| Contact O'Dwyer's: 271 Madison Ave., #600, New York, NY 10016; Tel: 212/679-2471 or Toll Free: 866/395-7710 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
Thursday, March 11. 2010
Five New York PR Groups, not counting NANA (nee PRSA), have a total of $2,743,000 in cash and savings, according to their latest Form 990 filings with the IRS.
Tax-free groups are supposed to serve primarily their entire industries and not just their members.
Four of the groups are 501/c/6 "trade associations" while the fifth, the Arthur W. Page Society, is a 501/c/3 or "charity" similar to the Red Cross or United Way.
The c/3 status allows Page (which has dropped the "W" from its name) to obtain about $200,000 in tax-free corporate gifts each year.
Such donations cannot be given to 501/c/6 non-profits.
Page's explanation is that it was founded as a c/3 in 1983 and never changed its status.
Cash and investments of the five groups are as follows:
Council of PR Firms: $822,000.
Page Society: $581,000.
New York Financial Writers (which allows PR members); $539,000.
New York Women in Communications: $451,000.
Institute for PR: $360,000.
NANA, which moved its offices from 51st and Third Ave. in 1987 to 33 Irving Place in Midtown South, and then to 33 Maiden Lane (downtown) in 2004, had $2M in cash and $1.7M in the stock market as of 9/30/2009.
Page and CPRF share 1,700 sq. ft. of space on the 23rd floor of 317 Madison Ave. (42nd St.).
The building has 22 office vacancies including 7,000 sq. ft. on the 23rd floor. It is asking $45 per sq. ft.
NANA closed its library in the late 1990s, offering instead a series of webinars and seminars or providing online access to materials.
Wednesday, March 10. 2010
U.S. taxpayer-bailed-out Bank of America has taken its share of lumps on the reputation front surrounding its participation in the global financial meltdown, its controversial acquisition of Merrill Lynch, removal of CEO Ken Lewis and the subsequent fraud charges filed against Lewis and chief financial officer Joseph Price by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
That's why it's so refreshing to see some positive developments of the PR front for the Charlotte-based banking giant.
 With great fanfare, BoA officially announced today that it is ditching overdraft fees on debit cards, the bane of parents everywhere with college kids on a budget.
BoA's move will bring to an end the era of the $40 cup of coffee (e.g., $5 for Starbucks, $35 in overdraft fees for the bank). Overdraft fees represent a nice chunk of change for U.S. banks.
The New York Times reports that debit purchases account for about 60 percent of overdrafts at BoA. Moebs Services, an economic research house, says banks "earned" $20B in overdraft fees on debit cards last year.
Those charges fuel the wrath of people angered with being nickel-and-dimed by their banks. Actually, those people would prefer nickels and dimes rather than $35 penalty fees.
In its release, BoA claims to be putting an end to overdraft fees to "provide more control, choice and clarity for its customers." Customers will have the option of overdraft protection.
Susan Faulkner, deposit and card product executive, believes killing overdraft fees will help "customers control their finances by reducing the possibility of over-extending themselves at the point of sale with a debit card."
Beginning this summer, BoA will decline attempts by customers to buy a product/service with a debit card if they don't have enough money in a checking account to cover the purchase. And that's the rub.
New banking rules require banks to get a customer okay for overdraft fees. That rule goes into effect on July 1, which means BoA's “blockbuster” announcement is less so. The bank is just positioning for the new Federal Reserve rules. That said, BoA is the first major bank to drop overdraft fees. You can bet competitors will follow. BoA earns a PR halo for a change.
NB: BoA customers must remain vigilant on debit card use. Your bank has the entire spring, which begins in two weeks, to collect those overdraft charges.
(Image via)
Tuesday, March 9. 2010
News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch kicked off the Abu Dhabi Media Summit today with a rousing call for media companies -- like his -- to be fairly paid for their work that appears online.
