May 12, 2010 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) –
Go Daddy is putting the GO in this year's Indianapolis 500 broadcast on ABC TV! The world's largest Web hosting and domain name provider is the primary sponsor for the live race broadcast and for IndyCar star Danica Patrick. And, for the first-time ever, Go Daddy will broadcast user-generated commercials as part of its cutting edge advertising strategy.
The top three winners of Go Daddy's "Create Your Own Commercial" contest will be unveiled to everyone, including the winners themselves, during the race broadcast May 30. Winners of the contest earn a spot in advertising history too, because Go Daddy is providing the largest guaranteed payout of any ad contest ever.
"Danica and I were very impressed with the commercial entries and I think viewers will be shocked with our winning picks, they aren't what I'd call conventional GoDaddy-esque ads," said Go Daddy CEO and founder Bob Parsons. "People found some clever ways to promote our brand. We just might be entering a new Go Daddy era - you might even say, Go Daddy is getting out of its comfort zone."
One of the ads in contention for the $100,000 top prize was a first-time project for its crew. "We're thrilled to be in the running. This was the very first attempt at making a commercial for our director, composer, writer and me," said Jessie Ottolini, who produced an ad titled "Go Momma."
Creators of the first place ad receive $100,000 in cash. Second and third place winners take home $50,000 and $25,000 respectively. And in a last-minute show of appreciation, Parsons added five Honorable Mention winners, who will each win $15,000.
Go Daddy could be signaling a potential shift in advertising, but on race day, its head honcho will be track-side cheering for Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick and the whole #7 Go Daddy IndyCar team.
Danica finished third at last year's Indy. Parsons spotted her star-power early on, signing Danica in late-2006. She is the first woman to lead during an Indianapolis 500 race, the first woman to win an IZOD IndyCar race and crossed over into NASCAR's Nationwide Series this season. With a record five female drivers positioned to compete in this year's Indianapolis 500, the stage is set for historic action at the brickyard.
"It's always been a dream of mine to win the Indy 500 and I'd love nothing better than to do it in the Go Daddy car," Danica said. "GoDaddy.com has been such a great partner, in racing, with commercials. They've believed in me from the start."
Watch "The Indianapolis 500 broadcast presented by GoDaddy.com" Sunday, May 30. Live coverage begins at Noon ET on ABC TV. In-car cameras, sponsored by Go Daddy will give viewers a first-person perspective, as well as a bird's-eye-view from the Go Daddy sponsored heli-cam flying overhead.
About The Go Daddy Group, Inc.
Go Daddy is a leading provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy provides a variety of domain name registration plans and Web site design and hosting packages, as well as a broad array of on-demand services. These include products such as SSL Certificates, Domains by Proxy private registration, ecommerce Web site hosting, blog templates and blog software, podcast packages and online photo hosting. The Go Daddy Group, Inc. has more than 41 million domain names under management. Go Daddy registers, renews or transfers a domain name every second.
GoDaddy.com is the world's No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. GoDaddy.com is also rated the world's largest hostname provider according to Netcraft Ltd. During 2009, The Go Daddy Group registered more than one-third of all new domain names created in the top six generic top-level domains, or gtlds, including .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and .mobi.
