Northern Lights, based in NY, has acquired agency Fanclub Creative, and will incorporate the shop under the Northern Lights banner to create a holistic agency offering. The combined agency, which will expand upon existing creative, editorial and finishing services, will be led by sr. creative director/writer Keith Kopnicki.
The combined entertainment company will be strongly positioned to strategize, concept and execute all facets of launches, promo campaigns, sizzles, trailers, upfronts, episodics and co-branded/integrated assignments, while continuing to offer stand-alone editorial and finishing services.
Brooklyn resident Kopnicki started his career in 2002 at TNN where he penned the first image campaign for new network Spike TV. He quickly climbed the ranks and began producing and writing major network campaigns, eventually moving on to USA Network, Fuse and A&E, where he served as creative director, before launching Fanclub Creative in 2014. Kopnicki led the creative vision for the agency, crafting work for a wide array of networks and creative aesthetics.
“Keith is an extremely talented creative director and a perfect fit for leading the next step in the evolution of the Northern Lights brand,” noted partner David Gioiella.
Kopnicki added, “I’m really looking forward to joining creative forces with Northern Lights. I feel that bringing together our strengths and experiences will allow us to extend their track record of growth, and produce very exciting, effective creative campaigns.”
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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