167: Are Brands Allowed an Opinion?

Are brands allowed an opinion in the modern media landscape? In the news recently, Under Armour CEO has been in the crosshairs over his comments that alluded to President Trump being "good for business." However, did the media tell the entire story? And more to the point, are brands allowed to have an opinion, or must they be responsible to their shareholders in a way that creates no waves? Joining hosts Robert Hix and Vincenzo Landino are Savannah Peterson with Savvy Millennial and Antigone Peyton at Cloudigy Law. About Savannah Peterson Savannah Peterson is the Founder and Chief Unicorn of Savvy Millennial where she helps the people, products and brands she loves grow. Savannah was named to the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Consumer Technology, and is a respected voice in innovation and community engagement. Savannah works with authors, startups and companies, developing go-to-market strategies and building communities. She thrives on product development and launch journey and is a super-connector of people, resources and audiences. Prior to Savvy Millennial, Savannah was the Director of Innovation Strategy at Massive Labs & Speck Design where she helped create new consumer electronics. In her New York City life, Savannah was the Director of Global Community at Shapeways, the world's largest 3D Printing community, where she empowered and enabled over 25,000 3D Printing businesses. A true hardware nerd, Savannah has helped friends, clients, and fellow creatives raise over $4.5M through crowdfunding. Before diving head first into design, Savannah worked at Fox Sports Northwest, the Center for Communication and Civic Engagement at the University of Washington, and founded her own Social Media Marketing Agency, Savvy Marketing Seattle. She travels the world as a public speaker, most recently featured at the Air New Zealand Inspiring Voices series, Kiwi Landing Pad Sales and Marketing Jam, South by Southwest, the Silicon Beached Festival, the Ford Research and Innovation Lab, Gasparilla Interactive, Social Fresh and more. An avid mentor for women and men in tech, she mentors and teaches at Stanford, NYU, and PACE University. She has been featured in/on Forbes, the BBC, NBC, The Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, CNET, The Verge, and others. When not geeking out, she’s tasting wine and romping through the wild blue yonder with her rescue mutt, Martini. Savannah thrives on empowering innovative minds. This takes shape in many forms; keynote speaking, panel moderating, teaching, mentoring, livestreaming, vlogging, podcasting, hosting and any other excuse to have fun in front of a creative audience. About Antigone Peyton Antigone focuses on intellectual property litigation and IP portfolio management and growth strategies involving patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights. Her litigation and counseling experiences also include unfair competition, DMCA violations, computer fraud, and social media issues. Antigone has acted as lead trial counsel and appellate counsel in federal civil lawsuits across the United States and has a significant litigation practice in the Eastern District of Virginia (the “Rocket Docket”). Additionally, Antigone has represented clients before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). Antigone has been recognized among Virginia Super Lawyers and Virginia Legal Elite for her work involving intellectual property law. She has also been honored with an Influential Women of Virginia award for ou