GCI WINS $4.5M MEDICARE PR PACT

GCI Group has won the $4.5 million Health Care Financing Administration business in a competition that came down to Ogilvy PR Worldwide, Ketchum and Academy for Economic Development.

Ilyssa Levins, chairman of GCI Healthcare, said Lynn Duran, senior VP in Atlanta, and Lynda Woodworth, VP in New York, will co-manage the 30 staffers working on the account. Staffers in five other offices will provide support.

GCI is to coordinate its grassroots and media outreach efforts with HCFA's ten regional offices.
GCI has handled various projects for HCFA, such as promoting its annual report, toll-free hotline and website.

P&G/AVENTIS TO H&K FOR BONE HEALTH

Hill and Knowtlon has picked up the Alliance for Better Bone Health, an account that bills in the $1 million range.

The Alliance is a partnership between Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals and Aventis Pharma formed to market their osteoporosis drug Actonel.

H&K is to promote awareness and the need for treatment of osteoporosis in the 44 countries in which Actonel is sold.

Kathy Cripps, executive managing director of H&K's U.S. Health and Pharmaceutical Practice, handles the account, and is supported by staffers in the firm's London office.
H&K has done work for P&G, but Aventis is a new client.

Golin/Harris International edged Magnet Communications and Douglas Cohn & Wolfe in the race for Toyota project work. Toyota's Tom Tetherow is looking for "fresh PR perspectives" to bolster his in-house PR staff. Fred Cook, G/HI's GM in Los Angeles, will oversee the business. Jerry Swerling, Marina del Rey consultant, ran the search...Robert Grieves, Burson-Marsteller's managing director in the corporate/financial practice, joins the Bank of New York as senior VP and director of communications. He also handled B-M's "global transaction group."...Tom Foglietta, former Congressman and Ambassador to Italy, joins Cassidy & Assocs. He'll work from Weber Shandwick Worldwide's Rome office advising clients on how to deal with the U.S. legislative and regulatory processes.

C&W/TITAN BURY LEGAL HATCHET

Cohn & Wolfe and Titan Network have settled their messy legal battle.

C&W had sued Titan after it was set up in January by Tony DeMartino-who had headed C&W's Atlanta office-and other breakaway executives.

It charged them with "unfair competition, misappropriation of trade secrets and other confidential information." Titan filed its own suit to have the "alleged non-compete contract declared overbroad" under Georgia law.

C&W says the settlement bans Titan from soliciting either clients or former clients of its Atlanta office through Feb. 28. Titan also agreed not to poach any C&W execs during that period.

DeMartino would not comment on the terms of the settlement, citing a "gentleman's agreement" with C&W not to discuss the case.

KETCHUM ACQUIRES CTC

Ketchum has acquired Corporate Technology Communications, the Chicago-based firm that was founded by Paul Rand four years ago.

Rand told this NL that he talked to a number of suitors as well as venture capital firms before going with Ketchum. "It has the same global network as the other big boys do, but I was attracted to its corporate culture," he said.

CTC, which also has an office in Austin, Tex., has 60 staffers, and serves high-tech clients such as T-Systems (a Deutsche Telekon unit), Navigation Technologies and Verio.

F-H IS NO. 1, SAYS COUNCIL OF PR FIRMS

Fleishman-Hillard chalked up $342.8 million in fees last year, making it the biggest PR firm, according to the Council of PR Firms' rankings.

Weber Shandwick Worldwide was No. 2 on the CPRF's list at $335 million, while a 25.9 percent surge in growth nosed Hill and Knowlton ($306.3M) ahead of Burson-Marsteller, which grew 11.6 percent to $303.9 million.

Incepta ($244M), Edelman PR Worldwide ($238M), Porter Novelli International ($208M), BSMG Worldwide ($192M), Ogilvy PR Worldwide ($169M) and Ketchum ($168M) rounded out the Top Ten.

The Council's numbers include PR firms owned by ad agency holding companies. The O'Dwyer Co. rankings, which were published on March 7, covered independent firms only.

KIDS LOSING RWJF FUNDING

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, saying Kids in a Drug-Free Society performed "very well" in a number of areas and "fell short in a couple," has decided not to renew funding after July 31 in large part because of a change in RWJF's priorities.

