Another Slice of Pie: Another brand takes a political stand. The story is courtesy of influencer superstar PewDiePie. Following PewDiePie’s recent racial epithets ( PRN, Sept. 12, 2017), game developer Campo Santo invoked the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which forces the YouTube star to remove livestreams of Campo Santo games from the channel. “I am sick of this child getting more and more chances to make money off of what we make,” Campo Santo cofounder Sean Vanaman said on Twitter. “Our game on his channel=endorsement,” he tweeted. PewDiePie was playing Bluehole Studio’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds when he spewed the racial epithet. While it’s unclear that Campo Santo is within its legal rights, it’s impressive when a brand risks hits to its bottom line to speak out.
We’ll Leave the ICE on for Ya: For radio listeners, there are few ads as well-known as budget chain Motel 6’s folksy spot featuring Tom Bodett signing off with, “We’ll leave the light on for ya.” In its 30th year, the ad arguably is one of the most effective tone setters ever. That folksy image took a whack Sept. 13 when media reports said Motel 6 employees in the Phoenix, AZ, area were regularly supplying guest lists to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That information was leading to a high number of arrests at several Motel 6 properties in the area, the Phoenix New Times wrote. Motel 6 responded that day with a terse, unapologetic statement (doubtless Tom Bodett lacked a seat at the table for this one) noting the provision of information to ICE was a local matter, done without knowledge of the company’s headquarters: “When we became aware of it last week, it was discontinued.” A 2015 Supreme Court ruling prohibits law enforcement from forcing hotels to supply them with guest information. The next day, when the story prompted boycott calls on social media, Motel 6 said “to help ensure that this does not occur again, we will be issuing a directive to every one of our more than 1,400 locations nationwide, making clear that they are prohibited from voluntarily providing daily guest lists to ICE.” It added, “We will be undertaking a comprehensive review of our current practice and then issue updated, company-wide guidelines. Protecting the privacy and security of our guests are core values of our company. Motel 6 apologizes for this incident and will continue to work to earn the trust and patronage of our millions of loyal guests.”
Global Health, Finn Partners
Growth: In a story broken on prnewsonline.com, Finn Partners launched its Health and Social Impact specialty group Sept. 13 “to develop regional, national and global corporate social responsibility campaigns for the health sector.” Senior partner, CSR & social impact, Amy Terpeluk will lead the group; health practice managing partner Gil Bashe will provide guidance. The new specialty group is the result of collaboration between two Finn units: CSR/Social Impact and Health Practices. “Together the groups have sought to find issues that require a call to action,” Bashe tells us in an interview. One of its clients, Let’s Win for Pancreatic Cancer, supported by the Lustgarten Foundation, was inducted into PR News’ Platinum Hall of Fame last week during the Platinum PR Awards. – Finn Partners also acquired ABI Marketing Public Relations, a marketing and PR firm focused on industrial and trade markets, in B2B. Founder/CEO of ABI Alan Isacson will become managing partner, ABI. Founded in 1980, ABI has five global offices. Gould + Partners facilitated the deal. – Relevance New York opened a London office and rebranded as Relevance International.
Doing Good: In an unfortunately timely announcement, Facebook said Sept. 14 it’s created a central hub for its safety tools. Called Crisis Response, it also will contain articles and emergency information. The main tool, of course, is Safety Check, which Facebook activates during disasters and crises. It allows users in the area of a disaster to alert friends and family that they’re safe. Facebook unveiled Safety Check in 2014, activating it only during natural disasters, such as earthquakes. It activated Safety Check for the first time in response to a man-made incident when it was flipped on during the Paris bombings in late 2015.
People: The Consumer Specialty Products Association named Beth Ludwick VP, communications and marketing. Previously she led communications at the American Association for Homecare. – Adam Wilson was named EVP, marketing, at the advertising and marketing firm Duffey Petrosky. He comes from Search Optics. – Rubenstein Public Relations named Michael Isaacson chief financial officer. – D S Simon Media promoted 18-year veteran Eric Wright to EVP and 10-year vet Sarah Katz [p. 1, picture 3] to SVP. – Former American Banker editor-in-chief Marc Hochstein joined CoinDesk Inc, as managing editor.