Talking Points by JSA: Planting Earth Day Seeds
How to cultivate comms strategies with care this Earth Day
Welcome to Talking Points by JSA – formerly known as JSA+Partners’ Monthly Digest. A fresh look, with all the same comms insights you know and love. We’ll still be showing up in your inbox on the first Friday of each month with the latest talking points on gaming & esports, consumer tech, and digital media. Plus, you can now find us on Substack!
🌱 Planting Earth Day Seeds
Heading into its 54th year, Earth Day has grown into a global movement, with over 1 billion people spanning 192 countries celebrating annually on April 22. While the day provides an opportunity for brands to showcase their environmental support, know that half-hearted one-off marketing stunts no longer slide under the radar. Especially on Earth Day, consumers are hyper-aware of ‘greenwashing’ – or misleading advertising around a brand’s environmental efforts – that can lead to widespread backlash across media and social media channels.
In today’s fast-paced culture where consumers are quick to bandwagon on corporate slip-ups, public messaging around brands’ sustainability efforts must place transparency and authenticity at the forefront to maintain consumers’ trust. With Earth Day campaign planning well underway, here are a few best practices for a successful communications strategy around any company’s environmental initiatives.
🌲 Be prepared to back up your claims.
A green-themed product launch or social post about your company’s support of climate action is no longer enough for the next generation of consumers. Any public (and internal) communication about your company’s environmental efforts must be backed by tangible goals, data, and a clear plan of action. Consumers can tell when brands are all talk, so it’s important to be overly transparent on your future plans, internal sustainability practices, and proof points of the work you’ve done to date.
🌿 Stay authentic to your brand.
Rather than making a donation or forming a partnership with an environmental organization just for the sake of it, take the time to ensure any green activations are a true brand fit. Be cognizant about what will resonate with your company’s unique audience or users – you know them best, after all. SYBO – the studio behind the most downloaded game in the world, Subway Surfers – for example, has creatively integrated green initiatives throughout the mobile game in a way that feels authentic to their gameplay. For instance, the company launched Play 2 Plant, a first-of-its-kind in-game event in partnership with Ecologi that planted one real-world tree for each user that participated in a new game mode, resulting in over 518k trees planted worldwide to date. Going the extra mile to launch activations like Play 2 Plant that naturally integrate green messages into your product – in a way that is genuinely enjoyable for fans – will result in greater engagement and far more impact in the long run.
🌳 Prioritize green initiatives every day.
As we know, combating climate change is no small feat. It requires much more than just a social post or marketing event one day out each year. Integrating sustainability into external and internal practices is the only way to truly make a lasting impact. This doesn’t always need to be a massive donation or full-fledged brand campaign, it can be something as small as encouraging recycling or installing solar panels at your office. Even small acts go a long way, and the stepping stones along the way will make larger tentpole moments like Earth Day far more impactful.
📈 The Wrap Report
🤖 In digital media & tech…
LinkedIn announced it’s experimenting with a TikTok-like video feed in its app (joining nearly every other platform that’s integrated short-form vertical videos after TikTok’s rise to popularity). The company said videos are becoming one of its users’ desired formats for learning from professionals and experts.
Less than a week after hiring former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a political analyst, NBC reversed its decision after immense internal and public backlash. Axios’ Eleanor Hawkins provided an insightful analysis of the situation, emphasizing why comms leaders should always be looped into decisions with the potential to spark internal backlash ahead of time to adequately prepare.
Many questioned if Reddit’s IPO would be a success or if it’d just become another “meme stock,” but shares rose 48% in its first day of trading – signaling investor appetite for tech offerings. Reddit offered up to 8% of its shares to “Redditors,” an unusual move to reward some of its most loyal users.
In its latest efforts to avoid a possible ban, TikTok released an economic impact report claiming that the platform generated $14.7 billion for small- to mid-size businesses last year alone, and a further $24.2 billion in total economic activity. While the timing appears calculated, the company insists the new report has been in the works for over a year and its release is not timed with ongoing regulatory battles.
