Will the GoDaddy brand wither as it is institutionalized?
GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons is one outspoken guy, and he has built a brand around this “edginess”.
He recently took a stab at video blogging on his blog BobParsons.com. He discussed the idea of having former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s call girl Ashley Dupre be the next GoDaddy girl (he said he was open to discussion, which suggests this video was recorded before GoDaddy’s PR team dismissed the idea). He also discussed a recent motorcycle accident and how he’s going to start driving a car. He then relived his fond memories of this year’s Super Bowl commercial.
The big question is: who cares? When Parsons started blogging, he made some insightful commentary on domain names and the internet, which is what his business is about. Sure, he made some off-topic commentary about torture too, but his message was mostly relevant.
Now it’s too neatly packaged.
Here’s the problem I see with Parsons and his brand. At first it seemed ingenious and uncalculated. A true maverick. The first Super Bowl commercial put the company on the map with lots of media exposure. The coverage was even better since the company couldn’t get any ads approved.
But then it became institutionalized. Here’s another year, another GoDaddy commercial, and another “oh gee whiz, they rejected our commercial again!” As further evidence, GoDaddy’s PR team released a “timeline” of the commercial saga. It was all planned out from day one. It was no longer edgy; it became trite.
Parson’s video blog is just another example of this. I’m sure he came up with most of the topics, but it’s too polished. (That is, except for Parsons, who comes across as rather quirky.) And it’s irrelevant. Do I really care what Parsons drives to work?
Stepping outside of whether or not you like GoDaddy as a company, where do you think the brand is headed?
Donny says
You better be careful what you say about Bob, he runs the internet.
Concerned says
I think Bob should move his company and servers out of the US and convince Netsol and others to move as well. With pending legislation about to steal your domains from you you would think someone would load up the wagons and head for the hills. If the past few years haven’t scared the $#@% out of everyone they should. Corporate America and the US psychopath administration have raped and pillaged everything they wanted. Terrorists in Iraq, certainly now, not before 911! The Wolfowitz Doctrine wanted an excuse to steal oil and your rights and 911 gave it to them. Oil, big Oil!! Big Military Spending. Can you say Haliburton, Carlyle Group, Bush, Binladen etc. etc. Patriot Act??? Taking your rights away FAST! Maybe the .com’s will become worthless and the rest of the country extensions, .de, .cn, .cc, .ca, .in, co.uk. etc.. will rise to the top.
Diversify, develop domains and keep your day job is my suggestion. AND VOTE!
Cheers!
p.s. Bob please move your operations outside of the US. If you don’t I am sure many of your customers are already transferring their premium domains to registrar’s outside of Fortress America.
Lda says
‘Concerned’ .. funny you mention that, a few hours ago I left a post on his latest blog asking him to comment on his response to the Snowe bill and suggesting the likelihood of a massive transfer of registrations offshore.
I wonder if he’ll put it online… if you haven’t seen his blog recently, the present topic is about whether Spitzer’s prostitute should become a Godaddy girl !! BTW, the question was asked by Parsons !! Andrew, your post is well aimed. I suspect Bob Parsons is presently on another planet. Perhaps he sees himself as the logical successor to Hef ? If he’s not paying attention at this time, his ‘brand’ could dissolve around him, as the domains flow offshore.
Damir says
Godaddy.com should place it’s money into education and training of it’s staff so they can provide GREAT and efficient customer service (this is the core o a business).
Sam Stevens says
I have never liked the GoDaddy brand–it’s offensive. That being said, I do like their domain services.
Concerned says
I think godaddy is one of the best. I mean everyone will have a hiccup now and again. But godaddy consistently provides good customer service (they actually answer the phone 24hrs a day!) and tries to fix any problems.
Regardless Mr. Parsons should protect his very valuable business. One part of that should certainly include getting your assets away from corporate vultures and out of countries that treat privacy and individual rights like they are non-existent. If registrars in the US cant protect their customers assets, those customers should and will move those assets to a registrar and country that can and will.
Maybe Godaddy could buy a small island country and become a country for domaineers!! 🙂 Oops, too much caffeine.
Best.
