Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) has pegged Iain Tait to be its global interactive executive creative director, effective April 1. Accomplished in the digital advertising space, he will join executive creative directors Dan Wieden and John Jay, and COO Dave Luhr on the global management team that oversees all seven W+K network offices. Tait is the first addition to the global team since its formation in 2006.
Tait spent the past eight years as creative director and head of strategy for independent agency Poke in London, where he was a founding partner and driving force behind lauded work for clients such as American Express, Orange, Topshop, Yahoo! and Zopa.
Among the awards his endeavors have won over the years are Webbys, One Show Pencils, ADC Cubes and Cannes Lion recognition. He is the author of a well read industry blog, crackunit.com, and has been named jury chairman for this year’s One Show Interactive Awards.
“Iain is one of the industry’s most influential and respected digital leaders,” said Wieden, co-founder/exec creative director of W+K. “He understands the remarkable relationship between people, culture and business, and his background as a strategic, creative business leader complements our global management team’s abilities.”
Prior to his work at Poke, Tait was a part of the management team for Oven Digital, a global digital agency in London, and director of product development for First Tuesday in London, where he worked in the startup space responsible for developing and delivering new online business models.
Tait will relocate to W+K’s Portland office.
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