 As the media world goes ga-ga over the launch of Apple's iPad, Murdoch reminded the audience that "the bright and shiny wonders that technology gives us can be like the desert sun—they can blind us to what is real and valuable.
"Amid the digital dazzle, we risk missing the magic: the creative content that brings these devices to life," he said. [Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal is working with Apple to develop an iPad application.]
Murdoch went on say that Amazon's Kindle and other e-readers are worthless without books, newspapers and magazines to read.
Advanced high-definition televisions would go unsold in electronics stores if there was not a robust selection of sports, drama, comedy and news programming to watch.
Rupe's message: "Without creative content, these electronic devices are merely expense playthings."
Murdoch is getting very near crunch time. He has been talking for awhile about erecting paywalls around his media properties. It's now time to walk the walk as Murdoch's Times of London is poised to start charging for its material.
News Corp. also reportedly is in discussion with Microsoft's Bing search engine to devise a plan to prevent Google from stealing its content. And then there is the New York Post!!! Charging for Page Six gossip, perhaps.
News Corp is juggling a lot of balls. Media companies are watching whether those balls will hit the floor.
Let's go back to the prepared remarks of Murdoch's speech. He urged the Arab World to open up to fresh outside ideas, while spurring its own creativity. In the 21st Century, "untapped creativity in this region represents a resource infinitely more precious than oil," said Murdoch.
While oil is undeniably vital to our world, Murdoch said: "In this bright new century, the most advanced societies will be those that are most creative. Creativity is a resource that excites the imagination…expands jobs and opportunity, and improves our quality of life. It is clean, and it is high-value. Most of all, because it is rooted in the human mind, creativity is the one economic resource that it truly inexhaustible."
The News Corp. CEO is not a big fan of Japan. He held Japan out as a place where national creativity is stifled by protectionist barriers.
Murdoch is upset that News Corp. and other foreign companies can only own a "tiny" share of Japan's creative sector. Hence, Japan is a modern nation that employs a relatively few in creative businesses.
U.S. PR firms, for instance, have had a tough slog in Japan, where Dentsu rules the roost. That's a sharp difference than the situation in China, a thriving market for PR.
Murdoch believes Japan’s standing in the world suffers because of protectionist policies. "Japanese culture is denied the global voice that a nation which boasts the world’s second largest economy ought to have," he said.
Hats off to Murdoch, who celebrates his 79th birthday tomorrow! Good luck with charging for content, and News Corp.'s effort to push into the Middle East and even Japan.
(Image via)
Greg Matusky, president and founder of Ardmore, Pa.-based Gregory FCA Communications, said new business opportunities have increased as his firm has climbed up the annual O’Dwyer rankings.
 “As we have risen in the rankings, so too have the number of unsolicited RFPs we receive, often the result O’Dwyer’s rankings find their way into corporate decision making,” he wrote in a blog post March 8.
Matusky said rankings and awards are two areas that can be clearly delineated from editorial content and said he supports the O’Dwyer Co. decision to charge firms which do not support the company through advertising and subscriptions to participate in the rankings.
A handful of firms balked at the decision and were removed from the ranking this year. Some have criticized the O’Dwyer Co. and questioned the ethics of the move, in addition to trying to organize opposition to the plan.
One hundred and thirty-two firms provided figures for this year’s rankings.
Matusky, who also criticized conglomerate-owned firms who “hide” behind the Sarbanes-Oxley to avoid publishing figures, said if media is to continue, publishers must find novel ways to tap new streams of revenue.
“If you want a media property to invest hundreds of hours in researching and vetting an open and true industry ranking, then those who benefit from the ranking should be willing to send in a check along with their applications,” he argued.
Gregory FCA ranked No. 27 overall among independent firms in the O’Dwyer ranking released on March 8.
The Middle East is seen as a largely underdeveloped yet promising market for PR as the communications sector develops there.
There are an estimated 90 PR agencies in the United Arab Emirates, but quantity is far outweighing quality, according to an agency PR executive in the country.
