GoDaddy.com is likely to get a bonus bang out of its Super Bowl bucks, with plans to air an ad about one that didn’t make the cut for the Big Game.
The ad slated to air, entitled “Spot On,” will point viewers to the one that the Fox Network rejected. The spot will be posted on Go Daddy’s Web site on game day only. But people can get a sneek peek Indy race car driver and “Go Daddy Girl” Danica Patrick unzipping a Go Daddy leather jacket she’s wearing at www.GoDaddy.com/SuperBowl08.
The plug during the game should ensure the ad draws a crowd, along with the other rejected Go Daddy ads that enjoy an afterlife online.
In the latest episode Super Bowl ad battles, Fox balked at screening the rejected ad called “Exposure” when Go Daddy refused to excise the word “beaver” from the spot featuring Patrick. Go Daddy claims the term referred to Animatronics beavers also featured in the ad.
Patrick is also featured in the “Spot On” ad with a cast of character actors.
“Call me old fashioned, but I believe in America it’s ridiculous to have to refer to a beaver by something other than its real name,” Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons wrote on his blog site about the ad rejection last week.
The rejected ad was one of three prospective Super Bowl spots that Go Daddy produced. The domain name company claims Fox insisted on revisions in two of them, “Exposure” and “Spot On.” Several revisions later, “Spot On” made Fox’s Super Bowl roster.
The third ad, dubbed “White Light,” may air during the game if Go Daddy decides to buy the remaining 30-second slot in the big game lineup.
At press time, Fox Sports could not be reached for comment.
The public media tug of war is the capper in a short history of Super Bowl advertising brouhahas between Go Daddy and Fox. Fox pulled a spot Go Daddy produced parodying censorship before it aired a second time during the 2005 Super Bowl.
That ad, featuring a “wardrobe malfunction” during mock Senate committee hearing appearance by that other “Go Daddy Girl” Nikki Capelli, can be seen online. Go Daddy fans can also view an ad rejected for last year’s Super Bowl online.
Go Daddy has also produced racier Web-only versions of all of its Super Bowl ads.
The company still saw a big payoff from the single airing of the 2005 spot, claiming its market share of the new domain names subsequently ballooned from 16% to 25%. It hit a new market share high water mark of 42% in the wake of its last Super Bowl ad, which was rated the “most recalled” TV spot of 2007 by IAG Research.
All of its ads are produced in-house by Go Daddy Productions.
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