Will GoDaddy Continue To Sponsor Danica Patrick After 2013?

Up until recently, I never envisioned Danica Patrick not being sponsored by GoDaddy.  Then again, I never envisioned GoDaddy without sexist elephant killer Bob Parsons at the helm of the company.  But of late, Bob Parsons cashed out of GoDaddy to an investment group for somewhere over the horizon of $2B and now he can go off and kill whatever he wants, without worrying that it will impact his company.

Have you noticed of late, that the GoDaddy ads no longer promise you implied nudity or cheap whore-like, I mean tasteless promises if you follow the link from the ad to something on the web?  At first it didn't sink in, because right now, their ads still have a fairly hot woman in them, but the ads are less whorish and more just simple eye-candy. Along with that poor IT guy who makes it all happen.

It didn't sink in until I read a piece over at The Daly Planet about Bob Parsons selling out and the new investment team and their new marketing hired-gun (Deutsch New York) stepping up.  (I guess this explains why my one blog (not this one) that's hosted over there started working better.  Someone else stepped up, looked around and make some fixes!)

And all this news has me wondering about Danica Patrick's future in NASCAR.

Bob Parsons was the herald behind Danica's ride in NASCAR and the premature push into the premiere series of NASCAR, the Sprint Cup Series.  He was serious about having that huge marketing leverage with Patrick's image fame being the face for his bright green colored company.  And with his seriousness, so too, was his cash.

But with Parsons stepping out of the picture, I have to wonder about the sponsorship for Danica Patrick in the Cup series.  Will GoDaddy consider retaining their primary sponsorship on the Cup car after their contract expires in 2013?

The interesting piece to this is that as far as marketing recognition goes, Danica Patrick still generates large numbers.  She represents the "fairer gender" succeeding in a man's world.  I repeat, represents.  She's actually not doing horribly in NASCAR's 2nd tier league, the Nationwide Series, but after all the hoopla, you'd expect better.  (And that mediocre performance has many saying it's not fair that she's going to the Cup Series.  But money is money, and it always speaks.)

Right now Patrick is 10th in points in the Nationwide Series, and after JR Motorsports changed up her crew chief situation, she seems to be improving, albeit, it's only been a race or two.  But still.

So with this change to her primary sponsor's ownership, do you think GoDaddy might consider their marketing dollars well spent and retain their sponsorship of her? 

To be honest, this draw she has on the marketable segment of sports fans is akin to Dale Earnhardt Jr., and any investment may not be a bad one.  If GoDaddy let's her go, they risk a competitor stepping up and flying their banner on her car hood and firesuit.  I can't imagine some companies would not want to miss an opportunity to have her associated with their companies.

It will be very interesting indeed, to see where both business entities end up over the next few years.  Meaning Danica Patrick and GoDaddy, because she's worked very hard at making herself a brand, across various venues.  And GoDaddy charged into the field of the internet, and hasn't done too poorly with that either.  They're complimentary to each other in many ways.  But do they need each other?

-Bruce--