Joan Hollendonner, senior communications officer and KIDS' program officer at RWJF, said the Foundation is putting greater emphasis on treatment of substance abuse while continuing its already large program on prevention.

The KIDS program was entirely aimed at prevention, focusing on training parents to educate their "tweeners" (children from nine to 13) on the dangers of drug abuse.

The program "met or exceeded the majority of benchmarks" that had been set for it, said Hollendonner. It exceeded its goal for obtaining involvement of companies and the employer sponsors of the work site training programs were "very highly satisfied," she added.

KIDS was founded in 1998 by the PRSA Foundation and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (also funded by RWJF).

PRSA had sought a $9 million budget to succeed a $2,637,258 grant that is being completed July 31. RWJF is staying with that grant, Hollendonner emphasized. There had been an earlier $250,000 grant running from August 1998 to July 1999.

PRSA has had financial difficulties in the past two years, when the combined loss totaled $1.1 million.

PRSA pledged $1 million and RWJF put up $2.6M to fund KIDS (9/22/99 NL).

The 2000 strategic plan of PRSA called for the Society to raise $600,000 in support of the KIDS drive. The PRSA Foundation did not say how it would raise the other $400,000.

Hope to Keep Program Alive

Catherine Bolton, executive director of PRSA, said that intentions are to keep the concept of KIDS alive via the PRSA Foundation but no decision has been made.

David Grossman, president of the Foundation, was not available for comment. Lou Capozzi, CEO of Manning, Selvage & Lee and chairman of KIDS, said, "We're in a very positive dialog with PRSA and are optimistic the program will get adopted by PRSA and will roll out nationally." The program has only been in test cities thus far.

Bolton is now using the title of executive director in anticipation of Joann Killeen taking the title of president for 2002. Assembly approval is needed.

This NL reported Jan. 17 this year that Jackson, Jackson & Wagner, Exeter, N.H., headed by the late Patrick Jackson, had won a $200K five-city pilot program for KIDS in which companies were to donate five, two-hour sessions for parents on company time. The cities were Indianapolis, Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, and Portland, Ore.

Jackson had sent this NL a 17-page description of the program when queried about it.

Ronald T. Sconyers, retired brigadier general with the U.S. Air Force and head of its PA, is president and CEO of KIDS. Ray Gaulke, former president and COO of PRSA, resigned his posts last December, saying he would be working on fund raising for the PRSA Foundation and KIDS.

TWO DKC STAFFERS GET BOOTED

Dan Klores Communications fired two staffers for planting a story in the New York Post about Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his girlfriend Judi Nathan sharing a "love nest" at the St. Regis Hotel.

A St. Regis official thought it would be a good idea to drum up business for the hotel, which is owned by DKC client Starwood Hotels.

A Starwood marketing exec, at first, vetoed the pitch because it would be a violation of privacy of guests, but then went for the idea.

DKC staffers, according to the Post, gave the information to the paper on June 4 without running it by their supervisors.

Giuliani called the story "entirely and absolutely untrue," and threatened to sue the paper.

Two staffers were dismissed and a memo was sent to remaining DKC staffers warning them to tread lightly when dealing with politicos, and get final approval for controversial placements.

Chris Widmaier, chief of staff to Dan Klores, said Klores was on a short family vacation in France when the incident happened. He was immediately notified that two employees released unauthorized information to the press, according to Widmaier.

Klores immediately decided to terminate the pair of executives.

New Editor Axes Six

Col Allan, the Australian who replaced Xana Antunes as editor of the Post in April, fired six senior editorial staffers on June 8.

They are: Stuart Marques, managing editor; Jerry Schmetterer, city editor; Mark Kalish, features editor; Michael Lewittes, Sunday features editor; Lisa Baird, deputy metro editor, and Jack Newfield, columnist.

The "firings took the air out of a newsroom that had been exhilarated by its current confrontation with Mayor Giuliani," according to The New York Times.

INDONESIA GIVES AA $500K PACT

Indonesia, which is rocked by corruption and political upheaval, is using Advantage Assocs. to improve ties with the U.S.

AA, which has a $500,000 contract with an Indonesian foundation, is a firm comprised of former Congressmen, and headed by ex-Texas Rep. Bill Sarpalius.

Coordinating its efforts with the country's embassy, AA will contact White House and Congressional leaders about efforts being made by Indonesia's government and its commitment to human rights.

