GoDaddy Crafts Political Play For Debate Night Debut

Marketing Campaign Targets Epic TV Audience

News provided by

Sep 22, 2016, 09:15 ET

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE: GDDY) is using edgy, topical humor to punctuate its marketing message in front of a huge television audience. The new GoDaddy marketing takes aim at presidential politics in an advertising campaign debuting Monday in connection with live debate coverage, which some suggest may draw an audience in excess of 80-million viewers.

GoDaddy will join the ranks of late-night comedians by leveraging interest in what has become one of the most-talked about political campaigns in U.S. history. Only instead of going for jokes about individual candidates, trustworthiness or partisan economic plans, GoDaddy is putting its own twist on political platform satire to encourage all people to believe in their own, individual ideas while passionately pursuing their American dream online.

"We know humor works here in the U.S., and we're going to have some fun this election season with a marketing campaign that turns the spotlight away from the candidates and shifts it onto the people … the people who have awesome ideas and want to bring them to life online," said GoDaddy CMO Barb Rechterman. "Safe to say this has been an outrageously unusual election cycle, why not tap into this unprecedented political audience of epic proportions? Our commercial, in the context of the televised debate, is intended to provide comic relief, while speaking to what GoDaddy does to help people break through online."

The campaign is co-sponsored by Verisign, the .COM registry, and runs through Election Day. In addition to digital content, two different TV commercials were produced by GoDaddy's own in-house team in mid-September. The spots poke fun at a range of political clichés with over-the-top images. Thanks to creative special effects, the campaign features the iconic GoDaddy logo in the starring role. The new TV ad airs on CNN during pre-debate coverage and also on CBS and FOX News during post-debate coverage Monday. The follow-up TV commercial is slated to air adjacent to the second presidential debate, next month.

No word on whether jokes about basement email servers, or a foreign-funded border wall will find their way into the GoDaddy campaign, but to see the first of the TV ads, you can watch Monday night, or cut to the punchline now by visiting www.GoDaddy.com/election.

GoDaddy powers the world's largest cloud platform dedicated to small, independent ventures. The website and domain name provider is now serving more than 14 million paying customers in 56 markets, 29 languages and 44 currencies around the world. GoDaddy employs approximately 5,000 people and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., with facilities across other locations, including California, Washington State, Massachusetts and Iowa in the U.S., as well as Asia, Brazil, India, Canada, Mexico, U.K., Australia and The Netherlands, internationally.

Connect with GoDaddy on Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn

About GoDaddy
GoDaddy powers the world's largest cloud platform dedicated to small, independent ventures. With more than 14 million customers worldwide and more than 63 million domain names under management, GoDaddy is the place people come to name their idea, build a professional website, attract customers and manage their work. Our mission is to give our customers the tools, insights and the people to transform their ideas and personal initiative into success. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150330/195302LOGO

SOURCE GoDaddy Inc.