Campfire, the New York-based brand entertainment shop which has turned out notable campaigns for Sega, Levi’s, Audi, Pontiac, Verizon, HBO, and Discovery Channel since its launch in 2006, has acquired The Advance Guard, one of the first marketing consultancies to focus on the consumer conversation side of emerging technology and community platforms.
The Advance Guard co-founders Steve Coulson and C.C. Chapman will join Campfire’s executive team of partners, Steve Wax, Mike Monello, Greg Hale, and Jeremiah Rosen, as creative directors. Financial terms of the acquisition are undisclosed. The Guard’s 2008 billings approximate $1 million, while Campfire’s annual billings are estimated at $7 million. The merging of the two companies will bring Campfire to a total staff of 25.
Since its own inception in ’07, The Advance Guard has collaborated with Campfire on several campaigns including HBO’s “True Blood” viral fare; Verizon FIOS’s original TV makeover series, My Home 2.0; Discovery’s “Shark Week” adventure marketing; and Snapple’s latest digital ‘Real Facts’ initiative. These successful collaborations led to Campfire’s decision to buy The Advance Guard.
Coulson and Chapman founded The Advance Guard to fill a void in the realm of social media. Coulson comes from a rich alternative media background. As an agency director at both JWT and McCann Erickson, he has a portfolio that includes award winning brand work for the likes of DeBeers, Ford, Smirnoff and Unilever. He is also known for creating the successful pop culture blog www.yesbutnobutyes.com, which to-date feeds a community of up to 1 million readers per month.
Chapman, whose background is in social engagement, is a pioneer in podcasting and new media As the host of the famed weekly podcast, Managing the Gray, Chapman educates people on how to best leverage the social media landscape.
One of The Advance Guard’s earliest successes was a pioneering social media experiment for American Eagle Outfitters. This led to work for the likes of Coca-Cola, Warner Brothers, and St Martin’s Press.
Campfire’s Monello described Coulson and Chapman as being expert “navigators behind the social media scene who make transmedia storytelling possible. We think cross-platform, they execute cross-platform. We create addictive and entertaining content, and they disseminate it strategically based on research and analytics. It’s a perfect match that brings Campfire completely full circle and full service.”
Chapman related that “brands should be managing their own conversations–and the trend toward bringing on experts to help them do that will continue to grow. Both The Advance Guard and Campfire were built to assist brands in precisely this way.”
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