IBM TO MAGNET, TEXT 100 & OMNICOM UNIT

IBM consolidated its estimated $40 million PR business at Magnet Communications, Text 100 PR and One Blue-a new Omnicom unit- said Jon Iwata, VP-corporate communications, in a conference call on Aug. 9.

IBM, which has more than a dozen multi-billion dollar operating units, had used more than 50 PR firms on a worldwide basis.

That decentralized structure proved unwieldy in the fast-paced IT business. "We decided our communications structure needed to change," he said.

IBM invited 30 PR firms to pitch the business. It narrowed the selection process to 14 and then seven.

Magnet is to promote IBM's technology savvy; Text 100 has product line responsibilities, while One Blue will handle global services.

Iwata emphasized that the consolidation was not made to save money. He declined to divulge IBM's budget for "competitive reasons."

Magnet's Paul Jensen, Text 100's Aedhmar Hynes and Ketchum's Rob Flaherty participated in the call.

Jensen talked about winning the "jewel in the crown of the technology world." He promised to "break a lot of rules" and "make headlines."

Hynes promised that Text 100 will develop a more cohesive global message for IBM's offerings.

Flaherty, who will head the dedicated IBM unit, said he will draw upon the various units within the Omnicom network. The work of assembling the One Blue team begins now, he said.

FEDEX SEEKS TO FILL HIGH PR POST

Federal Express Corp., Memphis, with $19.6 billion in sales and 88,000 employees, has a search on via Heyman Assocs., New York, for a communications post reporting to William Margaritis, recently promoted to senior VP, corporate communications.

Gregory Rossiter is director of PR of FedEx. T. Michael Glenn, 44, is executive VP of marketing development and corporate communications.

Frederick Smith, 55, is chmn., president and CEO.

Lisa Ryan is handling the search at Heyman.

Tom Alexander, a former aide to Republican Reps. Jennifer Dunn and Tillie Fowler and Sen. Jim Inhofe has joined Cassidy Cos., Washington, D.C., as director-communications. He also was Texas communications director for the National Federation of Independent Business.

GILBERT EXITS GOLIN/HARRIS INT'L.

Dave Gilbert, president of Golin/Harris International, has resigned his post, and CEO Rich Jernstedt has abolished the position.

Gilbert will maintain an office at G/HI in Chicago, and consult for the Interpublic unit, while reestablishing his own firm as David R. Gilbert & Assocs. He will counsel CEOs on how to communicate with staffers, and tell them how not to waste money when using PR firms. Gilbert also told this NL that he may do some political consulting.

Jernstedt told this NL that Gilbert "made a personal decision to leave the firm."

In a memo to staffers, Jernstedt said: "All of us at Golin/Harris recognize and greatly appreciate Dave's many contributions to the firm's development and growth over the past nine years he has been associated with us, first as general manager of the Chicago office and then as president of the firm."

Jernstedt said G/HI's Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., and European offices that reported to Gilbert will now report to him.

About 100 staffers have been let go from G/HI this year, according to Jernstedt.

MS&L LEAPFROGS OVER COMPETITION

Manning, Selvage & Lee beat out Fleishman-Hillard and Porter Novelli for the LeapFrog Enterprises account, said Tom Prichard, VP-marketing at the interactive educational products company.

He interviewed ten firms for the account that will bill in the $1 million range.

Prichard liked MS&L because of its strong creative presentation, extensive office network and the enthusiasm its staffers showed for the business.
Bill Orr, senior VP and managing director of MS&L/San Francisco, will head the account. "He's right across the bridge," said Prichard, whose company is based in Emeryville.

Lorrie Appelbaum, management supervisor in MS&L's San Francisco consumer practice, will support Orr, as will Brenda Lynch, U.S. consumer practice leader.

LeapFrog's LeapPad, which teaches spelling, reading and phonics via the touch of a wand, was the top-selling learning toy during last year's Christmas season.

LeapFrog is the leader in the infant and pre-school category for the first-half of this year, Prichard told this NL.

TOYOTA SETTLEMENT BOOSTS JACKSON

The Toyota settlement puts Jesse Jackson "back in the place he most naturally fits: winning a fight against a corporate giant, strong-arming the company to change its ways," said business columnist David Greising in the Aug. 10 Chicago Tribune.

"We may not like his press-grabbing style. His hyped-to-the-max incantation of the good he does. But very often Jackson pulls off a good one and earns our esteem," writes Greising.

