WATER TRADE GROUP ISSUES $500K RFPs

The Awwa Research Foundation, which represents water utilities and public health systems, released two PR RFPs worth $500,000. The first deals with "benchmarking water utility customer relations best practices." The second covers "strategic communications planning for drinking water utilities."

Jim Manwaring, executive director of Denver-based AwwaRF, says his group's aim is to help members become more responsive to the needs of consumers, committed to environmental leadership, improved water quality and infrastructure reliability.

The RFPs are posted at www.awwarf.com.

BERARD BOLTS FITZGERALD

John Berard, who headed FitzGerald Communications' west coast operations, is now leaving to run PR21's San Francisco office on March 31.

The Hill & Knowlton and Fleishman-Hillard veteran joined FC in 1999, and had been expected by staffers to succeed Maura FitzGerald at the helm of the Brodeur Worldwide unit.

FitzGerald, however, gave that post to IONA Technologies' VP-marketing Steve Casey last week.

Berard told this NL he informed FitzGerald of his plans to leave the firm in early February. He said FitzGerald has retained a headhunter to find a replacement for him.

PR21 also named Lisa Robinson to head its Los Angeles office. Berard said he worked with Robinson when she was posted in Fleishman-Hillard's San Francisco office.

H&K SHIFTS REINEKE TO D.C.

Hill & Knowlton will move Chicago general manager Gene Reineke to Washington, D.C., on April 1.

The PA expert succeeds Alisa Fogelman-Beyer, who stepped down from the GM post in February. She has a high-tech background.

Reineke has 20 years of experience in Illinois politics. He served as economic development director for Governor Jim Edgar (1992-94) and then was his chief of staff for two years. He also served as executive director of George Bush's 1992 presidential re-election campaign in Illinois.

Reineke, who has counselled AT&T, American Airlines, Navistar and Blue Cross/Blue Shield, will remain H&K's COO.

MaryLee Sachs, H&K USA CEO, is looking for a replacement for Reineke in Chicago.

EDELMAN 'RIGHTSIZES' IN NEW YORK

Edelman PR Worldwide has cut 11 staffers in its New York office to "rightsize to meet its revenue base," Matt Harrington, president of the firm's eastern region, told this NL. He said this year's first-quarter was softer than what Edelman had projected. Financial and high-tech PR remain in the dumps.

Harrington is cautious about the outlook for the full-year due to the economic slump and uncertainty connected with the Iraq war. Edelman, he noted, was able to tough out 2002 without layoffs in New York though fees tumbled to $43.1 million from $54.6 million at yearend 2001. The firm has 328 staffers in New York, compared to 340 and the end of 2001.

CPRF: NO RANKINGS FOR INDEPENDENTS

The Council of PR Firms has voted not to have any rankings this year after considering whether to rank the independent firms that had filled out its forms.

The CPRF sent out 2,000 e-mail forms and received replies from 200 firms, down from 279 last year.

None came from 16 of the 17 PR units of the ad giants that were on its "top 20" list last year.

Magnet Communications of Havas was the only holding company PR unit replying. CPRF will publish an alphabetical list of respondents April 26.

Attempts to gain current employee totals from firms such as Hill & Knowlton and Weber Shandwick were rebuffed by staffers who were under strict orders not to supply statistics of any type.

Sources said WPP, after consulting with its law firm, Davis & Gilbert, which also works for the CPRF, led the move to shun the numerous industry rankings worldwide. Interpublic also told the CPRF several weeks ago about its intentions concerning rankings.

Howard Paster, executive VP of WPP Group and former CEO of its Hill & Knowlton unit, said lawyers had warned that CFOs who signed off on PR firm financials could be liable for heavy fines and prison terms under the new Sarbanes-Oxley Act if irregularities were found.

Wall Street sources said that CFOs were required to sign off on their financials last summer and that many of them did not hesitate to do so because the financials were audited.

The statistics provided to the CPRF and trade books for their rankings are not audited.

CPA firms also would not give any form of endorsement to the ranking figures for the same reason, it was said.

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BUSH HIT FOR FAILING TO 'BRAND' WAR

President Bush has failed to win widespread international and domestic support for his plan to invade Iraq because he has failed to "brand" the campaign, Tracey Riese, a branding guru, told this NL. He has failed to build an "emotional connection" between the war and the people who will pay for or die in it, she said.

