New York-headquartered IllusionFusion (IF!) has acquired Construct Internet Design Co., San Francisco, and merged it with post/ effects house Click 3X San Francisco, forming an integrated digital studio that combines talent in both the broadcast and Internet markets. The purchase price was not disclosed.
The Click 3X Group-with post/effects facilities in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and San Francisco-is part of the IF! family of companies, encompassing capabilities in CGI, animation, special effects, editing and post services as well as motion graphic and type design. Construct is a Web firm with design and technical resources; it recently wrapped a major project for Sony Online Entertainment that will soon be announced. Other Construct clients include Microsoft, Netscape, Sun, Intel, CNN Interactive and AT&T.
The Construct acquisition does not represent IF!s first foray into the interactive realm. The creation of the Click 3X Construct venture should complement the IF! Interactive Group, New York, a full service interactive marketing and strategy company working with such fortune 500 companies as Fannie Mae, IBC, John Deere and Coca Cola.
It is our aim to be the leading developer and producer of broadband content while continuing to set standards in both traditional and interactive media, said IF! CEO Peter Corbett. Our strategy is to offer a truly integrated approach to digital media creation across the full range of media and technology platforms. Click 3X Construct in San Francisco will provide a national broadband capability to the Click 3X Group as a whole, as well as collaborate with the IF! Interactive Group.
Construct president/CEO Lisa Goldman becomes president of Click 3X Construct.The broadband market is emerging now, and requires programming that combines television with real-time Internet dynamics, said Goldman. We intend to lead the way with high-performance content that creates stickiness on todays platforms and defines tomorrows media experiences.
Shifts
Under the new partnership, Cathi Cox, former COO of Construct, is now general manager of Click 3X Construct. James Waldrop, Constructs chief technical officer, brings his extensive background in systems architecture, networking, and Internet collaboration as the chief technical officer for Click 3X Construct. Claudia Carlson, VP of Click 3X San Francisco, continues to focus on ad agency and production relationships. Jamee Houk remains director of animation for the now combined company.
Click 3X has led the way in adapting cutting-edge technology in the postproduction visual effects business and continues to look for new technological solutions to maximize its creativity and productivity, said Carlson. We are going to combine our studios at Constructs location and build out a single facility of broadcast and Internet expertise like no other in its class. IF! and the Click 3X studios are digitally linked through a high-speed network that facilitates collaboration between and among personnel at the different shops.
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