Greising said Jackson, who undermined his standing as a moral leader by fathering a child by a Rainbow Coalition staffer who had received a generous compensation package for not much work, "needed a big moment."

"The Toyota announcement, at the start of his Rainbow/PUSH annual meeting, gave Jackson a chance to regain some ground," said Greising, who noted Jackson has badgered Toyota into spending about $8 billion on new minority-empowerment initiatives over the next decade.

"No doubt Toyota would have spent some of the money anyway. But the carmaker figures Jackson's goading has caused it to boost the minority-spending budget by as much as 35%," said Greising.

While some object to Jackson's boycott-driven tactics, Greising said Jackson "fights for blacks. They see his causes succeed and they mark down a loss in their us-against-them world of racial strife."

Jackson had threatened to call for an African-American boycott of the automaker because of what he called a racist ad for Toyota's RAV4 that depicted a dark-skinned man with his mouth open to reveal a tooth with a gold image of the vehicle.

As part of the settlement, Toyota has agreed to increase spending with minority ad firms 37% to $50 million per year.

By Sept. 1, it will add an African-American agency to the two ad agencies it already uses.

CSV BATTLES JOELE FRANK

Citigate Sard Verbinnen & Co. is helping $6 billion Computer Assocs. fend off a hostile takeover bid launched by Sam and Charles Wyly's Ranger Governance investment firm. CSV's Owen Blicksilver is serving as spokesperson for CA.

Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher is advising the Wylys. Joele Frank and Dan Katcher are handling the press.

Each side has accused the other of issuing misleading statements.

RG wants CA stockholders to vote for its director nominees at the Aug. 29 annual meeting.

CA, earlier this year, hired Weber Shandwick to promote its "corporate rebranding."

MWW HANDLES NIKON CAMERA LAUNCH

MWW Group is handling the launch of Nikon Coolpix 775 digital camera, using "Sex and the City" star Kim Cattrall as spokesperson.

Cattrall, who plays PR exec Samantha Jones on the HBO program, conducted a satellite media tour of 30 top media outlets on Aug. 9, said Michael Kempner, CEO of the Golin/Harris International unit.

The New York Post reported Aug. 10 that MSNBC complained that Cattrall was booked to talk about the HBO show rather than the camera.

An On the Scenes Productions media advisory, however, makes it plain that Cattrall was available to pitch the product.

"Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall captures some summer fun," read the advisory. She's available for "a live demo of some fun photos she took playing with the camera. The Coolpix 775 is the first digital camera to feature a one-touch button to allow users to upload digital images directly to the desktop or the web," said the advisory.

MWW is running Nikon's "Zoom in on the Fun Search for Summer's Ultimate Funny Photo."

PEPPERCOM GETS GUGGENHEIM.COM

Guggenheim.com, which launches in the fall, has selected PepperCom, New York, as its PR firm, according to Steve Cody, managing partner of the firm. "It's a huge win for us," he told this NL. Ed Moed, the other managing partner, described the client as the first-ever global site for culture.

Guggenheim.com is an alliance between the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, which has museums in New York, Venice, Bilbao and Berlin; The State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg); The Albertina and The Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna) and the Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie (Karlsruhe, Germany).

The site bills itself as the "online destination for the visual and performing arts."

GE Equity, Softbank Venture Capital and Pequot Private Equity are financing the site.

NACDS SCOUTS FOR VP-MEDIA RELATIONS

The National Assn. of Chain Drug Stores, which represents pharmacies with more than $160 billion in combined annual sales, is looking to hire a VP-media relations.

Alexandria, Va.-based NACDS wants somebody who can "positively influence the public profile and agendas of the association with the federal government, policymakers, member companies, trade and the general public, according to the job specs.

The ideal candidate has 10 years of experience with an association, company, PR firm, government or political entity.

He/she will report to Susan Guiterman, senior VP-communications and external affairs. Craig Fuller, CEO of NACDS, was Philip Morris' PA head, a Burson-Marsteller vice chairman and Hill and Knowlton/U.S. chief.

Nels Olson, managing director at Korn/Ferry International, is handling the search at 202/822-9444.

NEW BUSINESS 2.0 MAKES DEBUT

John Huey, Time Inc.'s editorial director, heralded the debut of the new Business 2.0 as the "birth of a new category of business magazine."

The monthly magazine, which goes on newsstands Aug. 13, combines elements of Time Inc.'s eCompany Now and Business 2.0, which was acquired last month for $68 million.

