Chicago Creative Partnership has named Kevin Houlihan its president. Before being appointed to the newly created position, Houlihan held the title of agency partner. Prior to joining the Midwest shop, he served as creative director at Young & Rubicam, New York.
AAA
Carolyn Bergen has been elected a VP at DDB Needham Chicago. She is also a creative director at the agency. Bergen joined DDB Needham in 89 as a copywriter, and was promoted to associate creative director in 94, before being tapped as creative director in early 99.
AAA
Colby Effler & Partners, Santa Monica, has added Carol McCarty as senior broadcast producer. McCarty arrives from Saatchi & Saatchi, San Francisco, where she served as associate producer.
AAA
Eric Leventhal has joined Wolf Group as copy supervisor. He comes to the Buffalo-headquartered company from Roberts Communications, Rochester, N.Y., where he was creative supervisor. The agency has also added studio lead production designer John Szczepanek. Szczepanek was freelancing for various advertising agencies, trade shows, and marketing groups.
AAA
Young & Laramore, Indianapolis, has added senior art director Jeff Morris and writer Carrie Voorhis. Morris previously served in the same capacity at Publicis, Indianapolis, and Voorhis was a freelance proofreader for the IDG (For Dummies) Book Co.
AAA
John McDermott has been upped to group creative director at DMB&B St. Louis. McDermott previously held the title of VP.
AAA
The Neiman Group added VP/ executive creative director Rudy Banny. He was previously VP/creative director at Chicago-based Grant/Jacoby.
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 โ 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