Naresh Ramchandani, Pentagram partner and one-time founder of both St Luke’s and Karmarama, will succeed Kate Stanners, Saatchi and Saatchi Worldwide CCO, as president of D&AD for 2020-’21.
The D&AD President is elected annually from the Board of Trustees to champion the organization’s mission and shape the conversations for the year ahead. Ramchandani’s commitment to creativity, diversity and environmental activism–expressed in part through the environmental non-profit he helps to run, Do the Green Thing–is well known and chimes with D&AD’s overall mission to stimulate and celebrate excellence in commercial creativity and, as part of that, campaign for a fairer, more diverse industry.
Ramchandani will focus his efforts as president on addressing the challenges currently being faced by the creative industries. In his new role, he will amplify and advocate existing programs as well as champion new routes into the industry for emerging creatives and underrepresented voices at a time when it is needed more than ever.
During his tenure, Ramchandani will work with D&AD and the board of trustees to investigate how creativity can tackle global issues, and will explore how the sector can help combat climate change by amplifying environmental protest and sustainable practice.
Ramchandani commented: “I’m very honored to be offered this position, and I’m excited to be working with D&AD and its trustees to help the creative industry engage with the many challenges it faces today. I’m looking forward to exploring how creatives and their agencies can engage with their social impact and do so with the highest standards of creativity.”
D&AD further announced that Rebecca Wright, dean of academic programs at Central St Martins/UAL, will become deputy president, automatically succeeding to the presidency in ‘21/’22.
D&AD observers will notice that Ben Terrett, founder of Public Digital and Kate’s Deputy this year, has chosen to step aside from the presidency.
Terrett commented: “I love D&AD and I’m a passionate supporter. I’ve wanted to be D&AD president for as long as I can remember. But now that the time has come for me to take up the presidency, I feel strongly that I must step aside to allow Naresh and then Rebecca to take on the role a year earlier.
“I feel there is an absolute need for more diversity in symbolic leadership positions to help drive our sector forward and I think it is my responsibility to do what I can to help make that possible. I hope this sets an example for other people like me.”
Tim Lindsay, D&AD chairman, commented, “Firstly, I’d like to thank Kate Stanners for a wonderful presidency in, to put it mildly, challenging circumstances. She has given us the enormous benefit of her time, experience, wisdom and judgment and been central to us delivering the key parts of our program successfully. And all done with enormous good humor and immense style. Naresh’s appointment speaks for itself. He is an industry legend, a positive provocateur and a strong believer in making the right ethical choices for our industry. Rebecca’s appointment–which is a break with tradition for D&AD–means she will be our first deputy/president from the academic world, at a time when finding, nurturing and supporting young talent has never been more important. And finally can I say we respect Ben’s decision and the statement he’s making and are thankful that he will stay on as a trustee.”
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