Fetch, the global mobile-first agency and part of the Dentsu Aegis Network, has opened a Los Angeles office. After strong business growth at the New York and San Francisco offices, including adding Travelocity, GSN Games and Yelp to its client roster, the agency is expanding its leadership team by hiring Ruairi McGuckin to lead the new office as managing partner, West Coast.
McGuckin will oversee agency accounts for the Los Angeles-based client roster, including the recently won Hulu. He will report directly to Guillaume Lelait, EVP, U.S. managing director.
“LA is a natural progression for Fetch. We have several clients in this market and it offers a wealth of access to talent and technology innovation – a critical component to continuing to grow our US presence,” said Lelait. “Our expansion into LA also speaks our move towards delivering mobile-first strategies to the growing entertainment economy coming out of that region and we believe Ruairi’s experience will allow us to tap into this and many other facets of the market to further enhance overall North American offering.”
Formerly head of account strategy, mobile at Criteo, McGuckin led a team supporting more than 30 accounts, working with brands including Expedia, Walmart, Netshoes and Blizzard Games. Additionally, his team pioneered Criteo’s Mobile Partner Program, an SDK extension program that speeds up onboarding times for advertisers. At Fetch, he will focus on expanding the agency’s West Coast presence into new verticals, further developing local market strategy.
“Fetch’s expertise is strategically aligned with the challenges and opportunities mobile advertisers face in today’s increasingly fragmented marketplace,” said McGuckin. “LA is ripe with brands who take a mobile-first approach, but may need help figuring out the best place to invest time and resources.”
In addition to McGuckin’s appointment, the agency has made a series of senior hires across the US that will elevate Fetch’s mobile strategies and solutions to brands and advertisers. These hires include U.S. executive creative director Octavio Maron, head of programmatic Joshua Niederriter, and NY account director Natalie Robinson. Maron joins Fetch from Pontomobi (part of Dentsu Aegis Network Brazil), where he served as chief creative officer. Niederriter was previously at AKQA where he pioneered leveraging audience segmentation in search and launched their programmatic solution. Robinson will be the regional lead for Hotels.com North America, AOL and upcoming new business wins. Robinson joins Fetch from Essence, where she worked across a variety of Google products.
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More