"We believe strongly that there is a dynamic, growing market for a next-generation business magazine," said Huey.

The magazine is targeted at businesspeople who want insightful journalism addressing the pressures, trends, and opportunities facing them today. It will feature debates over the big issues in business as well as detailed articles examining the strategies and tactics of groundbreaking companies.

Ned Desmond, the editor and president of Business 2.0, said business readers want smart, on-the-money stories that tell them what's really working today in management, business technology, marketing and other areas.

Jim Aley, managing editor, said the visual design and editorial voice of the magazine were engineered not only to grab readers' attention, but to lend clarity to the subjects at hand.

Lisa Bently, publisher, said Business 2.0 will reach more than 550,000 paid subscribers. Advertisers in the first issue include Absolut, Banana Republic, Chase, IBM, Mercedes, Sony and Worldcom.

The magazine's reach is extended through its redesigned website, Business2.com. The site features more than 35,000 articles.

MORE PAPERS COVER GAY WEDDINGS

The Philadelphia Inquirer gave prominent coverage to the gay marriage of publicist Chris Volker and truck driver Alex Valerio in its Sunday magazine's "In Love" column.

The Associated Press said a growing number of newspapers are including same-sex ceremonies along with traditional weddings and engagements, sometimes in sections renamed "Announcements" or "Couples."

But many papers still decline to print same-sex announcements.

The New York Times recently refused to run an announcement of Joe Quenqua, a New York PR executive, in a same-sex union with writer Art Smith on its wedding news pages.

The Washington Post won't put same-sex unions in the "Wedding and Engagement" section that runs Wednesdays, but will put them in a Friday "Celebrations" section that features debutantes and bar and bat mitzvahs.

AREMISSOFT SUES FINANCIAL REPORTER

TheStreet.com and Herb Greenberg, a financial reporter, have been sued in federal court by AremisSoft, a software integrator, for defamation and conspiring to manipulate the company's stock price.

AremisSoft said Greenberg's negative reporting helped drive down the company's stock price.

Greenberg has been reporting since May that AremisSoft's contract with the Bulgarian government was worth $1.7 million and not $7.1 million as reported by the company.

AremisSoft issued a press release on July 5 that said TheStreet.com "knowingly published false and misleading reports, which aided and abetted the rumors and false statements of others, in order to induce panic selling in AremisSoft's common stock."

David Morrow, editor of TheStreet.com, said the suit is viewed as a nuisance suit. Greenberg said he has never personally been sued by a subject.

'MONEYLINE' TO COMPETE WITH CNBC

"Lou Dobbs Moneyline" will go on at 6 p.m. (ET) starting Aug. 27. By starting a half-hour earlier, the hour-long program will go head to head with CNBC's "BusinessCenter," which moved to 6 p.m. when Dobbs returned to Moneyline May 14.

MEDIA BRIEFS _____________________

CNN plans to open a street-level studio in the Time & Life Building on New York's Ave. of the Americas.

The studio will have clear windows, similar to the "Today" show, "Good Morning America," and "The Early Show."

The move will allow publicists to orchestrate PR stunts in front of every major TV news network in midtown.

The Praxis Post, an online medical website, has been put on hold.

"Starting August 22, the only part of the Post we will update regularly are the news and "This Week" with Drs. Simeon Margolis, Gerald Weissman, and me," said Dr. Ivan Oransky, who is editor-in-chief. Oransky also plans to write a new medical news column aimed more at consumers for the website (www.praxismd.com).

Adelphia Communications Corp. will shut down its money-losing Orange County (Calif.) NewsChannel on Sept. 7, according to The Associated Press. The 24-hour cable channel, which employs 67 fulltime staffers, featured local news, sports and weather. It was launched 13 years ago.

Reuters spokeswoman Nancy Borbrowitz said July 31 the company would extend job offers to about 88% of the more than 1,500 U.S.-based employes at Bridge Information Systems.

Reuters is acquiring the bankrupt financial news and data provider for $275 million. The deal still requires Justice Department approval.

(Media news continued on next page)

AIRPORT PAPERS ARE 'TAKING OFF'

Free airport newspapers are "taking off" across the nation, according to USA Today.

"They bridge the information gap for thousands of airport employees who fill the terminals, towers and hangers around the clock. Some are aimed at passengers, too," the paper pointed out.

The magazines and newspapers are generally filled with articles about anything related to airports, airlines or flying.

