Executive Producer
Arcade Edit
1) I don’t think anyone can deny that the unfolding new world order will color every part of our lives, including the advertising industry both creatively and in terms of how we do business. What is up for debate is specifically “how” and I think that’s difficult to predict at this time. I received an email update from the company that runs our benefits yesterday attempting answer what the recently signed Executive Orders mean for our business and they may just as well have embedded a gif of Garfield shrugging in the body of the email. Even their best business and lawyerly minds don’t seem to know. Obviously, we’re all hoping for the best.
2) I don’t do New Year’s resolutions – personally or business-wise. They are just something to break. Our continued goal is to collaborate with our partners creatively and financially to put good work out there.
3) I find that every job, every mistake, and every success is an opportunity to learn something for the next time. Hard to pinpoint one as the most relevant. It’s all cumulative.
4) Ha ha—nice try. No resolutions. I meant it.
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