PHOTOGS OFFER PLACEMENT TIPS

The keys to placing photos with the media remain creativity and quality of the images.

That was among the important placement tips at a May 30 U.S. Newswire workshop attended by more than 100 PR pros at Washington, D.C.'s National Press Club.

The event, presented by Medialink's U.S. Newswire division, featured Harry Walker, photo editor of Knight-Ridder News Service; Jonathan Elmer, former photo editor of The Associated Press, and Jim Sulley, director of photography for Medialink's WirePix division, a leading producer and distributor of news photos for the PR field.

Following are 10 tips presented by the panel:

1. Remember, news photography is not advertising. Make sure you identify the news value of the story you want to illustrate.

2. Wire services like the AP get as many as 800 photos a day and consider hundreds more. Your photo needs to tell your story quickly and creatively, and have real news value, to m ake the cut.

3. Capture images that tell your story at a glance. If your story is that you're donating money to build homes for the homeless, get a photo of people building homes, not a "grip and grin" check presentation.

4. Write a complete and proper caption. Don't be misleading.

5. Identify the audience you are trying to reach. Photos for annual reports and internal publications are not the same as photos intended for newspapers or trade publications.

6. Get photos for day-of stories out in a timely fashion. Rely on a respected vendor to help deliver your photo to the media-they have credibility and experience with newsrooms that can greatly increase the chance of your photo being seen and used.

7. Try to create photos that have a shelf life. Can they be used to illustrate the specific story today as well as related/ongoing stories down the road?

8. If you are putting on a press event, make sure you provide the media, both print and TV, with a visual opportunity. Talking heads at a podium are not visual.

9. Don't try to over brand the photo. It should look spur-of-the-moment, even if it isn't.

10. PhotoShop is a wonderful tool. Don't abuse it by altering reality in your photos. Media will know if the photo is altered and you will lose credibility.

EDITOR EYES NEW COVERAGE AREAS

The Philadelphia Inquirer's "beat committee" has suggested several new beats to Robert Rosenthal, who is the Inquirer's editor.

Rosenthal, who is looking for ideas that will take the paper in "new directions and give our readers fresh and important stories," described some of the committee's proposals in a May 31 staff memo, as follows:

-"Youth culture: This beat would cover the world of people who are in their teens and 20s. It would be a newsy beat and cover trends in attitudes, interests, recreation and employment.

-"Workplaces: Among the topics: layoffs, stress, safety, wages and benefits, working conditions, perks, training and workplace cultures.

-"Consumer news: This beat would develop enterprise and investigative stories that help readers fight back against the system and win in the marketplace. It would be edgy and take up matters of money and time.

-"Online life: A lot of people are living their lives through their computers. They have more friends online than in real life. They form communities and romantic relationships. It's a hidden universe.

-"Public health and food safety: It would look at issues of communicable diseases, safety, pollution and the effectiveness of health agencies.

-"Business of culture: Over the past decade, tens of millions of dollars have been pumped into our cultural institutions...They play vibrant, vital roles in the life of our communities, they enrich our lives, but there is much that we, and those who shell out the millions of dollars to keep them going, don't know about them. Not intended to be a gotcha beat, it will, however, get whomever needs to be got.

-"Why things are the way they are: It would pick offbeat, unusual, curious or otherwise inexplicable elements of daily life in the region and explain why they are the way they are-by reporting them out. For example, why can't a SEPTA clerk with loads of change at his fingertips, give change to buy a token?

-"Big ideas for the future: The aim here would be to tell stories about the next thing-big, small or medium-sized-that smart people in science, commerce and government are plotting, inventing, or legislating that almost certainly will change the lives of people in the region. The goal would be to be forward-looking, sophisticated and useful so that people will turn to the Inquirer to get a heads up on what's coming down the pike."

PCNY TO MEET WITH N.Y. TIMES

The Publicity Club of New York will hold a "Meet the Media" luncheon on June 20, featuring a panel of three editors from The New York Times.

The panelists are: Glenn Kramon, business editor; Jonathan Landman, metor editor, and Rich Meislin, technology news editor.

The meeting will be held at 3 West Club, 3 W. 51st st. at Fifth ave.

