Creative agency Roger and full-service production company Big Machine have entered into a strategic merger that will expand the creative capabilities they provide to agency, brand, and entertainment clients. Key players in the business partnership are Roger creative directors Terence Lee and Dane Macbeth along with executive producer Josh Libitsky, and Big Machine director Steve Petersen, creative director Ken Carlson, and business development exec Sean Owolo.
The Los Angeles-based shops join forces to become a multidisciplinary creative studio under the Roger name, offering expanded creative talent and resources for projects that require branding, design, animation, VFX, VR/AR, live action and content development. Located in the Silver Lake neighborhood of L.A., Roger’s new 6,500-square-foot studio–custom designed from the ground up to foster a collaborative working environment–includes four private offices, three editing suites, two conference rooms, an empty shooting space for green screen work, a kitchen, and lounge.
The studio is already embarking on a number of projects, including major creative campaigns for Disney and Sony Pictures.
“Big Machine and Roger have always looked at ways to partner on projects and organically expand our reach into new markets,” said Lee. “We just genuinely click as creatives and as friends, and share a vision for what it takes to bring together talent, ideas, and resources to create awesome work.”
Owolo added, “Roger’s breakthrough creative for major brands and Big Machine’s Emmy-winning content know-how allow us to offer our clients a truly complete package for every aspect of their brand.”
Libitsky concluded, “Existing clients will appreciate the breadth of experience we have under one roof now. We can assemble highly strategic and super-talented teams tailored to a specific project–or combine all of our resources in tandem to develop a fully integrated experience from the top down. We’re equally excited about how the merger positions us to explore and experiment with new mediums and areas of business.”
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