Andrew says
@ Concerned – It is nice to have someone answer the phone 24×7. They should work on training their customer service reps to not jump to conclusions, however. This is part of what got them into a mess over RateMyCop.com…they should have known that it was just a bandwidth issue. And, if this really was the case, an appropriate error message would have worked 🙂
Patrick McDermott says
Andrew,
I just registered DomainNameWireSucks.com
Bob (Who’s Your Daddy?)
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P.S.
Just kidding, Andrew and Bob
Patrick
Dave K says
!!!!!!!!!!!!BIG UPCOMING SCANDAL !!!!!!!!!!!!
IS GODADDY STEALING DOMAIN NAMES FROM ITS OWN CUSTOMERS???
You be the judge !!!
http://baddaddy.angelfire.com/index.html
&
http://www.nodaddy.com
or dup
http://www.angelfire.com/baddaddy/
Buyer be aware!!!
Andrew says
@ Dave K – the web page you point to doesn’t really have anything I haven’t seen before, except for a number of allegations that don’t have anything to back them up. While some of the things you mention (if you are the author of the page) are true and are definitely bad, I think a number of the others are probably misunderstandings.
ben says
godaddy is the worst registrar. I own over 2000 domains and i transfered almost all out of godaddy.
One day i noticed one of my domains being auctioned off without my knowledge, that did it for me.
if there are anydoubts about how crooked godady is just search familyalbum.com .
Sooner godaddy goes out of business the better the world will be.
Ben
labrocca says
As a brand I think godaddy isn’t going to suffer all that greatly. For the most part they have regular people registering a few domains. Domainers as a whole have simply dismissed the GD brand. Some simply use their own WWD setup. The bulk of domainers that are serious imho use Moniker.
I will say also that I think eventually GD will be sold up to another company. Their failed attempt to do a public stock offering is proof that GD isn’t beyond reproach.
Personally…I think very low of Parsons, GD, their product, and their policies. It’s the worst of the major independent registrars (now that RF is dead).
PLEASE READ says
GoDaddy just sent me a notice to update my domain names contact information or risk losing them. They say it’s a follow-up to an email they sent me months ago which I never recieved.
This email was sent to me right after I requested a certified appraisal of a highly sort after domain name. GoDaddy states certified appraisals takes 2 days or less. It’s now day 4 and it’s still pending. Seems like they’re trying to steal it.
Here’s the email they sent me:
*****************************************
Important Notice Regarding Your Domain Name(s)
*****************************************
Dear *********,
Several months ago we sent you a notice to review and update the contact information for your domain name(s). This is a follow-up to that email.
According to our records you are the ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACT on the following domain names registered at GoDaddy.com as of March 10th, 2008:
********.COM
********.COM
********.COM
********.COM
********.COM
ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) requires all accredited registrars to ask their domain administrators/registrants to review domain name contact data annually, and make any changes necessary to ensure accuracy.
Under ICANN rules and the terms of your registration agreement, PROVIDING FALSE CONTACT INFORMATION CAN BE GROUNDS FOR DOMAIN NAME CANCELLATION (to review the ICANN policy, visit: http://www.icann.org/whois/wdrp-registrant-faq.htm).
If you have not yet done so, it is important that you review and update the contact information for your domain names as soon as possible. To review/update your contact data, simply:
1. Go to http://www.godaddy.com?isc=ICANN0208a NOTE: If the link does not work, copy and paste the URL into your browser.
2. Click on the “ICANN Domain Confirmation” icon at the top of the page.
3. You will be taken to a landing page and asked to enter your Domain Information Key: xxxxxxx
4. Enter your key and click “Go.”
5. Review the contact information on each of your domain names.
If you find that your domain contact data is current and accurate, there’s no need to take action. If, however, your domain contact information is inaccurate, you must correct it. To make a correction, log in to “My Account” with your customer number or log in name and password. Click “Manage Domains,” select the domain to update, then click “Contact.”
Should you have any questions or believe you have received this email in error, please email us at support@godaddy.com or call our customer support line at (480) 505-8877. Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
GoDaddy.com, Inc. Domain Support
If you are the domain administrator of more than one GoDaddy.com domain account, you may receive this notice multiple times.
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Copyright (C) 2008 GoDaddy.com, Inc. All rights reserved.