One way Bush could whip up support for the effort would be to position the war as part of his global effort to "make the world as safe as it could be." He could say that the war is needed to reassure "mothers and fathers that their children will return home from school each day." That outreach needs to be global. "Kurdish and Russian parents need to hear that message too," said Riese.

Branding, to Riese, is more than just empty slogans. The President needs to back up his words with actions. He needs to prove to the world that not only is the U.S. waging a war on terror, but is willing to tackle the political and social issues that alienate people into becoming terrorists.

Riese believes the Administration has "squandered" the worldwide sympathy for the U.S. following the Sept. 11 attacks.

'Good' Wars Have Strong Brands

She believes successful American wars enjoyed clear brands. The American Revolution stood for liberty. The Civil War was fought for the soul of the nation. Woodrow Wilson labeled WWI as the "war to end all wars." Franklin Roosevelt waged WWII to destroy the Nazis and fascism.

Wars without strong brands tend to backfire. The War of 1812 resulted in a negotiated peace with the British. Korea ended in a stalemate, and the reasons for the Vietnam War were so weak that the effort sapped the nation's strength, said Riese, who is president of T.G. Riese & Assocs.

Temin and Co. handles her PR.

RF HANDLES 'OPERATION TORAH SHIELD'

Ruder Finn/Israel will handle publicity this week for "Operation Torah Shield," in which 100 Jewish-American students visit Israel as a show of solidarity with that state. The mission of OTS is to "show a lack of fear of Saddam Hussein's continued threats against the Jewish state," according to a statement from the group.

Students from New York's Yeshiva University and Stern College will study in various yeshivas and seminaries and volunteer for assignments with the Israeli army. "We, the Jewish community of North America, care for our brethren and we want to stand shoulder to shoulder with them during these times," said Yisrael Schachter, VP-student government at YU.

A Miami businessperson is funding the trip that is being coordinated by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism and the National Council of Young Israel.

RF counselor Charley Levine is promoting OTS.

Ronn Torossian, of 5W PR, is handling U.S. inquiries about OTS.

McD's GOES NATURAL WITH NEWMAN

McDonald's promoted its alliance with Paul Newman to the New York media on March 10 in its latest bid to revitalize the fast food chain in the wake of a 45% crash in net income last year to $893 million on a four percent sales uptick to $11.5 billion.

The actor talked up McDonald's new premium salad line that comes with Newman's Own dressings. Newman, in his Times Square appearance, noted that McDonald's will be the only quick service restaurant to boast "all-natural dressings" on its menu. Premium salads go national on March 24.

Newman said all proceeds that he receives from the McDonald's tie will go to charities. His food company has donated $125 million to charity since 1982. Ronald McDonald House Charities has provided $320 million to fund children's programs since 1984.

MWW Group handled the local media for the event. It got coverage in the New York Daily News, New York Post, Newsday, WNBC-TV, WCBS-TV, WPIX-TV (WB-11) and the Associated Press.

Cheryll Forsatz, VP, and Emily Buchanan, A/S, headed the six-person MWW account team. MWW's parent, Golin/Harris International, is McDonald's lead PR firm.

ARP REPLACES VANSICKLE AT F-H

Fleishman-Hillard has named Ron Arp general manager of its Portland, Ore., office succeeding Sharon VanSickle. She will become a senior consultant in October when she returns from a sabbatical.

VanSickle, 47, was co-founder of Karakas VanSickle & Ouellette, which F-H acquired three years ago. F-H dropped the KVO PR name last September to "reflect its evolution from a regional brand into an integral part of one of the world's leading PR agencies."

Arp had been running F-H's Kansas City office.

FOUR HORSEMEN RIDE FOR AFGHANISTAN

The Four Horsemen Int'l, a Fayetteville, N.C.-based firm comprised of former U.S. Army Special Forces combat veterans, has been hired by Gov. Gul Agha Shairzai of Qandahar to help rebuild Afghanistan.

Jim Weatherford, John Allen, Gerry Escarfullery and Mike Bergen are the Horsemen. They arrange business meetings, rent houses and cars for potential investors and arrange security for the Governor and his brothers. The brothers are the sons of Haji Abdul Latif, who was dubbed the "Lion of Qandahar" for his heroics during the Russian occupation. The Shairzais were U.S. allies in the fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and are committed to improving the quality of life and economic stability of Afghanistan, according to the Horsemen's federal filing.

