Bob Friedman Named President Of @radical.media's New Shop
Bob Friedman, whose roles over the years include serving as president of such concerns as New Line Television and AOL interactive marketing, has added another presidency to his resumé–assuming the top slot at Radical Thinking, a division launched by bicoastal/international @radical.media for the conception, creation and distribution of entertainment fare, including TV, film, digital media and branded content across multiple platforms.
Jon Kamen, chairman/CEO of @radical.media, cited the depth and breadth of Friedman’s experience–such as his involvement in MTV’s start-up, his work at AOL and in the traditional media space–as making him ideally suited to help expand @radical’s content initiatives. “The cross pollination of platforms,” said Kamen, “has created an environment where a great idea that understands what people want can have unusually strong resonance–and nobody understands that like Bob. Expanding the existing core of our business, Radical Thinking will provide new solutions for existing clients while generating new short and long-form content that exploits our creative strategic, and production strength and resources.”
Friedman described this as a pivotal time in the emergence of branded entertainment. He believes his new roost’s creative strength, reputation and advertising relationships position it well in the branded content sector spanning varied platforms. In fact, @radical.media has a track record of branching out beyond commercials, with endeavors that have included The Fog Of War, the Oscar-winning documentary (directed by Errol Morris, who has since joined bicoastal/international Moxie Pictures for commercials), and Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster, which won at the 2005 Independent Spirit Awards. On the TV front, @radical teamed with the History Channel to produce the recently Emmy-nominated documentary series, 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America. Additionally @radical produced The Iconoclasts, a six-part series portraying groundbreaking talents in a wide range of fields; the show was done in conjunction with the Sundance Channel and Grey Goose Entertainment. The most recent branded content project out of @radical is The Gamekillers, an ongoing scripted reality show about dating and the social scene, produced for MTV, agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Unilever’s Axe deodorant.
Friedman said Radical Thinking will provide “true 360-degree solutions for our partners,” a reference to not only content but adding to it an integrated marketing dimension. “Our plan,” related Friedman, “is to innovate in content creation as the company has always done with commercial production.”
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