By Kristin Wilcha
NEW YORK --TBWA/Chiat/Day’s “Silhouettes” campaign for the Apple iPod won the Grand Effie, as well as a Gold Effie for global campaign, last week at the Effie Awards ceremony held in New York. Presented by the New York American Marketing Association (AMA), the Effies recognize advertising and marketing effectiveness.
The best-of-show Apple package included several TV spots featuring the iconic black silhouette of a person dancing against a colored background. Among the directors involved in the TV portion of the campaign were Paul Hunter of bicoastal HSI Productions, Dave Meyers of bicoastal/international @radical.media, and Glenn Martin of Tombo, Hollywood.
The New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco offices of TBWA/Chiat/Day collectively won a total of seven Effies, including a gold for Nissan, two Silvers–one to adidas and one to Infiniti–and a Bronze for Nextel.
BBDO won the most Gold Effies, with four–the honors went to the New York office for Pepsi and GE, Atlanta for the Peace Corps, and Chicago for Campbell’s Soup. The New York office also won a Silver honor for Snicker’s, and a Bronze for Guinness. BBDO West won Silver for Cesar, and BBDO Chicago won Bronze for Wrigley’s.
Cheryl Berman, chairman/chief creative officer of Leo Burnett USA, in her keynote address urged the industry to make the Effie Awards the most coveted in the business, in part by putting a greater emphasis on creativity, and having more creatives participate in the judging process.
“The Effies are not the best award show in the business. And my point is they should be,” said Berman. “This business has changed, and like it or not, we will all be judged on results, and this award show is positioned to be all about results. Our clients seem to understand that, and celebrate that. Our clients already recognize the importance and relevance of these awards in today’s world.
“But, at the end of the day, the questions become are we awarding just the result, or are we rewarding the result of great creative? I believe this show is about–should be about–awarding the results of brilliant creative, the effectiveness of brilliant ideas and execution in the marketplace. This is what we should all strive for.”
Leo Burnett was the most awarded agency at the show–for the fourth year in a row–scoring a dozen honors for campaigns on behalf of such clients as Special K, Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s, Morgan Stanley, Tecate Beer and GM Goodwrench Service. The agency won three golds, six silver, and three bronze honors.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