The Horsemen have positioned their company as a "nation rebuilding management firm." They believe their military backgrounds offer clients the "very best levels of protection parameters." The firm will only hire ex-Special Forces personnel to "guarantee the professionalism" of their work. It is named after the Four Horsemen-war, death, pestilence and famine-of the Book of Revelation.

4As PR HEAD JOINS HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

John Wolfe, senior VP and director of PA for the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies, will join House Beautiful magazine as executive editor on March 31.

Mark Mayfield, editor-in-chief of HB, said Wolfe will work on overall planning, in addition to management of article assignments and editing.

Carolyn Sollis, who is currently executive editor, will become editorial projects director.

Wolfe's previous work includes a stint as director of public communications for the Museum of Modern Art in New York; managing editor of Art & Antiques magazine during Mayfield's tenure there, and replaced Mayfield as editor-in-chief when he left to join Southern Accents in 1995. Wolfe has also been a senior editor and New York bureau chief for Advertising Age.

Other new editors at the Hearst publication include decorating director Doretta Sperduto; food and entertaining editor Mary-Ellen Weinrib; deputy art director Robert O'Connell, and photo editor David Murphy.

N.Y. TIMES EDITOR WEDS EX-PUBLICIST

Krystyna Stachowiak, 39, a former journalist and PR consultant, and Howell Raines, 60, executive editor of The New York Times, were married March 8 in Mount Pocono, Pa.

A private party was held March 9 in New York.

A story about their wedding, which ran without photos of the couple in the March 9 edition of the Times, said Stachowiak was no longer employed at Coltrin & Assocs., a New York PR firm where she had been an executive consultant.

From 1991 to 1995, she was a Washington, D.C., correspondent for The Warsaw Voice, an English-language weekly.

Raines met Stachowiak in 1996 when she brought her client Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski to meet with the Times' editorial board, then headed by Raines.

The bride's previous marriage ended in divorce, as did the bridegroom's. Raines' son, Ben, is a reporter for The Mobile (Ala.) Press-Register.

PEOPLE

Seth Bauer was named editor-in-chief, and John Stark was appointed deputy editor of Body & Soul magazine, based in Watertown, Mass.

B&S, formerly called New Age Journal, covers the fields of wellness, holistic living, and spirituality. 617/926-0200 ext 385.

Sheryl WuDunn was appointed anchor and principal writer for "Page One," a nightly three-minute program on the Discovery Times Channel.

Premiering on March 25 at 10 p.m. (ET), the show will look at the stories headed for the next day's front page of The New York Times and also include interviews with Times editors and reporters.

Tom Krautler and Mary Barretta, co-hosts of "The Money Pit" home improvement radio show, were named among "The 100 Most Important Talk Radio Hosts in America, by Talkers Magazine.

Krautler can be reached at 732/663-1071; [email protected].

David Callaway was promoted to editor-in-chief of
CBSMarketWatch.com, the financial news website. Callaway, who was executive editor for the past three years, has replaced Thom Calandra, who is now the site's chief commentator.

Calandra will continue to write his weekly online subscription newsletter, "The Calandra Report," while continuing to offer commentary on MarketWatch's syndicated TV show.

MEDIA PROS GIVE NEWS COVERAGE TIPS

Media experts urged PR pros to focus on health, finance and local issues to get news coverage in these unpredictable times during a March 6 seminar attended by nearly 70 PR pros at the Press Club in Washington, D.C., and hosted by Medialink Worldwide.

The seminar, "PR Success in a Volatile News Environment," is part of an ongoing series of seminars presented by Medialink across the U.S.

Panelists included two D.C.-based media executives-Ben Brodsky, executive producer, WUSA-TV and Lisa Wolfe, program director, WTOP radio network-and Ivan Purdie, EVP/global broadcast services, Medialink.

The panelists shared information on strategies to obtain local and global TV and radio news coverage and provided guidance on press release routing, format preferences and pitching.

"Everyone is going to be covering the war; it's going to dominate most of the news," said Wolfe. "However, radio still needs content." She explained that in order to increase an announcement's chances of making it on the air, its news angle should focus on health, the heart or the pocketbook.

Brodsky agreed. "Find the common denominator that everyone cares about and affects everyone, especially in this time," said Brodsky. He also mentioned that during the conflict, U.S. TV stations would maintain a heightened awareness of the diverse needs of the local population.
PR pros should be aware of TV markets that have special audience needs such as local military bases or ethnic and religious groups that may be sensitive to the geographical issues involved with the unfolding world events.

