R/GA, which bills itself as the agency for the digital age, is extending its reach internationally. The New York-headquartered shop has opened a London office which will serve as the firm’s main European hub, administering full-service offerings in digital marketing and advertising.
“London was a natural choice for us, not only in catering to client needs, but also due to the history of creativity and digital expertise that has flourished in the city,” said Bob Greenberg, R/GA chairman/CEO. “Given the vibrancy of the market, our goal is to establish a strong footprint in Europe and maintain the consistent high quality of work for which we are known.”
R/GA gained a presence in London last year when it won the global Nokia Nseries account. Last week the Mobile Marketing Association honored R/GA’s Nokia Bluetooth campaign for best use of mobile marketing in a product/services launch. The Bluetooth-enabled posters, which appeared early this year in London Underground stations, invited commuters to download a Superfuture (London’s premier online city guide) map to their handsets. Once downloaded, the maps highlighted surrounding area hot spots, demonstrating the power of Nokia’s mobile multimedia computers.
The new office will follow R/GA’s mantra of integrating creative, technology and media, in addition to extending practices in mobile marketing, experience design, and universal planning. “Following the success of the Bluetooth campaign and together with ongoing support from the New York office, we are looking forward to adding another dimension [with the U.K. expansion] to R/GA’s rich working culture,” said Chris Colborn, the agency’s worldwide creative director.
The London office will also support other R/GA clients and build on local clientele. R/GA London expects to have approximately 20 people in the fold by early 2007. Previously, R/GA had been sharing office space in the U.K. with sister IPG agencies.
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