Remind You of Anything?

We've blogged a lot about the horrible Absolut global campaign...we'll they've come out with a new gem featuring their citron vodka.

Quite the image.

Great post about it on copyranter.

ESPN Inks New Deal

Fear not, hardcore gamers. ESPN has just signed a multi-year contract with Major Leage Gaming (MLG) to cover their pro circut.

Many pro gamers do circuts across the US for specific titles and consoles - from XBox to the Wii. They play a multitidue of top games (Halo, Tony Hawk and Madden to name a few) and some competitors even have hardcore rivalries and sponsors.

Jason Lee Miller, from Web Pro News, even believes that by 2011, MLG will host Pay-per view events (think Boxing on HBO or UFC) for key gaming match ups.

Now, it's not like my life would be made substantially better by watching to gamers play Halo 3 in Madison Square Garden, however I think it would make for great comedy and actually have a decent following.

Many people don't realize that gaming is a much larger industry than Hollywood (based on Box office totals - not DVD residuals) in terms of total revnue (about $10 Billion US per year vs. $9 billion).

Gilly Hicks - naked women sell women underwear

Abercrombie has launched a site to promote their line of underwear "Gilly Hicks" in Australia.

It is a short video full of images on naked men with topless women, swimming, running on beaches, holding hands and most importantly being naked together.

This all obviously sells underwear, especially the one ass shot. Watch and learn young marketers.

The Worst Ad of 2007?

Check out what might be the worst TV spot of the year. My favorite part is the free gift at the end.

Next time, think before you buy the video camera.

Thanks to Jason P for the link!

2008 Industry Statistics

In the latest issue of Advertising Age, the magazine compiles a variety of stats around the industry - from which agencies made the biggest moves to what companies are spending the most.

It also provides a good overview of some trends - how Agency jobs have declined over the last seven years, the decline of other mediums (radio) and the steady state of TV advertising.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Top US Advertiser - Proctor & Gamble with $4.9 Billion (also top in Canada), AT&T is #2 at $3.34B
  
• Top Priced TV Show - "Grey's Anatomy" | $419,000 for a 30 second placement
• #1 Medium in the US? Direct mail at $61B, Broadcast TV is #2 ($48B), Internet increasing the most (16.5 % growth from 2006) at #8 ($12.7B)
• Top 3 US Categories (by spend) - Automotive ($19.8B), Retail ($19.1B) and Telecommunications ($10.9B)
• Sunday Night Football 30 Second Spot - $358,000
• Top 3 Internet Ad Spend by Category - Telecom ($1.49B), Finance ($1.4B), Retail ($1.25B)
• Top 3 US Agency Brands (by Revenue) - JWT ($445M), BBDO Worldwide ($444.2M), McCan Erickson Worldwide ($443.4M)
• Top 5 US Digital Agencies (by Revenue) - Avenue A/Razorfish ($235.4M), Sapient ($228M), Digitas ($163.2M), Wunderman (113.4M) and Rapp Collins (107.1M)
• 17,000 - Decrease in the number of agency jobs since 2000 (-8.3%)
• 19,700 - Decrease in direct mail jobs since 2000 (-22.2%)

You can find the entire article here.