President, Integrated Advertising
Framestore
1) With the political landscape changing I don’t think anyone has a clear idea of what will happen in the industry. The erosion of the silo model has already started and I think it will be a feature of 2017. If the motivation for doing this is just to retain more of the production budget, then it will have limited success. If it is motivated by the desire to produce a more creative result together with a more efficient production process, then there is a greater chance of success.
Framestore made a conscious decision over five years ago to find different solutions to our client’s needs. We are now at a point where we are amongst the best in class not only in VFX for Film, TV and Commercials but also in Experiential, VR, AR and Dark Rides. 2017 will be a year for taking risk and delivering impactful projects. You can only do that if you have built the company to that end. Brands are open to different solutions; some agencies and production companies will restructure to create those solutions and others will just continue to talk a good game but hope that they can sustain a business model based on the past not the future.
2) This year—even more so than previous year’s—is going to be an important one for everyone not just in our industry. We need to focus less on what has been happening and work towards a greater understanding of people’s needs. If we can see the greater picture it will bring a better understanding of what we can offer as solutions to brands wanting to connect with their customers. Then we need to structure our companies in such a way that will not be constrained by the way we have done business for the last thirty years but rather build on the legacy that we have created in ways that are relevant to the next five years. I can’t detail the projects that we are currently working on but I can tell you that Framestore in 2017 looks very different to Framestore twelve months ago.
3) The Field Trip to Mars exemplifies the project that provided the most valuable lessons last year:
– Have the courage to take on groundbreaking projects
– Trust your team to live up to their potential
– Always keep at the forefront of your mind what you – and the client – are trying to achieve
– Find a way of working as a true collaborative partnership (and McCann NY were a great partner with us). Groundbreaking work involves taking risks and when you have partners who understand this and are supportive you can deliver a remarkable experience.
– You can’t always trust third party suppliers of brand new technology!
4) I have stopped using Facebook. There are some things that I miss but I feel liberated and not particularly less informed about the world. I’d rather spend the time that I’ve saved actually talking to people. But frankly, even watching a re-run of Seinfeld is more uplifting than the majority of time spent on Facebook.
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