Purdie said professional communicators must shape their news within the cultural context of a country or people. He urged the audience to consult with global news experts to provide guidance on timing, imagery, format and content prior to an international distribution.

(Media news continued on next page)

MEDIA GROUPS CRITICIZE NYSE RULE

Several large media organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, Forbes, McGraw-Hill, The New York Times, Reuters, Gannett, The Washington Post, and others, are challenging a New York Stock Exchange proposal they say would chill the free speech rights of newspapers and magazines.

The proposed rule would require newspapers, magazines and other media to disclose a stock or bond analyst's potentital conflicts of interest or lose the analyst as a source of information.

Media groups said it should be left up to the discretion of editors and reporters to disclose an analyst's potential conflicts.

The rule also would require analysts to decline subsequent interviews with any media outlet that failed to disclose the analyst's stock ownership and other relatonships with the companies they cover. Analysts who ignore the rule would be subject to unspecified disciplinary action by the NYSE.

Aside from inhibiting analysts' communication with the media, the media organizations said the rule would pose logistical problems because space often is limited and stories can be reprinted elsewhere, outside the control of the original publication. That could cause some organizations to leave out analysts' comments altogether.

Rules Comply with S-O

The proposal is part of tougher analyst-disclosure rules the NYSE and National Assn. of Securities Dealers are implementing to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which overhauled corporate governance practices. The move is in response to allegations that analysts misled investors and that their opinions were influenced by efforts to secure or retain investment banking business.

The media groups want the NYSE's rule revised so an analyst makes the mandated disclosures to a media outlet and requests the disclosure be included in any publication or broadcast containing a recommendation or opinion.
Earlier this year, the NASD revised a proposal that had mirrored the NYSE's proposed rule, choosing instead to require only that analysts disclose potential conflicts to media outlets.

The SEC is expected to vote on the proposal this spring.

JOURNALISTS REPORT FOR DUTY IN KUWAIT

About 660 reporters and photographers, including about 100 working for non-American media, have reported for duty in Kuwait.

Under the Pentagon's new "embedding" process, the journalists will become members of units, from front-line rifle companies to rear echelon support outfits.

The PR strategy, which is said to be conceived by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, will allow reporters, who sign the "Coalition Forces Land Component Command Ground Rules Agreement," to report what they see firsthand.

Although unit commanders have been told the safety of journalists will not be a reason to ban them from combat operations, the ground rules forbids the release of information that pertains to "ongoing engagements" without a security review.

Among the other restrictions placed on the press will be the following:

-Journalists may give general information about troop strength, casualties and captured enemy forces.
-Journalists may give information and location of military targets and objectives only after they have been attacked.
-Journalists may not use personal (i.e. non-military) vehicles.
-Journalists may not stray from the military unit.
-Journalists may not give specific descriptions of completed missions or other military actions.
-Journalists may not conduct "off the record" interviews with military personnel.
-Journalists may not take photos of defense installations and prisoners of war.
-Journalists may not give details about ongoing or future operations.
-Journalists will be subjected to restrictions on transmitting dispatches if unit commanders, at their discretion, determine the security of troops or a mission could be compromised.

Reporters who refuse to be embedded or comply with the guidelines will be allowed to roam around and get information on their own, as some reporters did in Vietnam.

CNN plans to blanket the Middle East with about 250 producers, reporters, camera operators, technicians and bookers.

In Kuwait alone, CNN will have 80-100 staffers.

CNN has purchased several Humvees and Hummers, the all-terrain vehicles.

WEB GETS SCOOPS WITHOUT PR HELP

SmokingGun.com's editor and co-founder William Bastone is "eating the media's lunch when it comes to getting scoops" on celebrities, says Jon Friedman, who is CBS MarketWatch.com's media reporter.

"[The site is] giving established reporters and editors a primer on how to uncover news, get it right and into print, fast-and not get sued or put itself in an embarrassing position where it has to issue a public apology for some type of inaccuracy," Friedman said in his March 7 website column.

Bastone told Friedman: "We have no contacts with publicists-nor do we want any. We don't get invited to movie premieres. We don't interview actors. We don't try to hang out with actresses."

SmokingGun relies on "official, legal documents for material." As a result, the site has never been sued, said Bastone, who has broken several big stories since it was started in 1997.

An illustration of the flexibility of GAAP can be seen in the way IABC and PRSA keep their books. IABC acknowledges a deferred dues liability of $1.3 million, putting it in the red, while PRSA says it has no such liability and is able to claim that it is in the black.

