No risque retiree: Patrick ad earnest
Previous Godaddy spots focused on skin, not wisdom
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — 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 will air during Sunday’s season-opening 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, the most Super Bowl spots for a celebrity.
As Patrick’s career winds down with two final races — she qualified in the 28th spot for Sunday — Godaddy is now celebrating her transition to a businesswoman. The “Make Your Idea Real” ad is a colorful 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 before with Patrick, and it 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 color 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 previous 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 favorite 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 the 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 on-track 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 said she pays no attention to 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.”