by Kevin Murphy
Go Daddy’s 2011 Super Bowl ad is going to have one big difference – it will advertise .co domains.
The registrar has made a deal with .CO Internet to share the cost of the big-money ad – exact terms have not been disclosed – in what will be the biggest marketing deal for .co to date.
The news broke last night at a rooftop party held by the .co registry in Cartagena, Colombia, following the first day of the ICANN public meeting here.
Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons made an appearance at the party, albeit only in a pre-recorded video, to drop massive hints that a big Super Bowl-related deal was in the works.
On-site sources subsequently confirmed that the two companies have arranged to jointly advertise during the annual sporting event.
The announcement was followed by a fireworks display that lasted almost ten minutes, which might give you an idea of how important it is for .CO Internet.
The news is huge for .co’s legitimacy as a pseudo-gTLD, and will almost certainly lead to a big up-tick in domain registrations for the company.
Go Daddy’s annual Super Bowl commercials are one of the big reasons for the company’s success, and for the mainstream success of the domain name industry.
Kevin Murphy is a freelance journalist and author of Domain Incite. He will be reporting for Domain Name Wire from the ICANN meeting this week in Cartagena, Colombia.
Francois says
In a less optimist note we just closed the vertical marketplace Flipping.co
The lack of help by the .CO registry and the fact the aftermarket business around this ccTLD never landed off, we estimated it did no longer deserve a special marketplace vertical.
.CO domains will continue accepted and listed for sale at Cax.com but will no longer get any special attention.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Francois – I think the .co registry has tried to avoid any suggestion that its domains should be bought for flipping.
Joe says
I agree with Andrew. Plus, Francois, you need to notice that most of the .CO domains listed for sale at Flipping.co had crazy prices. The .CO market hasn’t taken off yet and IMO Flipping.co was just full of speculators trying to flip their domains using the post-landrush auction hype to try to get those unreal prices.
Kevin Davis says
Of course they are gonna promote .co They will make 4 times what the .com cost.
The Original Domainer says
Godaddy learned a few years ago there is a lot of money in the typo market.
Sumer Kolcak says
the correct time to sell is sept 2011. or begins around that time, august to oct. it will meet it’s peak.
Super Bowl Commercial says
The .co extension is going to become much more valuable after GoDaddy (one of the most know domain companies) features it in their Super Bowl Commercial.