By AVA SEAVEY
ONCE UPON A TIME, :30 NA- tional spots ruled the world. Creative work was executed before being tested, clients trusted their agencies, directors owned their own shops or were loyal to a particular production company. Agencies trusted their visions to a handful of directors all the way through post. That was 1974. Cut (or dissolve) to 1999. The dollars being spent on spot production are slowly being splintered into partnership marketing, price reductions, promotions, Internet advertising, inflated media rates, research and a host of other emerging media opportunities. And there are nearly 5,000 commercial directors in this country alone …
Many friends on the production and editorial side have been whining and complaining about the slowdown in work, reduced budgets, and declining level of professionalism and courtesy of the agencies. I don’t disagree, but isn’t it time we took a long, hard look at our own professionalism? Perhaps we earned their loss of respect by continuing to do business the way we did 15 and 20 years ago. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Maybe production companies are evolving into the dinosaurs we accuse the agencies of becoming.
Perhaps we need to distinguish ourselves from one another as creative production entities. Maybe we need to convince the agencies we are more than just agents for whomever is the latest, hottest, newest talent to emerge. Perhaps we need to be known for something other than who is on our roster at any given time. With the way directors change roosts so quickly these days, it provides for some very schizophrenic company profiles. Production companies need to learn to be more than the sum of their temporary parts.
We, at Big Picture Communications, are positioning ourselves not only as a place to discover up and coming directing talent, and to refresh more seasoned helmers, but also as a creative problem solving resource. We recognize the impact of branding across multiple platforms and have built an infrastructure in every mediumfilm, print, radio, digital and interactive.
For example, our new print production company, ice, inc., was launched to introduce art and music photographers to the advertising community. Additionally, print is often a component in spots, interactive media, internal and external presentations, and graphic design. By servicing agencies on multiple levels, it helps them do business and allows us to understand their needs even better.
Each production company can find its own point of differentiation and we can include our directors. Since many new directors hail from the agency side, they are ideally suited to become involved in creative development. Isn’t it time they explore alternative creative avenues with the talented people around them? Maybe, just maybe, if we take risks, we can all find new and exciting revenue streams and stop bitching and moaning. Maybe directors would have greater loyalty to their companies if they perceived them as more than just procurers of storyboards. Maybe the agencies would treat us with more respect if we learn to speak their language.
The future is now. And they all lived happily ever after.
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