Todd Waterbury has resigned as co-executive creative director of Wieden+Kennedy New York (W+K NY) effective May 1.
Waterbury is leaving the W+K network to start an as-yet-unnamed creative/strategic consultancy.
“After sixteen years at W+K and a lifetime of creative accomplishments that I cannot begin to list, now is the time to find unexpected ways to realize the business and creative potential that exists at the intersection of design, media and technology,” said Waterbury.
During his nine years as co-executive creative director of W+K NY, Waterbury expanded the size and definition of the New York creative department, introducing architects, industrial designers, playwrights, curators and technologists to the context of advertising, product design and filmmaking. He was also instrumental in the integration of interactive into the mind-set and organization of the creative department, including the hires of the director of user experience, information architecture and experience design, which have led to recent work for ESPN and its interactive storefront, and Nike’s campaign for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
“Todd and I go back a couple of careers. He has been a wonderful creative leader for us at W+K,” said John C. Jay, W+K global executive creative director. “Opening his own independent shop was inevitable, and despite our many offers to start one together, he decided to go it alone. I guess he learned the independence thing all too well here. We will miss him.”
Waterbury will be working closely with W+K founder/CEO Dan Wieden and Jay to name Waterbury’s successor. Kevin Proudfoot remains W+K NY’s co-executive creative director.
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