The AICP’s study of a dozen major ad agency production contracts will be distributed to member companies over the next couple of weeks. The national AICP board got its first look at the full report during its meeting last Sunday (6/10) in New York, and unanimously approved continuing the research to encompass other agency contracts. Stay tuned….Director Allen Coulter—of Sex and the City and The Sopranos fame—has officially joined bicoastal/international hungry man, through which he is slated to helm four more Budweiser "Whassup" spots this month…. Director/cinematographer Lionel Coleman has come aboard Pandemonium, the San Francisco-based production house headed by founder/president Stelio Kitrilakis….Pfeifer Van Dusen, New York, has signed director Jacob Williams….Executive producer Fred Porter has launched Tombo, a Hollywood-based company which will develop and produce both longform and spot projects. The new venture opens with a directorial roster that includes J. Brown, Matt Murphy, Carlo Sigon and Kimble Rendall. Company president Porter heads a management team that consists of head of production Robert Nackman; Su Armstrong, who heads Tombo’s feature division; animation producer Brian Rosen; and music supervisor Alex Patsavas….Jason Mayo has been named executive producer of creative design, animation and production studio Click 3X, New York. He comes over from arc light editorial, New York, where he was exec. producer….Executive producer Chuck Carey and creative directors Mark Bohman and Dan Pappalardo—who first collaborated at now defunct entertainment marketing/design house Pittard Sullivan—have launched their own Hollywood-based ID/motion design/ graphics/live-action shop, Troika Design Group….Noted director and ad agency creative Tony Cruz passed away on June 2 in Los Angeles due to respiratory complications. He was 44. For the past several years, Cruz had been directing spots through West Hollywood-headquartered Dark Light Pictures. Prior to that, he was a founding partner and chief creative officer of Los Angeles-based Hispanic ad agency cruz/kravetz: IDEAS. Cruz earlier served as VP/creative director of the Hispanic division at J. Walter Thompson, Los Angeles…
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More