Chief Creation Officer
Droga5
1) This year, the industry continued its trend toward more nontraditional storytelling approaches. Clients are looking for new and inventive ways to engage their audiences, and the lines between science, technology, art and commerce have significantly blurred. Native advertising took a big step forward, as did users’ ability to recognize it and call it out. All of this places more responsibility than ever on our shoulders, as advertisers, to examine the integrity of our work.
2) In 2016, we saw more clients willing to engage in less traditional forms of storytelling. Our Creative and Production offerings are constantly evolving. However, this year, we’ve been able to build on our previous relationships and implement new protocols and strategies that connect the viewer with both the content as well as the context in which it exists. With ever-growing client needs, we’ve spent a lot of time expanding our internal resources to help further reinforce our abilities, as well as a comprehensive Music Department to further increase the opportunities for all our clients.
3) We’ve been very fortunate this year. We were the inaugural recipient of the Agency of the Year award at the Ciclope Festival…A number of our projects and campaigns achieved a high degree of success. Under Armour’s “Rule Yourself 2016” spot featuring Michael Phelps and Hennessy’s “The Piccards” are incredible examples of storytelling, with “Rule Yourself 2016” receiving the Grand Prix for Film Craft at the Cannes Lions. For the debut of the Google Pixel mobile device, we were tasked with producing and launching an elegant and cohesive global campaign that included an incredible body of work, consisting of over 2,300 deliverables, all in two months. With Hennessy V.S.O.P’s “Harmony. Mastered from Chaos,” we married art and technology to create a dynamic film and digital experience that’s built on user interaction. Looking forward, one of the projects that we’re especially proud of is still a secret, which is pretty rare in this industry.
4) In my opinion, there isn’t really a “next big thing” as much as there is a “next big idea.” And that idea will only come from all departments working together in seamless harmony: Strategy, Creative and Production. Because content and context are so intertwined, where we find our creative and production partners, what emphasis we put on which aspects of production and, ultimately, where and how it all gets seen, will be what governs the making of a great idea. When we’re able to perfectly replicate that formula in new and exciting ways—that’s when it becomes the next big thing.
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