They might include controversial fare such as disputes about new runways or aircraft noise.

"Often the news is balanced with local restaurant reviews, and a few stick with soft news," said Chris Woodyard, who wrote the piece for USA Today.

The formula is being repeated around the nation. The idea is to treat the airport as a community, said Woodyard.

USA Today listed some of the airport-based, free-distribution newspapers:

-ATL, Atlanta Hartsfield, weekly tabloid, 8,500-circulation;
-Airport News, Bradley International, Hartford, Conn., bimonthly newspaper, 10,000-circulation;
-Boston Airport Journal, Boston Logan, monthly newspaper, 30,000-circulation;
-DFW People, Dallas/Ft. Worth, weekly newspaper, 11,000-circulation;
-Detroit Metro Connections, Detroit, bimonthly, 15,000-circulation;
-Washington Flyer, Dulles, Reagan National, six times per year magazine, 175,000-circulation;
-Airport Press, JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, monthly newspaper, 18,000-circulation;
-Memphis Connections, Memphis, bimonthly, 15,000-circulation;
-MSP Airport News, Minneapolis/St. Paul, bimonthly, 15,000-circulation, and
-Sky Harbor Airport News, Phoenix Sky Harbor, monthly newspaper, 15,000-circulation.

NEW RULES FOR MEDICAL ARTICLES

The editors of the top medical journals plan to adopt a new policy that requires authors of studies to have control over the content of reports submitted for publication and have access to all the data gathered.

The publications, including the New England Journal of Medicine, and The Lancet, set the new rules because of concern that drug companies sometimes have too much influence over the content of the articles and may even hold veto power over what is submitted for publication.

Typically drug firms contract with physicians and medical institutions to carry out studies of medicines. In theory, the physicians are largely independent of their sponsors and reach conclusions they believe are accurate, even if not necessarily in the companies' financial interests.

However, the drug company sponsors often help conduct the studies, compile the research in computer databases and even help write about the findings for submission to journals.

PAPER WON'T USE INVESCO FIELD MONIKER

The Denver Post will continue to refer to the Broncos' new home as Mile High stadium even though the naming rights to the football stadium were sold to Invesco Funds Group, a Denver-based mutual funds company, for $60 million.

The Rocky Mountain News said it would use the moniker in its news coverage of the Denver Broncos.

Glenn Guzzo, Post editor, said the "community at large thinks of this as 'Mile High,' 'new Mile High' or 'the new stadum.' Outside of official circles, seldom do you hear Invesco Field, except in negative terms."

Invesco officials told a local TV news station that, "We would expect and hope as journalists The Post would be accurate and use the full and proper name. It doesn't seem to be a balanced or fair way to portray the facility."

Sports marketing expert Dean Bonham told the Post he was not aware of any major newspaper that has an official policy not to call a facility what it wants to be called.

The Post will not change its policy concerning Coors Field (baseball stadium) and Pepsi Center (basketball arena).

VNR PRODUCER WINS WRITING CONTEST

Margie Goldsmith, president of MG Productions, has won the Troutbeck Travel Writer's Contest for the best article on New York State.

Goldsmith, who is also a freelance writer, wrote about the "first American backpacker," a mysterious hobo known as "the Leatherman."

PEOPLE _______________________

Robert Keane, 55, has replaced Robert Brandt, 54, as managing editor of Newsday, which is headquartered in Melville, N.Y., on Long Island.

Adam Lashinsky, who was a star columnist for TheStreet.com, has left to write for Fortune, Business 2.0 and Money.com, which are owned by AOL Time Warner.

Terence Badger, who was the Associated Press' assistant business news editor in New York, was transferred to San Antonio, where he will be a correspondent.

Peter Young was named editor of The New York Times Upfront, a news magazine for teens co-published by Scholastic and The New York Times. Young, who was previously executive editor of The Monterey County (Calif.) Herald, succeeds Herbert Buchsbaum, who is leaving to pursue new ventures in Mexico City.

PAGE HAD PATRICIAN BACKGROUND

Arthur W. Page, for whom the Arthur Page Society is named, was born to wealth and status and spent most of his life at the highest levels of business, social and public life, according to a biography by Noel L. Griese, veteran PR executive and author who now lives in Atlanta.

The book is $24.45 from www.anvilpub.com.

Page's father was Walter Hines Page, a self-made editor and publisher who founded Doubleday, Page and Co. with Frank Doubleday in 1899.

