A couple of years back, Barack Obama gave a speech. In it, he mentioned that we (America) must ‘brave new directions.’ I immediately checked whether ‘bravenewdirections.com’ was available. It was. I thought it had massive potential for a campaign – whether political or commercial. A command like that doesn’t fall out of the tree every day. Only, my hosting company was migrating servers as the result of an acquisition and my account was temporarily locked. Fearing I might lose the domain, I reluctantly went to GoDaddy. As a father to daughters, I always loathed GoDaddy’s sensationalistic ad campaigns featuring the exploitation of women. Sure, the women were probably paid handsomely, but just because a woman in a tight shirt can convince the Neanderthals of North America to do business with them doesn’t make it right. Advertising like this is more than the exploitation of women, it’s exploitation of the weakness of stupid men. Anyway, I procured both bravenewdirections.com and bravenewdirection.com with GoDaddy.
Then earlier this year, after previewing another ridiculously bad GoDaddy Super Bowl commercial, I decided that I’d had enough. It didn’t matter to me that my two domains represented less than $20 a year to the company, nor did I care that I had to run the GoDaddy gauntlet of upsell in my attempt to close my account – I wanted the domains moved. Doing any business with GoDaddy was like endorsing their existence. When I was finally able to close my account, I felt like I did my little part to make the world a better place.
Until this week, I haven’t thought about GoDaddy again. But then news surfaced of GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons bagging an elephant. Now I’m not going to get into the argument as to whether it was just or moral of him to kill the elephant, but the fact that he did it with a film crew present sickens me. What did he think we’d think? Of course he knew we’d be outraged. But then, if you take a look at his Twitter stream, it’s obvious that he is in business for one reason – money (note the banned Serena Williams soft porn commercial he thinks will do well on cable). I don’t know anything about Parsons other than this. He may be a sweetheart of a guy who donates his salary to battered women for all I know. But I doubt it. He comes across as a person who thrives in shocking people into submission through sensationalism.
I’ve helped create and steer brand messaging for more than a decade. And the one thing I’ve always believed about crafting communications for any brand is that the truth always works best. When you try to paint a pig purple and sell it as a porsche – it will always fail. If your’e a pig, you’re a pig. Just be the best pig possible. The most authentic brands are true to their core beliefs. And those beliefs start with the people who run the company. Everything you need to know about a brand flows out from these core truths. In the case of Parsons murdering the elephant for glory, combined with years of GoDaddy sensationalistic marketing, and you can clearly see the core beliefs of the company. Shock and awe.
No doubt there are people here who will cite how this was a huge branding black eye for GoDaddy, and then they’ll provide a range of ways that GoDaddy can overcome this mistake as they validate their status as branding a expert. But I don’t think this was a mistake at all. It’s a true representation of the core beliefs of the brand. Shock people. Make them gasp. Then hit them hard with upsell.
If you’re still using GoDaddy after this week, shame on you. And please, don’t complain about this country being fucked up when you’re helping contribute to it.
***
Howie G
Apr 1, 2011
I am amazed at how easily Mr. Peace and Love me could walk up to Mr. Parsons and do so much damage to him then feed him to elephants in Africa without even blinking. And I wonder if that is bad to feel that way. What he did, did not make him a man or a stud. It made him a sissy who really is a waste of this planets resources. I will end now and say Solidarity. Thank you for sharing Jim. You are definitely a good man and a great father.
starringAllison
Apr 1, 2011
I hated them for the same commercial reasons. I find them base and vile. But even from a business side I found their website kludgy to work with (I even had one of their techs say the same thing). I asked my client to transfer hosting because I really hated the product. Now you add this component UGH! What is wrong with people? Great Post!
Steve Knight
Apr 1, 2011
I’m ashamed to say it’s taken me this long to finally move away from GoDaddy. Their ad campaigns in the past have sickened me, but it didn’t motivate me enough to take action. For whatever reason, this elephant killing episode was the last straw (finally). And of course, reading your blog post just confirmed I’m doing the right thing. Thanks, Jim.
Carol Roth
Apr 1, 2011
First, I want to thank you for bringing to light the ridiculous commercials that portray women in a very negative light. In the wake of the “elephant incident”, I am so glad that the outrage at the commercials was included in the discussion.Second, I want to say that it’s too bad, because GoDaddy actually has excellent customer service. I mean, at the top of the heap. They do such an outstanding job of servicing their customers, which is a huge differentiator, that they do not need the shock value. Clearly there is a misalignment of values and I hope the company can sort them out.
Ian Sohn
Apr 3, 2011
Here’s the thing … if I stopped doing business with every company whose CEO was a jerk, morally corrupt or simply engaged in activities I found distasteful, I’d probably have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning.I don’t personally condone Parsons’ actions. And I happen to think his advertising is drivel, at best. But I also don’t claim to do/act in a way that everyone in the world would find worthy.So for me, it’s kind of like the glass houses and stones thing.It might be the lazy way out of switching from GoDaddy to someone else (a process I imagine to be hellish). But truth is that Parsons, the person, just isn’t that important to me. I just want my website to run.Shamefully yours,Ian
Dabitch
Apr 3, 2011
Seconding the thanks for bringing up the women ads – when I posted about the elephant incident ( http://adland.tv/content/bob-parsons-goes-elephant-hunting-kills-godaddy ) I was contemplating if we might get more eyes on that issue if I ran around naked trampling farmers crop fields to death. Good to see it didn’t have to come to that. ;)NameCheap domains offered $4.99 transfers for GoDaddy customres if theywrote BYEBYEGD in coupon code – one of those dollars went straight to save the elephants. If you haven’t moved your domains yet, take them up on that offer. Cheers!
Nichole Brown
Apr 3, 2011
Ian Sohn
Apr 3, 2011
To repeat something I just said to Jim on Twitter, I agree (strongly) with his principle. Yet I haven’t moved services. So I have to look at myself and ask why. That’s all I’m saying.
fairuse
Apr 3, 2011
Sure, the women were probably paid handsomely, but just because a woman in a tight shirt can convince the Neanderthals of North America to do business with them doesn’t make it right.
Bob Aycock
Apr 13, 2011
I detest GoDaddy and have been unhappy with their pathetic services since the company I work for moved both our hosting and most of our clients over earlier this year. They offer no real help and are only about the money. Thanks for another brilliant post, Jim. The whole elephant fiasco just proved my thoughts of GoDaddy’s worthlessness and only desire to help themselves.
website4hosting
Apr 20, 2011
This hosting provider is a champion in killing wild animals, but when it comes to domain name or inexpensive web hosting services, you better run away as quick as you can. Godaddy sucks. More info can be found at http://best-inexpensive-web-hosting.com/godaddy-sucks-scam
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