The Internet Comes to Life With a Love for Sneezing Pandas and Cats in GoDaddy’s Super Bowl Ad

From the scantily clad women of its early days to more recent spots featuring small business owners, GoDaddy’s Super Bowl advertising has come a long way. This year, the brand is back in the Big Game with an ad that promotes its new product and the Web-hosting company’s role in the internet.

Specifically, the 30-second spot from agency Bullish personifies the internet. Called “Good Morning,” it shows a guy that represents the internet starting his day. In the ad, “the Internet” is a 20-something guy with a “Plug Life” tattoo on his chest who has the infamous “gold/blue dress” in his closet and takes a shower by doing the ice bucket challenge.

The ad promotes GoCentral, the company’s new website building tool.

GoDaddy sat out last year’s Super Bowl, after having to swap in a last-minute replacement ad in 2015 when that year’s ad was criticized for promoting puppy mills. It’s hoping to strike the right note with this year’s humorous ads.

“We keep rewriting the playbook every year, and this year’s another example,” said Carole Irgang, svp of brand at GoDaddy.

For more Super Bowl LI news, check out Adweek’s Super Bowl Ad Tracker, an up-to-date list of the brands running Super Bowl spots and the agencies involved in creating them.

Christine Birkner

@ChristineBirkne

Christine Birkner is a Chicago-based freelance writer who covers marketing and advertising.