Eric Bonniot, an industry veteran with extensive experience on the production and post sides of the business?
Eric Bonniot, an industry veteran with extensive experience on the production and post sides of the business, has joined Nerve as exec producer of its studios in Los Angeles and Mexico City, which specialize in visual effects, mixed media motion graphics, commercial photography and print design. Bonniot most recently served as exec producer at production house Uncle, and prior to that in the same capacity in the commercials division of A Band Apart. He earlier was president/CEO of post/VFX house 525 Studios (which was later consolidated into Riot, Santa Monica), and managing director of London post facility Rushes….The Corner Store, Toronto, has signed director Philip Kates for Canadian representation. He continues to be handled in the western Canada spot market via Joe Media, Calgary, and for French Canadian work through Moskito Films, Montreal. Kates is with New York-based Harpoon for spot representation in the U.S., Mad Cow Films, London, for U.K. adverts, JSA International for European and national jobs, and Republic, Sydney, for commercials out of Australia and New Zealand. The Jennifer Hollyer Agency reps Kates for film and television projects….Holiday Films, the Toronto shop headed by exec producers Derek Sewell and Josefina Nadurata, have added director Adam Massey for Canadian representation. Massey, who's repped in the U.S. by Los Angeles-based Untitled Inc., has directed campaigns for Budweiser, Coke, McDonald's, Molson's, Southwest Airlines, Lucky Jeans, Ford and Altoids….
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 — 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