CYBERSPACE—M&C Saatchi, an ad agency with offices throughout the world and clients that include Coca-Cola, Hyundai, Sara Lee and Porsche, has beat out the competition to win the global account for ICM Registry, which hopes to get its application to run the dot-XXX sTLD approved by year’s end.
“M&C Saatchi won the business after a competitive pitch against a number of other London and US advertising agencies,” reported the Guardian. “Despite the racy nature of the client, M&C Saatchi will not be rolling out a campaign to promote what has been labeled the services of a ‘kind of online equivalent to the top shelf, an internet red-light district.’”
According to Wikipedia, the ad agency was formed in 1995 “by brothers Maurice Saatchi and Charles Saatchi after they were ousted from their own advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi.” In 2004, the agency went public when 49 percent of the company was floated on the Alternative Investment market, a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange.
With offices in London, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Tokyo, New Delhi, Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Sao Paulo, Cape Town, Geneva, Guangzhou, Wellington , Los Angeles and Beirut, M&C Saatchi also owns the U.K.-based businesses Walker Media (a media buying agency) and Clear Ideas (a strategic brand consultancy).
The Register further reports, “The agency will focus on developing a campaign [for ICM Registry], set to launch on both sides of the Atlantic from January, to increase responsibility with the adult entertainment industry. A consumer campaign will roll out later next year.”
In related news, the public comment period under way on the ICANN website regarding the revised proposed registry agreement for the .XXX sTLD is scheduled to end today.
