Blake Irving the CEO of Go Daddy did an AMA (Ask Me Anything ) on Reddit. Some of the questions dealt with how their provocative ads in the past helped build the business and create awareness.
Irving said, “The old ads helped GoDaddy build massive brand awareness in the US. They weren’t helpful to our reputation as an egalitarian provider of services though, and they didn’t do enough to tell people what we actually do. One of the first things I did at GoDaddy was pivot the advertising to reflect what we did and who we did it for. When 58% of small businesses in the US are run by women you should reflect the great work they do as small businesses. That’s what we’ve done with our ads over the past two years.”
There was some skepticism in the crowd that there was a bit of astro-turfing going on and that Go Daddy employees with Reddit accounts were asking questions.
JackBauerTheCat wrote,
This whole god damn thread feels astro turfed. Go daddy has a history of being a slime ball company. My company has an initiative to get new clients off of their hosting.
Reddit knows go daddy is a bad company, and a bad choice for hosting, how could these questions be so perfect?
I know I’m cynical, but I also work in marketing. It’s not out of the question that these softball questions are coming from employees that have reddit accounts.”
Irving answered questions about Go Daddy initial support for S.O.P.A. and CISPA. Irving pointed out that was before he got there and that he thought it was a mistake.
That was before my time and the company got it wrong, and we learned from it. The damage to the companies reputation had already been done, of course, but it won’t happen again. CISPA never made it off the ground so there was really no position to take, but GoDaddy didn’t support the direction. I personally never supported SOPA nor CISPA.
Irving was asked about why coupon codes went away for existing customers.
Q: Why did GoDaddy stop putting out coupon codes that could be used by existing customers? Any plans to bring them back?
Blake Irving: We’re focused on maximizing value for our customers. In most cases, that isn’t about price it’s about product and experience. That said, we still do sales and special offers – just not as often.
Read the full AMA on Reddit as Irving answered questions about female execs and how much domainers mean to the bottom line.
