Erik Vervroegen, formerly executive creative director/president of TBWA Paris, has joined Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, as creative director.
Vervroegen told SHOOT he will “work on anything they need me to work on,” noting that he looks forward to contributing to various accounts as well as helping to cultivate new business for the agency. At press time, he was handling creative on a project for Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Vervroegen began his career as an art director in Belgium. He subsequently worked at TBWA Hunt Lascaris in South Africa, and then at Bozell in New York.
In January 2002, Vervroegen became executive creative director at TBWA Paris, and in September ’03 took on the additional role of president. Under his creative guidance, the agency went on to win hundreds of international awards, including the Grand Prix and Agency of the Year honors at both Eurobest and Cannes, as well as a total of 70 Cannes Lions. Among the clients whom he did notable work for at TBWA were Nissan, Sony PlayStation, and Amnesty International.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More