GoDaddy has a new CEO and is moving in a new direction.
Blake Irving took the helm of domain name registrar and webhosting giant GoDaddy this year.
It was a big shift for the company, which had been run by insiders until an investment group bought in to the company in 2011. The investors later installed an interim CEO until Irving came on board. Irving comes from Microsoft and Yahoo!, and brought a decidedly different attitude to the company.
The company that got itself on the map with sexy advertising and controversy has shifted its advertising to focusing on small and medium-sized business and what its products actually do. The company that had a strict Not Invented Here attitude started to partner with other companies — and buy them. The company known for a security complex became a bit more open…a bit more Silicon-valley like.
Of course, these changes aren’t readily apparent to everyone. You can’t change a company’s image overnight. People still remember GoDaddy’s old commercials. They still remember the elephant. And SOPA.
That was apparent when GoDaddy acquired hosting company (mt) Media Temple earlier this year. (mt)’s customers include designers and developers, many of which aren’t big fans of GoDaddy. They chose (mt) precisely because it wasn’t GoDaddy.
Despite assurances that (mt) would remain on its own post-acquisition, customers took to Twitter to vent their frustrations, and Irving responded explaining that GoDaddy is now a different company.
Maybe so, but it will take a while to prove it.
Tom says
It will be interesting to see what the Go Daddy Super Bowl commercial looks like in 2014. This is me totally taking it for granted that they’ll have one of course…
Andrew Allemann says
For the upcoming Super Bowl? Yes, they’ll have ads. And Danica Patrick will be featured.
thelegendaryjp says
So wait, they want to change and move away from what made them a success…sounds like a logical plan.
Also focusing on a market like small business sounds nice but when one looks at the success rate of those hopefully repaying customers…again sounds logical lol
Andrew Allemann says
They’ve always focused on the SMB market, but not their marketing efforts are more targeted to this customer base. They actually say what they do.
Henry says
Going by the recent performance of their website, I will say that they are moving in the wrong direction. The speed is quite diminished with too many hang ups especially since they started marketing the new domain names.
It looks to me like they are about to lose their way. It’s a pity.