Caitlin Clark continues to transform how the world views women’s college sports. Iowa’s win over LSU shattered the record for the most-watched women’s college basketball game, averaging 12.3 million viewers and peaking at 16 million viewers!
🎮 In gaming & esports…
Players across all eight teams in Riot Games’ Vietnamese League of Legends circuit were found to have ties to match-fixing, per an internal investigation. A scandal of unprecedented scale in esports, Riot Games opted to limit who could participate in the league’s playoffs and made substitution rules more flexible.
Sports Business Journal outlines how Counter-Strike's open ecosystem has been critical to its success and longevity, boiling it down to meritocracy, loyalty, accessibility, and scale.
Activision, the powerhouse publisher behind Call of Duty, launched Warzone Mobile, a free-to-play mobile game with potential esports applications. With the success of Call of Duty: Mobile across casual and competitive players, this latest addition shows Activison’s intent to further develop its mobile offerings.
Radical trolls launched a misinformed smear campaign against Sweet Baby, a consultant firm that advises publishers on how to make more inclusive games including AAA blockbusters like Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. It’s being dubbed “Gamergate 2.0” as pundits drag the company, the titles they’ve worked on, and media covering the affair.
Riot Games is introducing revenue sharing to League of Legends esports after seeing success in VALORANT. While some publishers have held out against such initiatives, the move gives teams more ways to generate revenue from their participation in Riot’s leagues.
In late March, Marvel unveiled their new free-to-play game “Marvel Rivals,” which looks to have been designed with a capacity for esports in mind. This is a first for Marvel, as a team-based hero shooter strays from their typical story-oriented single-player titles.
🗞 What We’re Working On
Sphere Entertainment Co. was named Fast Company’s #1 Most Innovative Company in Live Events & Experiences for 2024. (Fast Company)
Yahoo announced its acquisition of Artifact, the AI-powered news aggregation and discovery platform created by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom, Instagram's co-founders. (The Verge)
As more games – including Fortnite, League of Legends, and Tekken 8 – join the lineup for this summer’s Esports World Cup, so too are new brands. Sony was named a founding partner of the event, which includes a multi-year deal to produce its anthem and a documentary series. (SportsPro Media)
Jim Lanzone, CEO of Yahoo, broke down why the iconic brand remains one of the web’s most visited destinations, how he’s assembled a team of GM leaders to help charter a new course, and more on the Big Technology Podcast. (Big Technology Podcast)
The Snapdragon Pro Series, the multi-title mobile esports league from ESL FACEIT Group and Qualcomm Technologies, announced Year 3 of competition. After a record-setting Year 2 which saw nearly 1 billion participations, the league is expanding with a largest-ever prize pool and new ways to compete. (Pocket Tactics)
Yahoo Sports announced its partnership with OneFootball to create a co-branded, premier destination for soccer enthusiasts. (Sportico)
SYBO announced an all-new game mode, Floor is Lava, in its hit game Subway Surfers, challenging players to avoid the lava-filled floor as long as possible without crashing. (Pocket Gamer)
ESL FACEIT Group CEO Craig Levine offered his thoughts on why publisher-run esports ecosystems – a model that has historically dominated the industry – may be on its way out, leaving third parties to play a larger role in the landscape. (Digiday)
MatPat, beloved host and founder of the Theorist franchise, announced his retirement from hosting duties earlier this year. Lucas Kollmann, CEO of Lunar X – Theorist’s parent company – explains how M&A can provide an opportunity for long-time creators to take on a more strategic, behind-the-scenes role. (Rolling Stone)
EA and Respawn’s Apex Legends Global Series is bringing its in-person Split 1 Playoffs to Los Angeles’s Galen Center. It’s the second time an ALGS event has been hosted in North America, and marks a homecoming for LA-based Respawn. (Esports Insider)
Thank You!
Thanks for reading the inaugural edition of Talking Points by JSA! We’d love to hear your feedback on our new content, so please reach out with any questions or comments. See you next month!