By Theresa Piti
SHORT CUTS
Zona Design, New York, created and produced a program package for Soapnet’s SoapCenter news magazine show. The redesigned package includes a new logo, program open, transitions, segment intro, lower thirds, and backgrounds. Zona credits include creative director Zoa Martinez, executive producer Dennis Fluet, associate creative director/designer Curt Neumann, designers Jane Holland and Brad Marks, composite artist Rick Malwitz, 3-D animator Timothy Clark, and assistant producer Jill Haick.
Anthony Marinelli of New York-based Steel Rose Editorial cut "Whoopi Says," :60 in the "I Love New York" campaign. The commercial features scenes of New York, intercut with celebrities stating their love for the Big Apple. John Marinis was assistant editor for Steel Rose. The ad was directed by Mark Claywell of Highway 61, New York.
Hollywood-headquartered digital design and communications company Rezn8, completed work on a spot for the Lili Claire Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping raise awareness of those living with Williams Syndrome and other related neurogenetic birth defects. Rezn8’s task was the deliver graphics for the :30 that the Foundation could air as part of its campaign to raise public awareness for its cause. Rezn8 composited photographs of stricken children, as well as Friends star Matthew Perry, within the framework of the :30. Previously, Rezn8 had designed a logo for the Foundation at its inception in 1998.
MUSIC NOTES
Duotone Audio Group, New York, composed music for client MONY and New York agency Hanft Byrne Raboy & Partners. Patrick Zimmerli was the composer/arranger on "Old Men," while Pete Min and Carla Capretto were composers/arrangers on "Birds & Bees."
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