Nearly 15 years after GoDaddy commercials first aired on TV (when they were very scandalous), the website hosting giant has come out with a surprisingly empowering and timely spot featuring Donald Sutherland’s voice over.
To be honest...
How could it not be empowering or emotionally moving when you have Donald Sutherland's voice? The man's voice over can make me feel something in an orange juice commercial.
The ad starts with Mr. Sutherland quietly asking brick and mortar small business owners if they remember the first time they opened their doors.
Personally, I can only imagine that feeling.
Starting my own voice over business in 2012 as a male voice actor was great…
But actually opening a physical store or business is something completely different.
After months (or years) of planning and hard work, it must be an incredible feeling to finally hang that OPEN sign on your front door.
But now, physical store owners have been forced to close their doors to keep the world safe during a global pandemic.
How can small business owners who normally rely on in-person transcations serve their customers when their physical stores are closed?
Mr. Sutherland’s reassuring and calm voice offers that “there’s another way to stay open”.
And that’s through an online website and store.
GoDaddy pledges to stand with small business owners right now by offering free products, tools, and resources.
That’s pretty cool if you ask me.
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WATCH THE GODADDY COMMERCIAL FEATURING DONALD SUTHERLAND’S VOICE OVER BY CLICKING THE IMAGE BELOW:
Sadly, I can no longer find a high quality version on YouTube to embed directly onto this page.
p.s. Shout out to my good friend and Kansas City commercial real estate guy Dan Bonebright for showing this ad to me.
6 Comments on “This Uplifting GoDaddy Commercial Featuring Donald Sutherland’s Voice Over Asks Small Business Owners A Timely Question”
This is the one commercial I have been referencing to industry professionals as an indicator of what’s to come. Until it becomes safe to assemble a large crew again, shooting traditional on-camera commercials will not likely happen (at least not in educated, logical, community-minded Minnesota) – nor should they. Animation and stock (and new safely shot) video with VOICEOVER is what we’ll be mostly seeing this year (as well as shot from home/Zoom/documentary-style).
When clients and agencies realize how much less expensive that is, I suspect it will become the new normal (especially as budgets are being slashed). Feeling grateful to be in an industry that is likely to benefit overall from this crisis. I, for one, am working as much as ever.
(BTW, I found your site and blog when I joined ProductionHub today)
Fantastic insights, Catherine. And thanks for stopping by.
Stock footage sites must be swimming in dollar signs these days. Hopefully, producers continue to see the value of VO, especially right now.
p.s. I browsed through your work and demo. You do excellent work. 🙂
I had a student reference this spot in class today. I googled, “Open Donald Sutherland,” and it brought me back here. Forgot I had commented on this – 17 (long) months ago. Such insight indeed!
Haven’t revisited ProductionHub since then, but just realized (remembered?) you are in Minneapolis too.
Es un mundo pequeño.
Yes, also Minneapolis! Es un mundo pequeño de hecho. 🙂
Can you find a lower quality version to post—this was my favorite pandemic spot and I wanted to listen again
Found one! It’s available to view on iSpot. Here’s the link: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/n7NL/godaddy-open.
Sadly, you can’t embed it on a post but I’ll update this post to show the link.
And I agree! Fantastic pandemic spot. Thanks for reading!
John