Joe Flannery didn’t have the luxury of a honeymoon period at Good Good. His new job as president started just as the YouTube group plunged into controversy.
Good Good, one of YouTube’s biggest golf channels at 2.3 million subscribers, has seen mounting fallout from an ad with Callaway that was criticized as promoting violence against women. Callaway cut ties with Good Good on Thursday.
Flannery’s hire, the result of an extensive search, was touted in an announcement viewed by Business Insider and dated August 21— the same day the ill-fated ad went out.
In his new role, Flannery oversees “all major functions of the core business,” including branded sporting goods and merchandise, as well as the YouTube channel. Flannery’s résumé is a who’s who of established sports and consumer brands, including Newell Brands, The North Face, Adidas, and Nike. In an odd twist, he also previously worked for Callaway. Flannery most recently served as the CEO of Score Sports.
Before the controversy, Good Good had been considered a prime example of what success looks like in the creator economy. The company, whose bread and butter is high-energy golf videos, had built a string of retail partnerships and raised $45 million last year.
Good Good underscored Flannery’s extensive experience and the scope of the company’s ambitions in its hiring announcement.
“Joe is exactly the kind of driver Good Good needs as we enter our next chapter,” Good Good’s CEO Matt Kendrick said in the announcement. “He has a track record of building iconic brands and scaling them with discipline, and he understands what it takes to lead in the next era of content and commerce. Our ambitions are big, and our leadership team now matches them.”
Flannery, for his part, shared a statement for the announcement saying he looked forward to building on the company’s momentum.
“Good Good is leading the future of golf. It’s built a content engine that’s second to none, cultivated a deep, fast-growing pool of talent, and launched an apparel business stepping up with that same creativity and ambition,” he said. “It’s an incredible time to join the brand and build on that momentum.”
Flannery’s first big task won’t be building on Good Good’s momentum, but rather figuring out how to contain the fallout from the ad and shore up the group’s commercial prospects.
The ad that caused the firestorm — which has been pulled — showed one of Good Good’s cofounders, Garrett Clark, running toward a female member of the group, Alexis Miestowski, and shoving her to the ground. Standing over her, he says, “Do not touch my new driver,” before picking it up himself and hitting a shot.
Kendrick, the CEO, told Front Office Sports that he didn’t view the ad before it ran and that the marketing team oversaw it. A person close to the company said two people from marketing were let go. Good Good previously apologized for the ad’s content.
The ad has impacted Good Good’s business beyond the loss of its Callaway partnership.
Retailers, including Dick’s Sporting Goods and its subsidiary, Golf Galaxy, removed Good Good products from shelves, and the golf group stepped away as the title sponsor of a fall PGA Tour event.
Creative agency This Will Be Good announced it had ended its relationship with Good Good, noting it had no involvement in the ad.
