The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) elected 10 new marketing industry leaders to its board of directors at its annual “Masters of Marketing” Conference held in Phoenix, AZ, over the past weekend.
The new ANA Board members are: Mark W. Addicks, senior VP/chief marketing officer (CMO), General Mills, Inc.; Dana Anderson, senior VP, marketing strategy and communications, Kraft Foods Inc.; Frank P. Bifulco, Jr., senior VP/CMO, The Home Depot, Inc.; Claire Huang, head of marketing, global banking, wealth management and global markets, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; John L. Kennedy, Jr., VP, corporate marketing, IBM Corporation; Laura Klauberg, senior VP, global media, Unilever; Esther Lee, senior VP, brand marketing and advertising, AT&T Inc.; Keith Levy, VP of marketing, Anheuser-Busch InBev; Charlotte O. McKines, VP, global marketing communications, Merck & Co., Inc.; Sylvia L. Reynolds, CMO, Wells Fargo & Company.
This year marked the 99th gathering of the nation’s marketing leaders at the annual ANA Conference, and also served as the launch of the ANA’s year-long 100th anniversary celebration. Bob Liodice is president/CEO of the ANA. ANA’s membership includes 350-plus companies with 9,000 brands that collectively spend over $250 billion in marketing communications and advertising.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More