth limit, although doubt has been expressed
[who?] about the second explanation as the site had only 80,000 connected users that day and 400,000 the previous day.
[citation needed] The website was suspended for pegging the CPU on one of Go Daddy's shared hosting servers which affected the performance of other websites hosted on that same server.
[citation needed]Normal response was to suspend the account and for customer support to encourage the customer to upgrade to a dedicated hosting plan.
[citation needed] This internal procedure went through a major change after the RateMyCop controversy, so that websites that violate the usage terms are moved to their own host temporarily until the customer can resolve the resource consumption issue or migrate to a more robust hosting plan.
[citation needed] The registrar for the name,
Name.com, continued to allow the DNS to resolve. Go Daddy stated the reason for shutting down the Web site had nothing to do with censorship or complaints but that the site was receiving too many simultaneous connections.
[79] In a similar incident, Go Daddy also complied with a demand that the Irish website RateYourSolicitor.com be taken down.
[80]Canceled IPO
On April 12, 2006, Marketwatch reported that Go Daddy Group Inc., had hired
Lehman Brothers to manage an initial stock offering that could raise more than $100 million and value the company at several times that amount.
[81] On May 12, 2006, Go Daddy filed an S-1 registration statement prior to an initial public offering.
[82] On August 8, 2006,
Bob Parsons, CEO of Go Daddy, announced that he had withdrawn the company's
IPO filing.
[83]Wild West Domains
Wild West Domains, a domain reseller resource, is described in its WhoIs database as a "sister company of No. 1 domain registrar GoDaddy.com." The company claims that secureserver.net is its primary backbone, and that domain or email info from this location points to a reseller operating under the GoDaddy umbrella.
source: wikipedia.org
