National Amusements, Inc. (NAI) fired its public relations firm this past weekend, a change that went into effect Tuesday.
The Redstone Family-led firm that owns both CBS and Viacom parted ways with Brunswick Group LLC and hired competitor Finsbury instead.
Brunswick Group is based in New York, but often handles companies in Los Angeles. The firm only repped NAI for about a month.
The London- and New York-based Finsbury is a subsidiary of British conglomerate WPP plc., which owns a number of advertising and marketing firms. Fun fact: It also owns a nice chunk of Nielsen competitor comScore.
NAI — a theater chain founded by Michael Redstone in 1936 — has been mired in corporate drama for some time now.
The ailing and aging Sumner Redstone recently booted Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman and board member George Abrams from National Amusements’ Board of Directors and his family trust. NAI has also moved to kick them and three others off Viacom’s Board of Directors, something currently being litigated in courts on both coasts.
However, accusations of Sumner’s daughter Shari Redstone manipulating her dad’s decisions have flown through media statements and legal records. Brunswick had been in charge of managing the press side until the holiday weekend. Now that’s Finsbury’s problem — err, duty.
Reps from Brunswick and Finsbury declined TheWrap’s request for comment.