Park Pictures has signed director AG Rojas for commercial representation. Joining Park from Caviar Content, Rojas has turned out distinctive cinematic imagery for music videos featuring such artists as Jack White, Spiritualized, Purity Ring, Gil Scott-Heron and Emili Sande. Rojas’ music video work has earned him numerous accolades including an award for Best New Director at the 2012 UKMVA’s, Best Indie Rock Video for Spiritualized’s “Hey Jane,” and a nomination for Best Rock Video at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards for his Jack White video. Rojas’ branded work includes spots for Adidas, Sadia and O2….Stopp/family, an integrated production company with bases of operation in Stockholm and L.A., has opened an office in New York to meet the needs of its expanding U.S. clientele. Creative technologist Ola Björling–a founding member of Stopp Interactive–heads up the production arm at Stopp New York. Stopp’s recent notable U.S. work includes an integrated Honda campaign, an app for Land Rover, and an interactive website for “Hello Again,” the Beck and Chris Milk collaboration….Dallas-based editorial boutique 3008, has added turnkey production services to its offerings. Move was made in response to an increasing number of client requests expressing interest in streamlined production services. Hired for the new endeavor is a team consisting of director Shawn Fedorchuk and head of production Brian Hwang. Fedorchuk comes to 3008 from Digital Kitchen, Seattle. He has also worked for Digital Kitchen in Chicago and New York, at Lost Boys Studio in Vancouver B.C., and Prologue Films in Venice, Calif. Fedorchuk has directed, edited and creative-directed work for clients including HBO, PGA, BMW, Discovery Channel, TNT, Audi, Levi’s and the Academy Awards. Fedorchuk has hit the ground running at 3008 with a three-spot holiday package for Western Union via Moroch/Dallas and a shoot for Ford via JWT Team Detroit…72andSunny Amsterdam has hired Simon Summerscales as director of communication strategy and Caroline Britt as group brand director. Summerscales will be a champion for cross channel content planning, social spread strategy, tech and data insight and media innovation. Britt will run the agency’s Samsung and Benetton accounts, and be joint lead of the brand management department. Summerscales has run communication strategy at several London firms, including Carat, Naked and Wieden+Kennedy. Britt served as global account director at TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles….
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