GoDaddy ads follow Danica Patrick in post-racing transition
DAY T ONA BE ACH, F L A . • Danica Patrick and GoDaddy show the growth of their brands in a bright, new commercial that features Patrick’s transition to life off the track.
GoDaddy’s new spot aired during Sunday’s seasonopening Daytona 500. Although the theme is about Patrick’s shift away from racing, the ad highlights the full circle Patrick has come with the company that helped make her one of the most famous female athletes in the world.
Patrick made 21 previous commercials for GoDaddy, some of which were racy and risque. She was placed in 13 Super Bowl commercials for GoDaddy, a number that still stands as the most Super Bowl spots for a celebrity.
But as Patrick’s career winds down with two final r aces, GoDaddy i s now celebrating her transition to a businesswoman. The Make Your Idea Real ad is a colourful look at Patrick’s shift from driver to entrepreneur. She is retiring after racing in the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500, and GoDaddy is sponsoring the effort.
“I’m leaving the track behind, but I’m not standing still. And with GoDaddy, I’ve made my ideas real,” Patrick says at the start of the spot.
The ad then shows her in various stages of her new businesses: Exercising, at a book signing for her 90- day wellness guide, a photo shoot for her Warrior clothing line. All the scenes are in fun hues of green, pink, yellow and orange.
“I made my own way. Now it’s time to make yours,” she tells viewers.
The ad is far different from anything the company has ever made with Patrick, and features her fully dressed in clothes she designed.
It’s also extremely adult for GoDaddy, which had used a unique marketing plan in its early days that had many commercials end with the disclaimer, “Warning: web content is unrated.”
This new ad is definitely rated G.
“I feel like each time I watch it, it gets better and better and better,” Patrick told The Associated Press. “It definitely has a lot of colour and pop that draws your eye in, and as the commercial goes, it gets cuter and cuter. It obviously shows the other businesses that I have. It’s awesome because it’s a commercial for small businesses.”
Some of GoDaddy’s pre- vious ads offended viewers, and in 2015, the company had to pull its Lost Puppy ad with Patrick after the complaints from animal advocates. Patrick said one of her favourite GoDaddy ads was a push-to-web spot she shared with trainer Jillian Michaels in which viewers were led to believe the pitchwomen objected to risque outfits GoDaddy wanted for them.
If viewers went to the company website, they’d see the second part: The outfits are silly, but Patrick and Michaels were actually “objecting” to a dance in the ad.
“It’s not that it was about what we were going to wear — it’s about these outfits and this dumb dance,” Patrick said.
Some argue t he spots helped expand Patrick’s brand by sexualizing her and using her appearance as a selling point.
That sentiment is sometimes voiced by Patrick’s detractors, who claim she had a strong marketing machine that didn’t match her ontrack results.
Although Patrick has just one IndyCar victory, she’s the highest-finishing woman in the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500, the only woman to lead laps in both events, the only woman to win a pole for a major NASCAR race and the only woman to win an IndyCar race.
Patrick pays no attention to any criticism of her career, particularly online, or debate over what role sexuality played in advancing her race car career.
“People have a really big voice when they don’t have a face. I’ve got 26 years of proof that I am a driver,” she said. “I don’t ever regret anything I’ve ever done. Everybody grows up and evolves and GoDaddy has gone away from those kind of commercials and I’ve gone away from those kind of commercials.
“But there was nothing ever shown on TV that I was uncomfortable with.”
GoDaddy thinks its clean and modern spot is a perfect showcase for how far Patrick and the company have come. Patrick’s first GoDaddy commercial was in 2007.
“Anyone who knows Danica, or has watched her over her career, knows when she puts her mind to a goal, she usually finds a way to achieve it,” GoDaddy chief marketing officer Barb Rechterman said.
“Our new GoDaddy commercial highlights Danica’s aspirations for l i fe after racing, and how having a smart online presence helps her attain her goals.”