Alkemy X has added animation and design collective Mighty Oak to its roster for U.S. commercial representation. With a cultivated expertise in handmade animation techniques and design fused with live action, Mighty Oak has crafted campaigns for brands and networks including General Electric, Netflix, Luna Bar, HBO, Samsung NBC, Airbnb, Conde Nast, Adult Swim and The New York Times. Led by CEO/executive producer Jess Peterson, head of creative talent Emily Collins and creative director Michaela Olsen, the award-winning collective has garnered over 3 billion collective online views. Mighty Oak’s first original short film, Under Covers, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Helmed by Olsen, the quirky stop-motion short features hand-made puppets and forced perspective sets to glimpse into the unsuspecting lives and secrets of a small town that rest below the surface.
Alkemy X executive producer Eve Ehrich said, “I was immediately struck by the extreme care that Mighty Oak takes on each and every frame of their work. Their handmade style and fresh approach really make for dynamic, memorable animation, regardless of the concept.”
Mighty Oak’s Peterson said, “We are passionate about collaborating with our clients from the earliest stages, working together to craft original character designs and creating work that is memorable and fun. In partnership with Alkemy X, we can use our art form to help brands and agencies share their unique stories.”
Launched in 2015, female animation collective Mighty Oak began in a small studio space in Brooklyn, rapidly drawing a client base of top brands. In addition to their body of work, they have also dedicated their talents to craft original projects that would help move the needle for women generally who are underrepresented in the animation arena.
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