(Media news continued on next page)

NICKELL TO RUN BETTER HOMES

Karol De Wulf Nickell was named editor-in-chief of Better Homes and Gardens magazine, replacing retiring editor Jean LemMon.

Nickell, 44, has been editor-in-chief of Traditional Home magazine since it was founded 13 years ago by Meredith Corp., which also publishes BH&G.

Mark Mayfield, 45, will replace Nickell as editor of Traditional Home. He was editor of Southern Accents magazine before being promoted to president, editor and publisher of entree magazine this year.

LALLI RESIGNS AS SUNDAY EDITOR

Frank Lalli has resigned as editor of the Sunday New York Daily News. He was editor of George magazine when it was closed down in January, and took over the Sunday editor's job in March.

SELF GETS A NEW EDITOR

Lucy Danziger was named editor-in-chief of Self magazine, replacing Cindi Leive, who left to become editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine.

Danziger had been editor of the now-defunct Women's Sports & Fitness magazine.

Allan Sloan, Wall Street editor of Newsweek magazine, was named winner of the 2001 Gerald Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Loeb awards, administered by UCLA's Anderson graduate school of management, honor print and broadcast journalists.

PEOPLE ______________________

Brian Duffy, 46, was promoted to editor of U.S. News & World Report, replacing Stephen Smith.

Bill Grueskin, 45, a senior editor of The Wall Street Journal, was named managing editor of the Online Journal, replacing Rich Jaroslovsky, 47, who will return to the print Journal as a senior editor.

Carey Winfrey, who is assistant managing editor of People magazine, is joining Smithsonian magazine as editor-in-chief, replacing Don Moser, who is retiring.

Jeffrey Zaslow, who wrote an advice column for The Chicago Sun-Times for the past 14 years, has left the paper.

Zaslow, who replaced Ann Landers when she moved her syndicated column to the Chicago Tribune, may rejoin The Wall Street Journal.

Barbara Martinez has replaced Beth Berselli as a reporter for "Reliable Source," a column on celebrities and influential Washington people in the Washington Post.

Brian Rosa, 22, was named editor of Time4 Media's skiing magazine, Freeze, based in Boulder. He will oversee product and gear reviews and edit feature stories including the "Debris" section.

BUSINESS 2.0 AND ECOMPANY TO MERGE

AOL Time Warner is buying Business 2.0 magazine and merging it with its eCompany Now magazine.

In September, eCompany will be renamed Business 2.0. eCompany has a circulation of 375,000 and Business 2.0 had a circulation of 350,000.

Despite the collapse of many Internet companies, Jack Haire, who is president of AOL's Fortune magazine group, which is the publishing unit of Time Inc., believes there is a market for the magazine.

eCompany will offer jobs to a few of Business 2.0's editorial staffers. Business 2.0 has about 140 editorial and business employees; eCompany has 100 employees.

SONY PULLS PLUG ON FAKE REVIEWER

David Manning, who has been a consistent booster for Sony Picture films in print ads, does not exist.

The ads listed Manning as a reviewer for The Ridgefield Press, a weekly newspaper in Connecticut. The newspaper was unaware that its name was being used in the ads.

Susan Tick, a Sony spokeswoman, said "we're taking all the steps necessary to determine who's been responsible and will act appropriately."

SCIENCES MAGAZINE SHUTS DOWN

The Sciences, a magazine published by the New York Academy of Science since 1961, has shut down.

The magazine had appeared bimonthly until this year, when it became a quarterly. Circulation was 46,000. Six staff members were asked to resign.

MEDIA BRIEFS ___________________

MarketWatch, a San Francisco-based online business news website, is eliminating about 40 jobs from its 250-employee payroll. About 85 of MarketWatch's employees cover the news.

After losing $91 million in 2000, MarketWatch opened the first quarter of this year with a $20 million loss as the company's ad revenue dropped by 41% from the prior year.

Orlando Sentinal will publish a weekly newspaper that will cover local, national and international news in Spanish and English.

Some 60,000 copies of El Sentinel will be distributed free to homes and newsstands in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake and West Volusia counties.

Orlando Sentinel columnist Maria Padilla will be editor of the paper and elSentinel.com.

CNN will start an evening newscast this fall. Aaron Brown, 52, who anchors the Saturday edition of ABC's "World News Tonight," will join CNN as anchor of the new program. A time slot has not been picked.

