Blogs: M&M’s --- Part I - This stands for Marketing and Money
Blogs: Sometimes not making money is ok....
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By Liam Eagle, theWHIR.com
December 26, 2005 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- While certain Web hosts have always had a fascination with the outrageous advertising endeavor, 2005 saw a collection of Web hosts take the industry's advertising efforts into new territory as they courted the attention of the mass market with some very mainstream advertising sponsorships, many of them targeting sports audiences.
Web hosting's biggest, and certainly most notable, mainstream marketing effort in 2005 was also the first. On February 6, Web host and domain registrar Go Daddy (godaddy.com) ran an ad in Super Bowl XXXIV, determined to take its brand to the event's roughly 150 million viewers.
The $2.4 million decision was controversial before the ad ever aired. Go Daddy customers and industry observers expressed their concerns that the company was acting irresponsibly, recalling the excesses of the dot-com era. But mainstream appeal has long been Go Daddy's intent, and the company's success in expanding its business may have made the company's Super Bowl ad a catalyst for some of the other mainstream advertising efforts undertaken by Web hosts this year.
It became more likely that Go Daddy was actively courting controversy when the ad itself finished production. The ad featured a well-endowed woman parodying the "wardrobe malfunction" experienced by Janet Jackson at the previous Super Bowl's halftime show. A second ad produced by Go Daddy for a second spot purchased later in the game was rejected by Fox for its content. Go Daddy decided to run the same ad twice, but Fox made an in-game decision to pull the racy first ad from the second spot.
Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons attempted to address the controversy surrounding the Super Bowl ad by launching a blog (bobparsons.com). The site was used to make the censored second ad available online, and has since become a soapbox from which Parsons sounds off on anything from industry policy issues to American politics.
Parsons said in the blog that the controversy surrounding the company's ad had brought a tremendous amount of traffic to Go Daddy's Web site, as surfers came to see for themselves what all the fuss was about.
The controversy surrounding the ad seemingly did not sour the NFL on Web hosting, or vice versa. In August, Web host C I Host (cihost.com) announced that it had partnered with advertising firm Spinner Networks to display ads on-screen during Dallas Cowboys game broadcasts. The ads appear during pauses in game action, as the display size is reduced to allow the ads to fit underneath. C I Host said it was also marketing the advertising space to its customers.
While the NFL saw several Web hosting sponsorships this year, Web hosts approached a variety of other venues with their sponsorship efforts this year.
The 2005 season of the ARCA RE/MAX season saw Web host Readyhosting (readyhosting.com) increase its involvement from a track sponsorship to the full-blown sponsorship of a racing team. Readyhosting put its dollars behind Venturini Motorsports, taking a notable role in the community of ARCA sponsors, and in the artwork on the Venturini vehicle.
In August, Internet service and Web hosting provider Pipex (pipex.net) announced that it would become the official sponsor and exclusive broadband partner of soccer team the Fullham Football Club for the next two premiership seasons. The company's logo appears on the club's black and white jerseys.
Further from the normal concepts of sponsorship, German-based Web hosting giant 1&1 Internet (oneandone.com) and its parent company United Internet announced in the spring that they would sponsor United Internet Team Germany as it worked through the qualifying process for the 2007 America's Cup, the 32nd running of the famous boat race. Two-time Olympic gold medalist and experienced America's Cup skipper Jesper Benk will captain the ship, which sports a very large 1&1 logo.
And while the foul poles at the Houston Astros' Minute Maid Park have carried the logo of Houston, Texas-based EV1Servers (ev1servers.net) for several years, it is not every year that the Astros make it to the World Series. Though the Astros were swept in baseball's final showdown this year, the team's dramatic run in the 2005 playoffs gave EV1Servers' sponsorship plenty of occasion to pay off.
While Web hosting firms have made mainstream sponsorships in the past, even involving sporting events, 2005 was a breakout year, and will undoubtedly open the door for more mainstream sponsorships by Web hosts in the coming year.
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