VMLY&R has made three key leadership movies. Jen McDonald has been promoted to chief client officer, North America. In her new role, McDonald will oversee client engagement across all U.S. offices and is responsible for driving growth, developing talent, and delivering and integrating VMLY&R’s evolving offerings. In addition to this remit, McDonald will continue to lead the Wendy’s business for VMLY&R.
The agency has also appointed Najla Haddad as executive director, client engagement, based in New York, and Michelle Derderian as executive director, client engagement, based in Chicago.
Throughout her career, McDonald has established a track record of nurturing long-standing client relationships and building world-class teams. McDonald has led a portfolio of the agency’s foremost client partners during her 11-year tenure at VMLY&R, including NAPA AUTO PARTS, Dell, Sam’s Club, Navistar, Stella Artois and Wendy’s. Her strategic focus and emphasis on creating connected brands has helped generate culturally relevant, effective, and award-winning work that has been widely recognized by the industry’s top awards, including Cannes Lions, One Show, CLIOs, and Effies. Prior to joining VMLY&R in 2008, she served as SVP of brand and partner marketing at Revolution Health, a player in the health information space that was later sold to a top health publisher. She also held marketing leadership roles at AOL, XM Radio and a variety of technology startups.
McDonald will report to Chuck Searle, global chief client officer, and will continue to be based in VMLY&R’s Kansas City office.
Haddad joins from Digitas. In her new role as executive director, client engagement, Haddad will lead global digital transformation initiatives for Colgate-Palmolive and be part of the VMLY&R New York leadership team. She will report to McDonald and Carl Hartman, CEO of Red Fuse Communications, working jointly with them to identify new growth opportunities and data-driven marketing initiatives for Colgate.
Haddad brings a wealth of experience that complements VMLY&R’s Customer Experience (CX) and wider digital capabilities. Most recently, she served as EVP at Digitas where she led key accounts including Delta and Comcast, and expanded the use of the agency’s digital, marketing, social and content transformation capabilities. With 15 years of agency experience, Haddad has a portfolio of accounts which includes American Express, Nestlé Gerber, Nestlé Purina, Coca-Cola, and IHG.
Derderian joins from FCB Chicago to run key accounts, including Kraft Heinz. As executive director, client engagement, Derderian will be part of the VMLY&R Chicago leadership team and responsible for the agency’s growing client engagement team and all key accounts in the office. She will report to McDonald and partner closely with executive director and office lead Madeline (Nies) Larsen and executive creative director Aaron Evanson to focus on growth in the market. Derderian has nearly 20 years of experience in the industry, having served most recently in a number of senior positions at FCB Chicago. She has a diverse background working with brands such as The J.M. Smucker Company, Kellogg’s, Target, GlaxoSmithKline, Jimmy John’s, and New Orleans Tourism.
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