In addition, Burson-Marsteller, which has had a presence in Dubai since 1999, published a survey of Arab youth this week showing a confident, tech-savvy generation growing up in the region and creating a coveted base for marketers to target.
 Firas Saleem, director of Virtue PR & Marketing Communications in the UAE, told Emeritus Business magazine that PR has been acting like the "poor cousin" of advertising in the region.
"While there is a huge demand for strategic corporate communications counsel, the majority of the PR agencies are still offering shallow tactics," said Saleem, who noted PR people are following creative ideas set out by ad agencies. "This is hindering the industry's growth."
Saleem's views on the lack of mentoring for young professionals, and his view that a PR agency should be more of a family doctor than a general practitioner are also outlined in the EB piece.
Burson, meanwhile, reached in deeper for its second survey of Arab youth by conducting 2,000 face-to-face interviews in the 18-24 demographic in countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, among others.
Karen Hughes, former public diplomacy chief for the recent Bush administration who is a global vice chair at Burson, noted that while more than two-thirds expressed concerns about a rising cost of living, and a shortage of affordable housing was another top concern, Arab youth in general are confident in the region's direction.
(Image via)
Monday, March 8. 2010
The vast majority of America doesn’t care if Rahm Emanuel is preventing Obama from being Obama.
The chief of staff reportedly is stifling Obama's progressive impulses in the bid to corral support from centralist Democrats. America also doesn’t care if David Axelrod is a wet noodle, muddling the message about the promise of Obama. We don’t much care for reports about political in-fighting and aides "stabbing Obama in the back" via various intrigues and treacheries.
 America put Obama into office to get the job done. That includes a return to financial stability, healthcare reform, progress on global warming, job creation, improving U.S. image overseas, exiting Iraq and figuring out Afghanistan. Except dithering, nothing has been delivered.
The president today visited Pennsylvania and told a cheering audience that it was good to be outside Washington.
That's a standard line for all struggling politicians who are going nowhere real fast. D.C. is exactly where Obama should be 24/7, ironing out a healthcare bill ASAP. Too much time and energy already has been wasted.
Healthcare bipartisanship is a sham. Obama's healthcare summit was a charade. Everyone knows Republicans will sneer at anything the president puts on the healthcare reform table. GOPers say they will retaliate if Democrats try to "ram healthcare through" Congress. So be it. Ramming is exactly what Democrats must do. Healthcare reform is but one of the major issues facing the White House. It's time to fish or cut bait.
President Obama entered the White House with favorable comparisons to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Saddled with the Great Recession, Americans looked to Obama to craft an ambitious plan to put Americans back to work and get the economy rolling. Obama’s $787B economic stimulus plan turned out to be a half-measure. He knows it, but lacks the fight and spirit of FDR to bash political heads and deliver what is needed by the army of America’s unemployed and legions of underemployed. President Bush, who bailed out his banker constituency, took care of his own. Obama hasn't taken care of anybody. The President also was once compared to John F. Kennedy, one who brought vision and enthusiasm to Washington. After a year in office, where is Obama leading us?
Obama ran on a promise of change. So far, it's been "more of the same." The American Civil Liberties Union has illustrated how many are “shocked and concerned” with Obama’s failure to “change the Bush-Cheney policies and restore America’s values of justice and due process.” It ran a devastating ad in the New York Times yesterday that has Obama morphing into George W. Bush.
Environmental groups, labor unions, uninsured families, jobless people, human rights workers and health advocates could have run their own versions of the ACLU ad to expresses their distress over the President’s first year in office.
During his primary campaign dogfight with Hillary Clinton, Obama was best under pressure. The pressure is now on. It's time to stand for something and deliver.
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
| |
| |
| | | |
|
NEED
HELP? john@odwyerpr.com
Copyright © 1998-2010 J.R. O'Dwyer
Company, Inc.
271 Madison Ave., #600, New York, NY 10016; Tel: 212/679-2471 or Toll Free:
866/395-7710
|
|
