No Room on the Bench: As you know, when it comes to PR crises, once your brand is under the Klieg light, it’s difficult to move back into the shadows. Take beleaguered Uber Technologies, which has been a regular in these pages for the past few months. Earlier, the issue concerned Honda Vezel cars Uber leased to its drivers in Singapore last year despite knowing they contained a defective part and had been recalled (PRN Aug. 8, 2017). This week it’s a suit from Benchmark, a major Uber investor, against former CEO/founder Travis Kalanick, who was forced to resign in June due to the company’s unseemly culture. In short, Benchmark wants Kalanick off the board. Lost in the headlines of Kalanick’s resignation was the fact that he retained a board seat, though it was not the CEO board seat. The Aug. 10 suit accuses Kalanick of fraud, breach of contract and fiduciary irresponsibility. Before his ouster, Kalanick negotiated with the board to allow him to add three seats to the eight-member board. When he resigned Kalanick gave up his CEO seat and took one of the three new seats. Benchmark says in its suit it would never have agreed to the three-new-seats deal had it known more about some of Kalanick’s misdeeds. Essentially Benchmark is claiming Kalanick hid the cultural issues at Uber and so negotiated the seat deal fraudulently. As if all this isn’t enough, unconfirmed media reports have Kalanick controlling Uber behind the scenes, complicating the firm’s search for a new CEO.
Picture This: Taking time to assess a potential crisis situation and gather intelligence, especially when you’re a brand with myriad locations throughout the country and the globe, are some of the lessons stemming from the embarrassing Walmart incident last week. A photo of a gun display at a Walmart store showed a sign above the guns that read: “Own the School Year Like a Hero.” The photo went viral on Twitter Aug. 9, sparking outrage from the Twitterverse. Walmart quickly, maybe too quickly, apologized for the sign via Twitter and said it had been removed. Things got murky after that. Initially Walmart said the store was in Evansville, IN, as tweeter Leeanna May told The Washington Post. May said she’d snapped the photo that went viral. Not long after, a Walmart spokesperson told the paper the brand was unsure which store had displayed the sign. A tweet from Walmart saying the sign was removed from its Evansville store was inaccurate, the spokesperson told the Post. In addition, it was unclear whether the photo was doctored. Walmart remained silent from Wednesday evening through early Satuday, as it gathered information. Saturday Walmart confirmed the incident was a hoax, although it released no other details. When it rains it pours for brands in a crisis. The story gave journalists the opportunity to remind readers Walmart is the country’s largest gun and ammunition seller. Several also noted an incident last month when a third-party vendor used a racial epithet to describe the color of a wig it was selling on Walmart’s online store.
Platform Prater: As noted on this week’s page 2, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has made video a priority. Last week Facebook unveiled its redesigned video platform, simply calling it Watch. Blurring the line between online video and TV, Watch will emphasize video series, as opposed to individual videos. This will “push brands…to create consistent series with long-form content in order to be featured,” says Tod Plotkin, principal, Green Buzz Agency. Adds Elaine Seward, senior video producer/social media coordinator, American Chemical Society, brand content that follows “a narrative arc…over several episodes, will be more intimate for audiences.” Watch will differentiate itself from video-centric sites by allowing users to comment in real time and chat with Facebook friends. Watch initially will be offered to a select group in the U.S. and eventually to all. – Search giant Google seemed to be floundering last week when it canceled a town hall meeting to discuss diversity issues that have consumed the brand since word leaked of a memo criticizing its policies (PRN, Aug. 8, 2017). Google said it halted the town hall because employees feared speaking in a public forum. The memo’s author, engineer James Damore, was fired last Monday. Friday he’d authored an op ed in the Wall St Journal about his ouster.
People: Merck CEO Ken Frazier left a presidential advisory council August 14 to protest what he believes was President Trump’s inadequate response to weekend riots in Charlottesville, VA. Hours later the president tweeted, “Now that Ken Frazier...has resigned...he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” – 33-year veteran Jon Iwatawas named IBM’s first chief brand officer. – Congrats to PR News friend Fenot Tekle on being named director of corporate communications at Facebook. Tekle came from LinkedIn and previously was a communicator at AMC and Netflix. – The Reis Group tapped former Associated Press journalist Beth Casteelassenior counselor. – Gavin named former Ketchum hand Chris Savarese VP, client services. – Congrats to Detroit-based Bianchi PR on its 25th anniversary.