By Robert Goldrich
SANTA MONICA --Rob Donnell, an advertising veteran with a long track record at J. Walter Thompson (JWT), has formed Brand Arc, a Santa Monica-headquartered branded entertainment firm. The new venture opens with Toyota as its flagship account; billings were not disclosed.
“Brand Arc will proactively seek out, create and develop brand entertainment opportunities and ideas as Toyota’s representative within the entertainment industry,” said Donnell. “Our focus will be not only new TV and film opportunities, but we’ll also be looking for ways to integrate Toyota into music, video gaming, fashion, sports and on the Internet. Original content in all these mediums will become a new and more important area for Toyota as well.”
Mark Simmons, Toyota’s national manager of advertising, strategy and media, described Donnell as being “an insider who not only can help us navigate Hollywood, but can also find and create the right opportunities based upon or values and objectives.”
Brand Arc is charged with building a picture car fleet of 40 vehicles, to be used for brand integrations in films, TV, and show events. Brand Arc will work alongside consultant Rich Frank of The Firm, media buying firm Zenith, and ad agency of record Saatchi & Saatchi LA, Torrance, Calif.
Donnell was founder and executive director of JWT’s branded entertainment division Amplify from 2000-’04, where he was responsible for integrating brands into non-traditional advertising settings and entertainment venues such as TV shows, movies, gaming and music for clients including Ford. Donnell had a hand in the deal between Ford and Sony-based Revolution in which Ford received product placement in Sony projects and Revolution gained access to Ford research and design centers, culminating in cooperative efforts on the films Are We There Yet? and XXX: State of the Union.
Prior to Amplify, Donnell spent three years as creative director/senior partner of JWT Digital, Detroit, for such clients as Ford, Goodyear and White Castle. Donnell also served as a VP/creative director at JWT from ’87-’97, which was preceded by tenures at shops including Leo Burnett and Campbell-Ewald.
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 โ 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