OCTOBER 28, 1994
Lynne L. Sanzenbacher has joined Ventura Entertainment Group, Beverly Hills, Calif., as executive producer of its infomercial division. Previously, she was a commercial production manager at Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati….In a recent expansion, Manhattan Transfer/Edit (MT/E) has added a second D1 suite, a Quantel Editbox, Henry and Flame to its arsenal….Director Neil Pollock has inked a deal with bicoastal production house The End, Los Angeles, for exclusive representation in commercial and music video work….Director Henry Corra has joined Five Union Square Productions, New York, for spot representation. Corra comes to the company after a 12-year affiliation with Maysles Films, New York….
OCTOBER 27, 1989
Young & Rubicam/New York producer Texas East is leaving behind a six-year tenure at the agency to assume the same position at Ogilvy & Mather, New York….Grey/ New York’s head of production Steve Novick has been promoted to deputy creative director….Lucasfilm Commercial Productions (LCP), New York, has signed directors/cameramen Vilmos Zsigmond and Haskell Wexler. The duo had worked out of their own shop, Cinematic Directions….Bozell has launched a division in L.A. to manage advertising and marketing communications services for the entertainment industry. The division will be headed up by VP/director Dick Porter, who returns to Bozell three years after leaving to become VP of media at MGM….
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