Who: GoDaddy, with Juniper Park\TBWA, Wavemaker for media and North Strategic for PR and social.
What: “No celebrity necessary,” a new campaign featuring Canadian sprinter—and three time Olympic medalist—Andre De Grasse, promoting the company’s Website + Marketing product.
When & Where: The campaign broke on Oct. 12 running across TV, online, social and digital OOH.
Why: As with previous campaigns, it’s all about demonstrating how easy it is for small business owners to establish an online presence using GoDaddy’s services.
“GoDaddy’s mission is to empower small businesses in Canada by giving business owners and entrepreneurs the tools, insights and personalized help they need to succeed online,” said GoDaddy Canada vice-president and country manager Anne de Aragon in an email interview.
“This campaign speaks directly to the everyday entrepreneur showing how [GoDaddy] pairs an easy-to-use website builder with a suite of marketing tools, designed to help small business owners with little to no marketing know-how, each new customers and fuel business growth.”
How: The campaign features De Grasse talking about various GoDaddy features, such as templates that enable users to easily customize their online store, and 24/7 customer support.
The premise here is that De Grasse was nearly the face of GoDaddy’s newest campaign, but because the company’s service is so good, it really sells itself. While the main spot opens on De Grasse (wearing a medal around his neck), the rest of the spot features the star sprinter taking a figurative back seat to actual entrepreneurs who used GoDaddy to build their website and their business.
The spot concludes with DeGrasse talking directly to camera: “GoDaddy Websites + Marketing? Gold. Andre De Grasse? Out of the picture.”
Why De Grasse: The sprinter is the latest Canadian sports figure to appear in the company’s marketing, following the likes of former Toronto Raptors stars C.J. Miles, Jonas Valanciunas and Muggsy Bogues, as well as current Raptor Norm Powell.
“While the campaign focuses on the small business owners, Andre was the perfect person to help showcase these Canadian businesses, as he is well-liked by so many,” said de Aragon. “As a Canadian, Andre knows the importance of supporting Canadian small businesses and also wants to encourage others to do so, especially during these challenging times.”
On the creative strategy: The company wanted to spotlight actual entrepreneurs, especially with new business applications increasing during the pandemic and ecommerce on the rise, said de Aragon. “With more businesses moving online, especially during these challenging times, we want to highlight how easy and affordable it is for small businesses owners to create an online presence using GoDaddy Websites + Marketing, to help drive growth for their venture,” she said.
And we quote: “It was really inspiring to work with [Canadian entrepreneurs Karlie Ramlogan and Anthony Stanberry] on this campaign and learn more about what it’s like to be a small business owner in Canada. And it helped me better understand why having a website is so crucial in today’s environment.” — Andre De Grasse
