The Late Chicago Editor To Be Recognized For His Role In The City's Editorial Community
The Association of Independent Creative Editors (AICE) has announced that the late James “Yamus” Mudra, an editor who influenced many of the most memorable ad campaigns to come out of Chicago’s top agencies, will be inducted into its Hall of Fame during the 9th Annual AICE Awards Show scheduled for May 20 at The Field Museum in Chicago.
Naming Mudra to the AICE Hall of Fame was a unanimous choice of the group’s Chicago chapter, which is hosting this year’s AICE Awards presentation. Bob Carr, an editor at Red Car in Chicago, explained, “It was not just that his work helped define what advertising from Chicago was all about in the ’80s and ’90s, but also the role he played in our community that we’re acknowledging. Yamus was a mentor to so many young talents here, all of whom had the opportunity to both work with him and learn from him.”
Tim McGuire, founder of Chicago-based editorial company Cutters and past president of the Chicago chapter of AICE, said, “As a young editor, I studied his work and tried to emulate his style. Yamus was a quiet, unassuming talent with a great feel for storytelling. His work spoke for itself.”
Among the spots Mudra edited are numerous Clio winners from the 1980s and 1990s for such brands as Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch Beer, Michelob, McDonald’s, Hallmark and United–all mainstays of the Chicago agency scene, emanating from agencies such as Leo Burnett, DDB Needham and FCB.
Mudra was born in Oak Park, IL, in 1943. A graduate of Southern Illinois University, he taught in the Chicago public school system before embarking on a career in the film business, joining Fogel Edit in 1971, then Optimus in ’74. He stayed at Optimus for the next 19 years before leaving in ’93 to co-found NuWorld Edit with Joe Malecki, Mike LaBellarte and Carr. When NuWorld closed in ’00, Mudra retired from the postproduction industry. He passed away in September of ’05.
Among the most memorable ads from Mudra’s Optimus era are Budweiser Light’s “Downhill,” which won a Gold Clio for Best Editing in ’83, and “Heartland,” also for Bud Light, which was produced to support the ’84 Olympic games. The now legendary commercial features two farmers who take a break from working in the field to watch a runner pass by carrying the Olympic torch.
AICE Awards Show info and tickets are available online at the AICE web site, www.aice.org.
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