Ad agency Modernista! has tabbed Matt Howell to assume its presidency and Alex Hesz to serve as managing director. Howell and Hesz will be part of a management team alongside Sebastian Gard, director of social media, and creative directors Davi Liu and Xavier Teo. Modernista! founders/executive creative directors Gary Koepke and Lance Jensen will continue to be the driving creative and cultural forces behind the agency.
Said Koepke, “Under my interim presidency, we cast aside the old agency model and became something much more valuable; a true creative agency, not a channel shop. So as Lance and I step aside to go back to what we do best — shaping the ‘product’ of Modernista! — we’re trusting in a leadership team which is in itself an illustration of how Modernista! is different.”
Howell is a leader in agenda-setting marketing strategy who has worked on brands from Sony to Prada, Nike, Ericsson, Cingular and more. He arrived at Modernista! as chief interactive officer to run the interactive practice, where his first act was to dissolve the group, integrating interactive thinking into the heart of the agency’s offering. Howell had previously been a group director at R/GA where he ran the Nike+ project, and was recently named to the board of directors of Boulder Digital Works, where he is an ever-present speaker.
Hesz joined Modernista! as client services director in June before being promoted to managing director. He was previously at DDB London where he ran the Nestle UK business and the Guardian newspaper’s digital account. While at BBH, Hesz oversaw brands including British Airways and Johnnie Walker, and worked on two campaigns recognized with Cannes Gold Lions.
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