Walter Page started his own newspaper in the half-basement of a hardware store in Raleigh, N.C., in 1883 after rising to literary critic and editorial writer at the New York World. He was named ambassador to England in 1913.

Arthur Page, born in 1883, was sent to the Lawrenceville prep school near Princeton and then to Harvard, where his older brother Ralph was also enrolled.

Arthur Page in 1927 became the first VP of PR at AT&T, remaining until 1946.

He is often hailed as one of the "fathers of PR" and is sometimes called the "father of corporate PR."

A poll conducted by Public Relations Society of America in 1970 placed him seventh on a list of "the most outstanding PR professionals" behind Ivy Lee, John W. Hill, Pendleton Dudley, Carl Byoir, Edward L. Bernays and Earl Newsom.

Principles of Page Society Listed

Page's principles, upon which the Page Society is based, seem pretty fundamental: tell the truth; prove it with action; listen to the customer; manage for tomorrow; conduct PR as if the whole company depends on it, and remain calm, patient and good-humored.

Motivating employees was also a main goal of PR, according to Page.

Writes Griese: "Page believed that actions in the public interest were far more important than publicity in creating good will for business...(PR) is 90 percent doing and only 10 percent talking about what was being done."

The Page Society today has nearly 300 members, almost all of them corporate. Membership is by invitation only.

Griese, who was director of corporate communications of the Colonial Pipeline Co. in Atlanta from 1980-99, when he retired, is the author of How to Work with Angry People and Outraged Publics and How to Manage Organizational Communications During a Crisis. He taught PR and news journalism at the University of Wisconsin and University of Georgia and is now writing a history of Georgia (noel [email protected]).

AIR FORCE SEEKS VIDEO FIRM

The Air Force is accepting bids for producing a 30-minute training video to be used by family liaison officers in its survivor assistance program.

The video's purpose is to educate "lay people on the dynamics of the loss of a loved one and the diversity of potential reactions," according to a solicitation notice issued Aug. 6.

The contractor is to teach FLOs "what and what not to say to surviving family members and to recognize the needs of family members of all ages."

It will interview eight FLOs for the video and spouses of deceased AF members.

The AF prefers bidders with experience in "dealing with survivors of individuals killed in aircraft mishaps."

Also, "knowledge of investigative boards, processes, and information flow as it pertains to aircraft mishaps, terrorist attacks, suicides, homicides, etc. and how can they affect survivors' acceptance of their loss is preferred," according to the document.

Bidders are to submit a sample training video that uses real people sharing actual experiences. The AF does not want "marketing type videos" that use actors reading scripts.

Responses to the proposal are due by Aug. 20. The contract is classified as a "small business set aside." Mary Johnson, contract specialist, has details at 202/767-7944.

BSMG HANDLES ZIMBABWE OPPOSITION

BSMG Worldwide is representing the Movement for Democratic Change, a political party which is trying to oust Robert Mugabe as Zimbabwe's president.

The MDC, according to the Aug. 7 New York Times, is the "first party in two decades to pose a serious threat to Mugabe's grip on power."

Zimbabwe has plunged into financial and economic chaos.

Mugabe blames his country's woes on the country's 75,000 white farmers and their supposed Western backers.

He has backed members of the National War Veterans Assn. who have seized and squatted on more than 1,700 white-owned farms.

The Associated Press reported that police arrested 23 white farmers on Aug. 6 for alleged violence against people who were occupying their land.

Meanwhile, according to the AP, militants wielding clubs and sticks chased white farmers from their properties, while several cars driven by white farmers were stoned.

The next presidential election must be held by April. More than 30 people from the Mugabe opposition parties were killed in last year's parliamentary elections.

More than 500 delegates attended a "Crisis in Zimbabwe" conference in Harare, its capital, on Aug. 3 to demand that Mugabe end the violence and establish safeguards to ensure the next year's vote would be free and fair.

A government spokesman ridiculed the conference as a non-event that was funded by foreigners.

Cohen and Woods International represents Zimbabwe's government.

