ORC International, part of Engine Group, announced the appointment of Alina Díaz as sr. VP for Cassandra, a provider of youth insights and emerging trends for the last 20 years. She will be reporting to Costas Pavlides, managing director at ORC.
Based in the company’s New York headquarters, Díaz will be responsible for overseeing the Cassandra business, driving revenue growth, developing new programs designed to unlock business opportunities for clients, and maintaining strong customer relationships. Diaz will lead product strategy and content output for the company’s quarterly insight reports, client strategy sessions and daily newsletters–all focused on today’s modern youth and their broader cultural and economic influence. Additionally, Díaz will work closely with Cassandra’s parent company, Engine Group, to partner on internal and client-related projects across multiple agencies.
Díaz joins Cassandra from Blue Flame Marketing Agency–a Sean “Diddy” Combs company–where, as VP of consumer marketing, she was responsible for brand growth by developing marketing plans, media and experiential strategies for CÎROC Ultra Premium Vodka and DeLeón Tequila. Prior to joining Blue Flame Marketing, Díaz served as the marketing innovation and new business director for Greencard Creative, a multi-cultural marketing agency, where she oversaw business development for the start-up. She also held previous positions at leading agencies, including a seven-year stint at BBDO where she managed multiple teams across Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
“Understanding youth is about seeing tomorrow, today,” said Díaz. “We give our Fortune 500 clients a look into the future so they can innovate ahead of their competition, adapt to emerging trends and implement marketing programs that impact their bottom line. As a former client, I understand how difficult it is for brands engaging with Millennials and Gen Z to keep up with a rapidly changing marketplace, and I am excited to be part of a talented team that is making a difference for brands and consumers alike.”
In addition to her agency work, Díaz also held a senior position with The Partnership for a Drug-Free America leading multicultural youth programs. Throughout her career she has worked with such brands as Gillette, Bayer Corporation, Pepsi, Pizza Hut and Frito-Lay.
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