Independent ad agency RPA has brought Jason Sperling aboard as a group creative director for the Honda account. Formerly creative director at TBWAMedia Arts Lab, Sperling oversaw the iPad, iPhone and Mac groups, and led the Mac vs. PC campaign internationally. His work over the years has earned Cannes Lions and the Cannes Gold Cyber Lion (2008), the Grand Effie (2007) and several One Show Gold Pencils (2007). Previously, he worked at Colby and Partners, Santa Monica.
Additionally, RPA has promoted six creatives with Joe Baratelli and Patrick Mendelson being upped to group creative directors, Chuck Blackwell, Nathan Crow and Adam Lowrey to creative director, and Laura Hauseman to associate creative director.
Sperling and Baratelli will report to chief creative officer David Smith, and will be responsible for leading creative in all disciplines for the Honda account.
RPA’s client list includes American Honda, both the Honda and Acura brands, California Department of Public Health, La-Z-Boy, Farmers Insurance Group, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Luxor Hotel and Casino, and Excalibur Hotel & Casino. RPA is also the media planning and buying agency for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lenox Financial Mortgage.
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