Some 11 years ago, what was arguably director David Lynch’s most linear movie, The Straight Story, was released. The film centered on senior citizen Alvin Straight who needed to see his seriously ill brother in Wisconsin but lacked the appropriate transportation. So the resourceful Straight drove his slow moving lawn mower to Mt. Zion, Wis., to reconcile with his sibling.
Richard Farnsworth played Straight and earned a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his portrayal.
Fast forward to today and an initiative reminiscent of The Straight Story has emerged, though with many key differences as Young & Rubicam, Chicago, has launched the ultimate product test: “Craftsman Across America” in which a young man from South Bend, Indiana–Lucas Van Engen–has embarked on a three-month cross-country journey from California to New York at a top speed of seven miles per hour aboard a Craftsman riding lawnmower.
Through a daily blog–which you can access here–followers can ride shotgun with driver Van Engen and meet the people he encounters, the sights he sees, town by town and mile by mile.
At press time, his summer sojourn had already reached Oklahoma.
Nika Offenbac of Humble is director/editor on the job, with Phillip Detchmendy exec producing for Humble.
The Y&R team consists of chief creative officer Ken Erke, art directors Ryan Boblett and Richard Fischer, copywriter Evan Thompson, copywriter/composer Brad Harvey, executive agency producer Brian Smego and producer Luke Rzewnicki.
Engineer is David Axelbaum of Airstream Audio.
Here’s an introductory video:
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