Go Daddy Holiday Party

Go Daddy Scores Big with “God Bless America” Holiday Extravaganza

Media Tags Extraordinary Events-Produced Event “One of the Best Parties in the Country”

Go Daddy’s “God Bless America” holiday extravaganza celebrated this country and its employees with a multi-million dollar holiday bash at Chase Field in Phoenix on Dec. 10, 2011. In live coverage of the event, KNXV called it “one of the best in the country.”

Go Daddy Executive Chairman & Founder Bob Parsons drew employee names for cash prizes totaling more than $1.1MM, for which the company pays all the taxes. Over the years, Go Daddy has earned a reputation for over-the-top holiday parties and Parsons never shies away from explaining why.

"People ask me, why we throw such big, blow-out parties? I say, why not - our people absolutely deserve it!" Parsons exclaimed, as a jam-packed crowd of employees roared in approval. "You all have worked very hard to get us to this point," he told his people. "Go Daddy came from scratch, no sales … and this year, we're going to write $1.1 billion dollars in business. We have a lot to celebrate, and remember, we're not here for a long time … we're here for a good time!"

2011 has, in fact, been a tremendous year for the world's largest provider of Web hosting¹, domain names and net-new SSL Certificates. Go Daddy took over a top slot in the net-new SSL market, built on its number one Web host ranking, hit the 51 million domain name mark, which is an Internet first, and produced the Super Bowl commercial that drew the most Internet traffic of the year.

Once Parsons established the theme, Extraordinary Events, the Los Angeles-based event producer, worked with Go Daddy Vice President of Corporate Events and Community Outreach, Renee LaBelle Parsons, to create an event to reward Go Daddy employees and guests.

“There are once-in-a-lifetime events in the world of event planning,” says Extraordinary Events’ president, Andrea Michaels, “and Go Daddy’s 2011 holiday was one of them.” Michaels went on to comment that it was not how much money was spent, but rather the investment in creativity and the trust in EE’s execution that made it satisfying. “I envisioned things I wanted to do, and then was given enthusiastic permission to do them. Seeing them spring to life was a dream come true.”

So what made the event so spectacular? Go Daddy and Extraordinary Events developed a concept to build enormous scale American icons, all three dimensional and photo realistic. 

Hollywood’s finest set designers and builders worked feverishly to create a 40-foot Statue of Liberty that was the entry piece of the event. Other featured iconic areas included: Mt. Rushmore, carved with Go Daddy Girls’ heads; a Bourbon Street two-story restaurant complete with a Café du Go Daddy; a Las Vegas Casino; an Indianapolis Raceway with Danica Patrick’s race cars; Hawaii with an enormous Go Daddy sand castle constructed during the party; a Hollywood movie theatre set with paparazzi, red carpet, and a Go Daddy Walkway of the Stars. 

                                       

                                                    

The Go Daddy Gate Bridge was surrounded on one side by Chinatown and on the other by Alcatraz, all overlooking the San Francisco Bay at night. Each area had custom games and photo opportunities for the guests. Food and beverage was served within each area’s buildings and matched each set piece.

To top it off, the event’s centerpiece was a giant stage featuring entertainment performances by Dierks Bentley, Trace Adkins and Kid Rock.