Director Leonardo Ricagni has signed with A Band Apart, Los Angeles, for commercial and music video representation. Sister company Bikini Films, London, will also represent the director. Additionally, in conjunction with Mojo Film, Montevideo, Uruguay, a company in which Ricagni is a partner, A Band Apart is launching a Hispanic division called Mojo/A Band Apart. Nicolas Aznarez, executive producer of Mojo Film, will relocate to Los Angeles to help run the division. Meanwhile, Mojo Film will maintain its operation in Uruguay….Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), Chicago, has upped Monna O’Brien to executive director of broadcast. She was formerly director of broadcast production at the agency. O’Brien has been an O&M staffer for 18-plus years. She joined there as a producer in ’85. In her new capacity, O’Brien will work closely with Joe Sciarrotta, co-managing director/executive creative director of O&M Chicago, as well as with the shop’s group creative directors….Director Reginald Hudlin has signed with Zero 2 Sixty Productions, New York, for exclusive spot representation. Hudlin’s feature credits include House Party and Boomerang….Director Paul Fuentes, formerly of Huge, New York, has joined The Firm, New York….Blue Room Music, New York, has added composer Gabrielis Kaye to its roster….Editor Nick Lofting has moved stateside from the U.K., joining Chrome, a Santa Monica-based editorial boutique. He will be handled worldwide by Chrome for spots, music videos and longform….Sparks Productions, Toronto, has added director Gord McWatters to its roster. He had been with Apple Box Productions, which recently closed….Director Farhad Mann of Farhad Mann Productions, Los Angeles, has signed with Toronto-based commercial production company ‘ello Luv for representation in Canada….James L. McDowell, VP of marketing for BMW of North America, will be the keynote speaker at the inaugural AICP Brand Integration Honors, slated for the morning of June 9 in New York. Later that evening, the 12th annual AICP Show will be presented….The industry is mourning the death of Chris Petersen, 82. Petersen headed the now defunct The Petersen Co., a commercial production house that was a spawning ground for filmmaking talent for three decades (’60s, ’70s, ’80s). Petersen passed away on May 9 after a yearlong struggle with health problems….
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