Dotcoms Line Up for Super Bowl Payoff - Page 2

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Monster, which has bowed out of Super Bowls in the past few years, is going one step further in marketing an outright job opportunity.

Up for grabs in its televised spot is a $100,000 gig as "Director of Fandemonium." This football fan will serve as goodwill ambassador for both Monster and the NFL at several marquee events during the 2009 NFL season.

Prospective job seekers will find out details during its TV spot airing right before the two-minute warning in the second quarter. The pre-game Web site promo notes job responsibilities include announcing a pick at the NFL draft and being in the coin toss ceremony at next year's Super Bowl.

New to the Super Bowl ad roster lineup is Hulu, the one-year-old online video site owned by NBC Universal and News Corp. According to a spokesperson, Hulu is keeping quiet about its ad strategy before game time and declined to comment on its advertising spot.

A recent Advertising Age article noted the spot will reveal insight into how the site works.

But, as in past years, it's likely that Web hosting site GoDaddy will be getting the most viewing attention this year given its risqué leanings in marketing. Not only will it have a Super Bowl game ad but is running uncut extended versions of the two ads it created for the event.

Last year GoDaddy's advertisement was rejected by Fox and the company had to scramble up a new ad that directed viewers to its banned ad available on its home page.

This time around the company created two 30-second ad spots that gained NBC approval, though it did take several tries, according to GoDaddy Vice President Barbara Rechterman. NBC was not available for comment.

The company then faced a quandary it hadn't expected; the decision of which commercial to showcase. So GoDaddy went to the Web once again. This time to let viewers chose which ad was Super Bowl-worthy.

While both ads feature sexy race car driver Danica Patrick, they feature different story lines.

The first, called "Shower," features Patrick in a shower with another woman as three college students control the women's movements from a computer keyboard.

The second, called "Baseball," spoofs the industry's recent steroids scandal using female anatomy as a visual aid.

A press release quotes GoDaddy CEO and founder Bob Parsons stating that the extended version of 'Baseball' "almost makes me blush."

"Yes the Super Bowl is expensive," said Rechterman, "but it's worked in spades every year for us."

Given this year's story lines, and the male audience involved, there's little doubt the ads won't score some points.