Paul Matthaeus, Digital Kitchen founder, CEO and chief creative officer, has stepped down as DK’s ranking creative visionary to pursue new creative endeavors outside the company, and has delegated day-to-day creative leadership to DK’s creative managers under the supervision of Mark Bashore as head of creative. Matthaeus will remain a major DK interest holder, board member and creative consultant. Matthaeus explained, “It’s been an amazing ride, but I grew to renew my need for greater intimacy with the creative work. So it’s time to break new ground again- I intend to take my experience founding and building DK and apply it to entirely new initiatives. The opportunity to build something wildly creative is what inspired me to start DK, and that’s what I intend to do again.” “Paul is a visionary,” commented Don McNeill, Matthaeus’ partner since 2000. “For the nine years we’ve built DK together, he’s never lost sight of the importance of great creative work and great talent. But he always keeps a keen eye on what’s next. So I’m excited to see Paul embark on another creative journey. Whatever he decides to pursue will undoubtedly be cool. He’s a great partner and great friend.” Since DK’s inception in 1995, it grew from a three-man shop adjoining the kitchen of Matthaeus’ regional advertising agency into a bicoastal creative design-driven network with over 90 full and part-time employees with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle. Matthaeus noted, “If appropriate, I fully intend to deploy the resources and infrastructure of DK in my new ventures.” DK has worked for clients including Nike, adidas, AT&T, Microsoft, GM, Ferrari, HBO, Showtime, Dreamworks, Sony Entertainment, and all the major networks. Matthaeus is probably best known for his creative approach in television entertainment- which includes the opening creative direction for Six Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, House, Rescue Me, Ghost Whisperer, The Path to 9/11, The Company and Dexter. His latest contribution was in the creation of the opening sequence for True Blood, the highly anticipated HBO series that broke this fall by Oscar-winning creator/writer/director Alan Ball. Over the years, Matthaeus has mentored hundreds of young digital filmmakers, many of who have gone on to found their own firms. He also has evangelized the creative process at numerous design conferences, marketing and broadcast media events.
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