I was less than overwhelmed with the Super Bowl ads this year, and it looks like I'm in good company. I realize how ridiculous it is that we've built a subcultural sport of anticipating, watching, and rating these ads, but humor me for a bit. I need to vent.
The one spot that really stood out to me was, curiously, also the worst. The offender? GoDaddy.com. In a masterpiece of repetitive advertising, GoDaddy dragged out the same old tactic they've used for what, maybe four years now, and featured women with their *ahem* assets hanging out. Hey, beautiful women are... well, beautiful women, but honestly, does GoDaddy think this really adds any value? I think not. Just to play devil's advocate I realize I'm discussing this ad on my blog and generating buzz about it. I see the irony in that, and maybe that's GoDaddy's tactic--but ultimately, it devalues their brand and reminds me why I hate not only their ads, but their point of sale process when purchasing domains. It's one of the most frustrating checkout processes I've encountered.
To end on a bright note, I did really enjoy NBC's LMAO commercial for their Thursday night line-up as well as Monster's awesome ad, which I think was the best of the night in terms of originality:
I also hate GoDaddy; I used them for a few years and found 1) signing up 2) using their menus and navigation 3) trying to figure out billing, very hard and frustrating. I've since made the switch to BlueHost, and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
Also I don't know if you sent it out; it looked like a real signature, but I just got the letter and signed copy of Buzzmarketing" in the mail (I run Youth in the Arts; I filled out the "have your business featured" form online). Thanks so much! The book looks awesome and I already started reading it.
I am still unsure how GoDaddy does business with anyone, but we do have domains with them.
Glad you got the book, it was an interesting and helpful book. If it can help your business, that is our goal.
I recently saw a presentation by Bob Parsons talking about these ads. Every superbowl they gain between 5 and 10% market share due to the ads and the controversy and extra publicity surrounding them. Love em or hate em, they work.
Yeah, not sure how they work but they have created "the domain" brand.