PRSA, responding to this criticism, says that the non-refundability of dues is but one of ten or so criteria used by its past auditors and its new CPA firm Sobel & Co. for its dues recognition policy. It feels its policy of not having a deferred dues account for services (it has one for its two publications) is permissible under accounting rules.

We agree, but it's not the "high road." Ex-PRSA president John Paluszek once said PRSA should take the "high road" at all times when confronted with alternatives. This is no time for PR to be taking moral guidance from the accounting industry considering its role in Enron, Worldcom, etc.

Here's something PRSA cannot explain. It had a huge $904,767 DD account in 1991 when income was only $5.5 million and there were 15,276 members. This was drawn down to $350,309 by 1998 when income totaled $8M and there were 19,623 members. The DD should have gone up, not down! PRSA claims that its "financial resources have never been better." It had cash and investments of $2.1M in 1991 when income was only $5.2M. It was far "richer" then. Cash/investments was $1.5M at 12/31/01 when revenues were $9.1M.

PRSA, after four months of trying, still can't identify the person who moved at the Nov. 16 Assembly that the decoupling bylaw change be tabled.

One of our gripes with both PRSA and IABC is that their websites provide no bulletin boards for members' opinions. PRSA's last poll of members' opinions was in 1997 under president Debra Miller.

CFOs of the PR and ad units of publicly held ad agencies are refusing to sign off on their numbers because they're not audited, say some financial sources. This could put them in dutch with Sarbanes-Oxley. Others say that there has been a lot of double counting in the ad/PR rankings. Fees of PR and other specialties may be reported both separately and as part of ad totals, they say.

How fearsome is Sarbanes-Oxley? Our take is that if the ad/PR units were up 20-30% instead of being down by that margin and more, the ad/PR agencies would be publishing their numbers this year. They would find a way.

A way does exist in the form of the W-3s that all corporate units must file with the Federal government. It shows total fulltime employment and total payroll. This is an actual tax document and is exempt from the ambiguities that characterize GAAP. It needs to be attested to by a CPA or notarized. Employee counts can also be verified by current and ex-employees of firms.

The Council of PR Firms, in refusing to do any rankings, after setting itself up as the collector of data for PR publications, is being unfair to the nearly 200 independent firms that filled out its seven-page form. It is abandoning its duty because of a few non-participating PR units of ad agencies, showing how great is the influence of the Big Three holding companies on the CPRF.

Legit publications, meanwhile, including Advertising Age, AdWeek, and this NL, are pressing ahead with their rankings. It will be a difficult job for the numerous trade publications here and abroad. The action of the Big Three is hurtful to the many publications that sell ads on the pages across from the rankings stories.

Withholding information and not-communicating are ingrained habits of the holding companies. Interpublic's SEC filings show more than 200 acquisitions that are not even identified by type of industry. WPP Group, Interpublic and Omnicom, to the best of our knowledge, never hold press conferences. If any situation demanded a press conference, it is this one. There are numerous unanswered questions.

As for the Council of PR Firms' claim that it would bring "clarity and credibility concerning the size, components, growth and trends in our industry," it only ranked a fraction of 1% of the companies in the PR field which is comprised of at least 10,000 PR firms in the U.S. alone, according to Yellow Page listings.

Anyone publishing PR rankings can only state they are rankings of responding firms and nothing more.

Here's one of the things that damaged the credibility of the rankings. Brodeur, a high-tech firm in Boston, reported $6.8 million in fees and 70 employees for 1994. Then it was purchased by Omnicom and disappeared from the ranking as part of OMC's Porter Novelli. It re-emerged in 1999 claiming 700 employees, $70M in fees, and a jump of 106% in one year (by far the biggest rise among the top 20). Who knows what OMC units were pumped into Brodeur to give it this explosion in staff and fees?.

Porter Novelli, meanwhile, nourished by OMC, grew from $45.8M in fees and 451 employees in 1995 to $214M in fees and 2,000 employees by 1999, making it the fastest growing major firm in the history of PR-a jump of 469% in fees in four years.

We were shocked and saddened by the sudden death of Bill Adams, one of the hardest working PR professors we have met. We traded e-mails frequently with Adams on a variety of subjects. He was always informative and knowledgeable. He had been planning a seminar on the need for PR students to develop entrepreneurial skills. We had discussed this topic Feb. 13 with his class when we visited it while on a trip to Florida.
--Jack O'Dwyer