By ROBERT GOLDRICH
Kinka Usher of Santa Monica-based House of Usher Films has been named Best Commercial Director of 98 by the Directors Guild of America (DGA). He won the award on the strength of five entries: Sonys Egg for Young & Rubicam, New York; a Mountain Dew spot entitled Michael Johnsons World via BBDO New York; Miller Brewing Companys Cupid for Fallon McElligott, Minneapolis; Nikes Undercover Ushers for Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore.; and
Hallmarks Neighbor Lady from Leo Burnett Co., Chicago.
During this past Saturdays (3/6) DGA Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, Usher was on hand to receive the honor. In brief acceptance remarks before a capacity audience of around 1,600 in the Century Plaza Hotels L.A. Ballroom, Usher thanked his agency collaborators, production crew, support people and Frank Stiefel, president of Stiefel & Company, Hollywood.
Shortly thereafter, SHOOT caught up with Usher backstage. Of the Stiefel acknowledgement, Usher noted that he had been with Stiefel & Company several years ago. It was my first major shop affiliation and he [Stiefel] helped develop my career. Usher said he assumed that Stiefel was in the L.A. Ballroom audience since Stiefel & Company director Peter Darley Miller was also nominated for the DGA spot award.
Usher described the DGA honor as being more important than Cannes Lions or Pencils or Clios because it is about directing. There is no greater award than one from directors on directing. And the group of people who have won this award in the past-guys like [Joe] Pytka and [Michael] Bay-have really dominated commercial directing. To have now won for the first time and to have been nominated three times makes me feel like Im actually achieving something in my career.
Usher was earlier nominated for the coveted honor as top spot director of both 95 and 96. Its conceivable that he could have been nominated for each of the past four years but a snafu at House of Usher caused him to miss the entry deadline for last years DGA Awards competition. While he recalled feeling confident both the first and second years he was nominated, Usher said the key to winning this time was diversity in his entries.
I felt great about my chances [to win] the first year when I had the ATrix spot [for the California Fluid Milk Processors Advisory Board via Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco], reflected Usher. And the next year, I had the Nissan [including AToys out of TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles] and Polaroid work [including AArchitect for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners]. But this year, my entries showed a greater range. I think after a while, you learn how to enter the competition. I see whos won in the past, how theyve won and why theyve won. And I think stragetically, having diversity in your work is very important … Hallmark was an emotional piece. And then to blend that with a mix of comedy that itself has a range, I think, helps in the competition. It all comes down to storytelling and I tend to find my work in humor strikes a responsive chord-its different because I dont play the comedy too goofy or too straight. Its a balance that seems to work.
The DGA win comes at an opportune time in that Usher recently took a hiatus from the business to make his feature directorial debut, Universals The Mystery Men starring Geoffrey Rush, Lena Olin, Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo, Hank Azaria and Paul Reubens. Principal photography was wrapped on the film last month, freeing Usher to return to the spot arena. At press time, he had just finished filming the first half of a Diet Coke assignment from Wieden & Kennedy, Portland. The second part of the Diet Coke job is slated for lensing later this month.
For me, its an amazing case of timing-to come off the movie and right into this award, said Usher. Ive been looking forward to getting back into commercials and renewing my relationship with agency creatives. Ive been in touch with a lot of agency people already and Im gearing up. Ive lined up my post schedule [on the movie] so that I can drop in some ads.
Usher topped a field of DGA spot nominees that consisted of: Miller; Rocky Morton of Morton Jankel Zander, Hollywood; the team of Amy Hill and Chris Riess of Tony K., West Hollywood and London; and Tarsem of bicoastal/international @radical. media. Of that group, Tarsem is a past DGA winner, having been honored as Best Spot Director of 96. Miller, Morton and Hill and Riess were all first-time nominees. Hill and Riess made history in that they were the first co-directing duo ever nominated for the DGA commercial honor.
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