Eric Steele has been named group creative director at Translation where he will report to chief creative officer John Norman.
Prior to joining Translation, Steele served as the first group creative director at 72andSunny New York, where he helped build the office from a startup into a full-fledged agency, leading creative efforts on work for Smirnoff, Samsung, ESPN and Comcast Xfinity. Before moving to 72andSunny, Steele spent nearly a decade at Wieden+Kennedy as a creative director and writer in the New York office, partnering with brands like ESPN, Nike, Jordan, Heineken and Delta. He netted millions in earned media with a stunt in which Heineken dared travelers at JFK Airport to spontaneously go somewhere new and exotic instead of their planned destination.
U.S. regulators are proposing aggressive measures to restore competition to the online search market after a federal judge ruled Google maintained an illegal monopoly for the last decade.
The sweeping set of recommendations filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice could radically alter Google's business, including possibly spinning off the Chrome web browser and syndicating its search data to competitors. Even if the courts adopt the blueprint, Google isn't likely to make any significant changes until 2026 at the earliest, because of the legal system's slow-moving wheels.
Here's what it all means:
What is the Justice Department's goal?
Federal prosecutors are cracking down on Google in a case originally filed during near the end of then-President Donald Trump's first term. Officials say the main goal of these proposals is to get Google to stop leveraging its dominant search engine to illegally squelch competition and stifle innovation.
"The playing field is not level because of Google's conduct, and Google's quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired," the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations. "The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages."
Not surprisingly, Google sees things much differently. The Justice Department's "wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision," Kent Walker, Google's chief legal officer, asserted in a blog post. "It would break a range of Google products — even beyond search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives."
It's still possible that the Justice Department could ease off on its attempts to break up Google, especially if President-elect Donald Trump... Read More
