By BY CAROLYN GIARDINA
DALLAS-A fifth chapter of the Association of Independent Commercial Editors (AICE) has been launched in Dallas by five founding editorial companies: Dallas-based shops charlieuniformtango, Fast Cuts, Tom’s Easy Way, and Video Post & Transfer; and bicoastal Red Car with offices in Dallas and Chicago. Red Car gained its Dallas presence at the beginning of the year via its acquisition of Yellow Rose Editorial (SHOOT, 1/8, p. 7).
AICE/Dallas joins a national association with additional chapters in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.
Tom’s Easy Way was actually an AICE member via the East Coast chapter for the past three years, but more recently interest grew in the Dallas community. Tom’s Easy Way president/ owner Tom Aberg said he appreciated the "camaraderie, exchange of information and ideas" offered by AICE membership. "It’s a support system. It helps promote respect for the profession." Now the Dallas community intends to grow that initiative locally.
"We want to develop strong working relationships with our clients," Aberg said. "This market has matured and the postproduction companies have [made] commitments to personnel and financial investments in terms of buying equipment. We need to [create] some procedures with our clients that can help us … become more efficient."
For starters, the chapter wishes to generate a better exchange of ideas and information between editorial houses and ad agencies. "We want them to understand some of our issues. We want to understand the issues they are dealing with," he said, citing technology as a topic of interest.
The fledgling chapter expects to have an organizational meeting in the coming weeks during which it will elect officers, national board members (two delegates represent each AICE chapter), and set an agenda. They team has already begun seeking new chapter members; membership is not limited to Dallas-based companies.
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