GoDaddy is "returning to the Super Bowl for its 11th consecutive year," but the web-hosting firm that has been airing two spots in recent years "this time around only purchased one," according to Jeanine Poggi of AD AGE. GoDaddy CMO Barb Rechterman said that the decision "reflected a need to make room in the budget for international marketing as the company grows overseas." The lone 30-second spot, titled "Journey Home," will feature NASCAR driver Danica Patrick and a puppy "telling the story of the journey of a business owner." But Rechterman said that "there will be a plot twist," which she declined to reveal. Poggi notes GoDaddy "worked with" N.Y.-based Barton F. Graf 9000 on the creative for the spot. The company "revamped its creative strategy" for Super Bowl XLVIII, "steering clear of the sexual provocation that previously dominated its prior Super Bowl commercials" (ADAGE.com, 11/24). VARIETY's Brian Steinberg noted "unlike most other Super Bowl advertisers, which trot out something new every year, GoDaddy has chosen to stick by Patrick, who will appear in her 14th Super Bowl ad next year." Rechterman said, “We are playing a tad on Super Bowl conventions by putting a puppy in an ad. It’s a genuinely emotional storytelling moment -- and then we’ve got a twist at the end that will turn it on its head" (VARIETY.com, 11/24).