PR OPINION/ITEMS

IBM made PR history on Aug. 9 by consolidating its whopping $40 million PR account, which was handled by 50 firms, to three PR shops. Big Blue's decentralized communications model just wasn't working in today's high-tech market that operates at a blistering pace, said Jon Awata, VP-corporate communications, in announcing PR's biggest account shift. Magnet Communications, Text 100 and an Omnicom unit are the three "winners." Each has something to crow about. Magnet has had a rocky year. There have been layoffs and the ouster of well-liked former CEO Darryl Salerno, who was credited for putting together the Havas Advertising-owned PR firm, more than a year ago. By picking Magnet, IBM shows confidence that the agency has gotten its act together. Indeed, an ebullient Paul Jensen, who runs Magnet's high-tech practice, promised the shop would "break a lot of rules" and "make headlines for IBM." Jensen called IBM the crown jewel in the technology world. Another Magnet staffer said the firm is "really stoked" about the IBM win. For Text 100, the IBM win is a "coming out party" of sorts. The London-based firm has been in the PR business for 20 years, said Aedhmar Hynes, its San Francisco-based CEO. By snagging IBM, Text 100 demonstrates that it is a leading player in this country. Awata had kind words for the flexibility displayed by Omnicom. He noted that the firm agreed to set up a special unit-One Blue-dedicated to the PR needs of IBM, which had used Omnicom's Brodeur Worldwide for PR. Ketchum's Rob Flaherty, the point man at One Blue, will tap the best of the best among Omnicom's global network to service the IBM account. That means that IBM will continue to have access to Brodeur's staffers and get the skills of Ketchum and Fleishman-Hillard in the bargain. Omnicom used that dedicated shop idea last year when it snagged the Chrysler account from True North. Its BBDO ad unit set up Pentamark to handle the Chrysler business. Many of the Foote, Cone & Belding staffers that worked on Chrysler simply moved to Pentamark... Manning, Selvage and Lee CEO Lou Capozzi was still absorbing the impact of the IBM loss when he talked to this NL. IBM had been an "up and down" account for MS&L. The Bcom3 unit had "more to gain than lose" when pitching IBM. Capozzi is proud of the effort put in by the IBM team. "I wouldn't have changed a single thing," he said of the pitch... What about those huge multi-million global budgets? Awata said a single firm could not have handled IBM's PR. Interpublic's PR chief Larry Weber has been using the argument that size does matter for PR firms when dealing with multinationals. That's been the justification for Interpublic's acquisition spree that has now been slowed while the company gets its financial situation straightened out. Interpublic's TSI Communications was another casualty in the IBM consolidation.

I'm really here to pitch the camera. That's the line Kim Cattrall gave to an unbelieving media who wanted the latest scoop about her hit show "Sex and the City." The New York Daily News, New York Post and the New York Times ran the same story that Cattrall somehow snookered producers last week by talking about Nikon's new digital camera during a media tour of 30 outlets. "Infomercial vs. Interview" was the headline used by the Times on Aug. 13. Nikon's PR firm MWW Group and its video firm On the Scene Productions, however, made it plain to producers in the media advisory that Cattrall was available to talk about the camera and a contest for which she serves as celebrity spokesperson. She did her part by continually plugging the camera, when asked by reporters about upcoming Sex and the City plots. MWW CEO Michael Kempner said Cattrall is doing a terrific job for Nikon. Maybe, a little too terrific for the likes of thecable media looking for the latest tidbits about the HBO program. Cattrall, on the show, plays the role of a trashy PR executive named Samantha Jones.

The New York Times magazine caught up with PR woman Melinda Ballard and her battle against toxic mold. It featured her on the cover of the Aug. 12 magazine dressed in a moonsuit. This NL and O'Dwyer's PR Services Report have been covering Ballard's plight for some time. In June, Ballard was awarded a $32 million settlement by a Texas jury- the largest judgment granted against an insurance company in a mold case. Farmers Insurance, worrying about a flood of similar awards, says the settlement threatens it and the entire industry. The verdict has been sent to mediation.

Keith Reinhard, DDB Wordwide CEO, is sick and tired about the shots fired by small firms saying giant agencies are bumbling bureaucracies committed to wiping out any hint of creativity. He made that point in a recent "Any Wednesday" memo, which he has been writing for a number of years. "The anti-bigness harangue by some of the small start-up agencies is starting to get a bit tiring," wrote Reinhard. "These self-styled originals can find only one theme: all big agencies are bad." The upstarts suggest that any creative breakthrough is bound to be squashed by the "evil bureaucracies that presumably exist in any shop that occupies more than a few hundred square feet." Reinhard urges his troops to stay flexible and demonstrate that they can be big and small as needed. It's also important that no DDB client "find a speck of truth in the words of our small-minded detractors." DDB is part of Omnicom.
--Kevin McCauley