Partner, Head of Production
The Distillery Project
How did your agency adjust/adapt to the marketplace in 2021 (new strategies, resources, technology, health/safety expertise) and what is the most relevant business and/or creative lesson you learned in 2021 and how will you apply it to 2022?
We were fortunate enough to grow in 2020 because of our clients. In 2020, we learned how to navigate the very early waters of COVID-19. How to do a production through Zoom. How to manage teams and clients only on Zoom, Slack, iMessage and email. 2020 really set a foundation for how to work in the new world. We took those learnings and were able to hit the ground running in 2021. Our output this year was 4x higher than it’s ever been.
How are the events of 2021–from the pandemic to the call for diversity, equity and inclusion–impacting the content you create and/or the way you work?
Our clients have always been sensitive to diversity, equity and inclusion. Year over year they continue to push for a more even ratio when it comes to talent we cast. From an agency stand point, we continued to learn how to ensure the culture of our agency survives in a world that is more remote than physical.
What are your goals or New Year’s resolution, creatively speaking or from a business standpoint, for your agency or department in 2022?
I hope TDP is fortunate enough to continue the trend we’ve been on since the agency was founded. Doing smart, creative work for great clients. We have a very healthy new business pipeline and a lot of production coming down the pipe, so selfishly, adding one more producer next year wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Gazing into your crystal ball, what do you envision for the advertising and/or entertainment industry–creatively speaking or from a business standpoint–in 2022?
I’m hopeful that more work will focus on bringing people together, especially after the last two years. It’s nice to see industry talk about events that will be a hybrid / more in person attendance. It’ll be interesting to see how our industry embraces the new world – things like return to office (if that ever happens), award shows, and more in person production.
Tell us about one current commercial or branded entertainment project you are working on for early 2022.
We’re preparing for a client sponsorship for the LPGA and we’ve specifically been instructed not to put it through a COVID-19 lens. That was nice to hear.
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