International creative company Cutters Studios has secured Bobby Rowe and Sean C. Sullivan as its new sales representatives on the U.S. East and West Coasts, respectively. In the Midwest, Cutters Studios continues to be repped by Sean M. Sullivan and Marni Halliburton of Collective Management. Rowe recently launched his own self-titled management company after having spent the past year as a luxury real estate agent at The Corcoran Group. For the previous four years, he was head of sales for animatic production specialist 321Launch, where he successfully established assorted prolific partnerships with international brands and agencies. Also an outstanding advertising composer, Rowe led business development for New York-based MAS: Music and Strategy. Sean C. Sullivan, meanwhile, joins the Cutters Studios staff in Santa Monica as West Coast business development director. Formerly the owner/EP of boutique strategy, animation and production house +DISPATCH, he led production for Chase, Coca Cola, Disney, ESPN, IBM, the NFL, Nike, Spotify and many others. Sullivan launched +DISPATCH in 2016 upon his departure from Apple, where he held the position of producer/project manager. That experience followed nearly two years as sr. project manager for Los York, where he managed all content for the Jordan Brand account in partnership with creative agency AKQA. At Los York, Sullivan’s efforts contributed to Jordan’s “The Last Shot” project winning a Gold Cannes Lion and dozens more major industry awards. Cutters Studios is part of a family that includes its partner companies Another Country, Dictionary Films, Flavor and Picnic Media. Cutters maintains operations in Chicago, Kansas City, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo….
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 โ 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