Happenings from Golin, APCO Worldwide, 42West & Bell Pottinger
Fyre Festival and 42West Efforts
When the Fyre Festival was canceled on opening day a few weeks ago, it was not pretty – in so many ways! The luxury accommodations in many cases turned out to be tents used in disaster assistance situations, the multi-star cuisine to be provided by a celebrity chef instead turned out to be bread and cheese with some salad … all dry. To say nothing of all the people stranded in airports and on the island itself. But in those few weeks from the disastrous non-opening, at least six lawsuits have been filed, most recently one by a North Carolina couple (the Reels) as a class-action suit seeking $5M from organizers Billy McFarland, Ja Rule, their PR firm – 42West — and advertising agency Matte Projects.
Court documents say the PR and marketing companies “did not take any steps, let alone reasonable steps, to ensure that their promotional materials and marketing campaigns were accurate.” They also said nothing had been done by them to ensure the product they were marketing, that people trusted as they purchased tickets, “was or even could be true.”
Zandra Zuno Baermann Leaves Golin Behind to Join Latino Advocacy Group
Zuno Baermann left her post as the leader of multicultural marketing with Golin to become the SVP of communications and marketing at NCLR (National Council of La Raza). She will oversee communications, branding strategies (including storytelling and media relations), and marketing for the organization. She began her new job on April 10th and leads about 15 people in her department. She reports to Janet Murguia, CEO and president.
After 5 Years as Part of the APCO team, StrawberryFrog is Again the Majority Stockholder in Their Agency
StrawberryFrog (SF) and APCO Worldwide reached an agreement allowing SF to buy itself back from APCO, buying the majority stake back after five years with APCO. SF opened its doors in 1999 in Amsterdam by Scott Goodson, CEO. Under Goodson’s guidance, the firm grew to have additional offices in Sao Paulo and New York City, representing such companies as Jim Beam, Old Navy, Google, and Saba. With the change, other revisions were bound to happen. So far, Susan Bueser, SF’s CFO and UM veteran, is no longer with the company and her name is no longer listed on SF’s website.
Nick Ludlum Joins CTIA as Chief Comms Officer
Nick Ludlum used to be the corporate and public affairs director for Ogilvy but is now replacing Stephanie O’Keefe at the DC offices of CTIA, though the position has been vacant for a few months in between. Ludlum became the CCO for the firm representing the wireless communications industry. He will lead the teams for communications, events, and public affairs, with one of his main tasks related to the rollout of 5G networks and the critical national issues associated with that task. Ludlum’s experience includes 10 years with Ogilvy rising to become their DC office’s director of corporate and public affairs. He was also the general manager for Fusion Public Relations, a DC boutique firm, for eight years. Firms represented by CTIA include AT&T, Apple, Cisco, Samsung, and Verizon.
Corporate/Consumer UK PR Efforts for Qatar Airways to be Handled by Engage by Bell Pottinger
Engage, formed earlier in 2017 by Bell Pottinger to focus on less political type of issues, has signed an AOR with Qatar Airways to promote and create several campaigns for Qatar and its stakeholders in the UK. Engage represents a few different travel-related companies such as Bristol Airport and South African Tourism, but Qatar is now one of their “flagship travel and tourism clients,” according to Charlie Hampton, partner at Engage.
The first campaign was launched late in March and Hampton said: “Given that the gift for a first anniversary is ‘paper,’ the campaign for Qatar Airways, which was done in partnership with Birmingham Airport, was based around a treasure hunt for paper aeroplanes for passengers departing on Qatar Airways’ flights.” Passengers won different prizes for finding the paper planes such as an upgrade to business class, airline tickets to any of Qatar’s destinations, and more.