PR OPINION/ITEMS

The Foundation of Women Executives in PR is launching a fund-raising drive for general purposes in honor of the memory of its founder, Denny Griswold, who died at the age of 92 Feb. 7.

Its Denny Griswold Education Endowment Fund has no relation thus far to any senior citizens' issues.

However, stories in this NL and other media about Griswold's last few years touched off calls and letters to this NL about various conditions in nursing homes.

We heard plenty of praise for homes that allow visitors almost any time of the day or night. Other homes regularly take their residents on various trips.

Philanthropist Elinor Guggenheimer, who is helping on the drive and with whom we had lunch last week, is most eloquent on the subject of senior citizens. She recalled an incident at one senior facility that infuriated her.

A visiting lecturer, explaining a subject, treated a gathering of residents "like they were in kindergarten," she said. "Actually, many of the residents had far more knowledge than the lecturer," she added.

Guggenheimer, who says, "Our treatment of the elderly has been a disaster area," feels that some institutions can become an "intellectual void" unless they challenge the mental abilities of their residents.

Seniors should be thought of as living in "half-way houses" with freedom to go to parks, concerts, theater and so on, she said.

Politicians, who do almost everything in the open, are the biggest practitioners of "PR."

Recently, some of our political leaders have made huge PR miscues.

Gray Davis, governor of California, whose state has literally lost its power, has become the nation's No. One whiner.

First he blamed his Republican predecessor for the situation that calls for "rolling blackouts." Then he criticized the state's utilities for "gouging" their customers. Then he attacked President Bush for "turning a blind eye to the bleeding" in his state. Next, he lit into the greedy Bush-backed Texas energy firms for being "obstructionists."

Last week, he threatened to sue the Federal Electricity Regulatory Commission and warned in a New York Times op-ed piece that a refusal to cap energy prices would wreck the nation's economy.

That's a lot of whining.

The Davis approach, as Vice President Dick Cheney phrased it, was positively "goofy."

The best political strategy is to show leadership, not lunacy. Nobody likes a whiner. That's why Davis' approval rating in California, where he was elected by a landslide in 1998, has slipped to 51%.

In another ongoing case of political PR, New Jersey Senator Robert Torricelli, who has been under fire on a number of fronts, has adopted a policy that might be called "involved detachment."

He has reacted "coolly" to some accusations, ignoring others, and has spoken out forcefully on senatorial issues such as the budget, the tax cut, and the switch of Senator Jim Jeffords to independent status.

A three months' New York Times series has reported in great detail numerous allegations against Torricelli including strong-arming some contributors and accepting illegal contributions; making stock market profits on privileged information, and receiving a Rolex watch, Oriental rug, large screen TV and ten made-to-measure Italian suits from a mysterious Korean businessman.

Universally loathed by the right and only partially loathed by the left, Torricelli doesn't have a lot of defenders.

But he is too bright to have adopted a whining PR strategy. Nor has he chosen, as so many corporate executives do, to "hide out" until the crisis passes.

While refusing to talk about the watch or the rug or the suits, Torricelli nonetheless called an early press conference to denounce his accusers.

"I have never, ever done anything at any time to betray the trust of the people of the State of New Jersey. Never!" he shouted, slamming the lectern defiantly. He has let his lawyers handle the personal problems while he remains active and visible doing the people's business.-by Fraser Seitel.

An overwhelming majority of people (82%) say they have stopped using a company's products when trust is broken, according to a study commissioned by M Booth & Assocs., New York.

The study of 1,252 adults found virtually all consumers (96%) say they have taken one or more steps when their trust in a company is diminished-ranging from writing letters of dissatisfaction (78%) to stopping use of a product as a result of negative media attention (51%).

In the last year, many of those who say their trust in specific companies decreased, said they stopped buying the products and services of Firestone (58%), Nike (46%), AT&T (37%), ExxonMobil (32%), and United Airlines (32%).

The study, which was conducted by Harris Interactive, also shows a high percentage of consumers, who said their trust in specific companies had gone down in the last year, refused to buy the company's products and services (59%), bought competitive products and services (46%), told their family and friends not to buy the company's products and services (25%), and wrote a letter to the company expressing their dissatisfaction (15%). About 40% did nothing.