WEBER SHANDWICK WINS KINKO'S

Weber Shandwick has added Kinko's, which operates more than 1,100 document management centers in nine countries, to its client roster. The Interpublic unit edged WPP's Burson-Marsteller and Omnicom's Fleishman-Hillard for the account.

Maggie Thill, Kinko's PR director, considered a dozen agencies, and then whittled the list down to six. After "considering the biggest players in the business, we chose Weber Shandwick because of its creative ideas and execution plans," Thill said.

WS also is strong on "goal-setting and accountability, which is something we stress at Kinko's," added Thill. She said Ken Luce, president of WS will oversee the account, while Cindy Huff is the day-to-day contact.

WS will handle Kinko's corporate positioning, media relations and the rollout of its high-speed wireless broadband Internet access service. That offering, in conjunction with T-Mobile USA, will be available in Kinko's centers by the end of the year. Those "T-Mobile HotSpots at Kinko's" will enable customers to access their corporate network, check e-mails and wirelessly print documents from inside the stores.

Kinko's, which is based in Dallas, had used Edelman PR Worldwide for the past three years.

PERTAMINA ENERGIZES RF

Ruder Finn has picked up the "mid six-figure" account of Pertamina, Indonesia's oil company, Anne Glauber, director of the firm's global issues communications group, told this NL.

The firm won the account in a competitive pitch, but Glauber would not identify the other contestants for the account. She said the $1B company is in the "midst of a major transition." Pertamina, for instance, is shifting from being a state-owned entity to a limited liability corporation. It has a new CEO that is shaking things up, she said. The goal is to develop a "new level of accountability and professionalism."

The RF executive said the firm also will tell Indonesia's story as the "country moves towards democracy." Indonesia also is a hotbed of terrorism.

The State Dept. issued a revised travel warning for Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim state, last month. It warned that Indonesian groups linked to Al-Qaeda may be planning terror attacks especially on "soft targets," such as the Bali nightclub that was blown up last October.

HHS ISSUES $10M+ RFP

The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has issued an RFP for a comprehensive five-year PR and public affairs program worth up to $10.5 million that covers a swath of assignments from press release writing and ad placement to case studies and publishing.

The work is aimed at improving the quality, safety, effectiveness and efficiency of the healthcare system.

The PR intensive part of the contract involves writing releases, fact sheets, pitches to the media, direct mail, ads, case studies and PSA development, according to a copy of the RFP. Extensive research, writing and publishing is also called for via HHS' Office of Health Care Information.

Proposals are due July 28. Contracting officer is Darryl Grant ([email protected]).

Ketchum landed a piece of a one-year, $25 million government ad/PR pact in June to "change the face of Medicare."

MS&L HANDLES KENYA PLANE CRASH

Manning, Selvage & Lee's Atlanta office has been tapped by the Zeist Foundation to handle media inquiries concerning the July 19 plane crash in Kenya that killed three generations of the city's prominent Brumley family.

Jim Tsokanos, managing director of MS&L/Atlanta, met with Zeist officials on July 21, an MS&L staffer, who wished to remain unknown, told this NL.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that George Brumley and wife, Jean, were passionate about the arts, and backed many education and religious causes.

Brumley family members account for 12 of the 14 people killed when their chartered twin-engine turboprop plane slammed into Point Lenana, one of Africa's tallest mountains.

MS&L is distributing biographies of the Brumleys to the media.

COMSTOCK IN NEW GE POST

GE has tapped its top in-house PR pro, Beth Comstock, for a new post to spearhead an "invigorated" marketing push by the conglomerate.

Comstock, (42) formerly VP of corporate communications, reports to chairman/CEO Jeff Immelt as VP of marketing. She oversees a new corporate commercial team that Immelt has charged with driving what he calls an "invigorated marketing" and sales effort across the company.

BLJ EDGES EDELMAN FOR 2010 GAMES

Brown Lloyd James has scored an international PR victory over Edelman PR Worldwide as BLJ client Vancouver edged South Korea by three votes to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Edelman was advising South Korea, which would have hosted the games in Pyeongchang, but fell 56-53 in final voting. Salzburg, Austria, the third city in the running, lost in the first of two rounds of voting. It did not use outside PR counsel.

Mike Holtzman, executive VP at BLJ, told this NL his work at Weber Shandwick on China's successful bid for the 2008 summer games won BLJ the Vancouver assignment.

He believes the geo-politics of tensions between North and South Korea and a pitch based on "trust" and stability ultimately decided the contest, as the games have been battered by various scandals in the last few years.

"The geo-politics played out in our favor," he said. "Everyone was surprised by the strength of Korea, but in the end it was Vancouver's message of trust and the fact that it would nurture the Olympic Games and return them to the next city better."

Peter Land, EVP and GM of Edelman's sports and entertainment marketing unit, downplayed the geo-politics, pointing out that South Korea was leading Vancouver after the first round of voting.

"The message of how the Olympics might foster North and South Korea working more closely together was just one small component of the overall presentation," he told this NL, adding a South Korea win would have been the biggest upset in the history of pitching the games.

Edelman, by comparison, was brought in by Korea 10 weeks before the voting, while BLJ had a year to plan and execute its campaign.

The International Olympic Committee, responding to scandals that surrounded Salt Lake City's successful bid for the 2002 games, has banned most lobbying and advertising in pitches, putting PR in the spotlight. "It's all up to PR now, it's the coin of the realm," Holtzman said.

H&S BAGS FIRST TWIN

First Twin Jenna Bush is spending the summer at Harrison & Shriftman, the New York-based beauty/fashion and special events firm.

H&S represents clients such as Charles Worthington, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Ian Schrager Hotels, Corum Watches, Mercedes-Benz, H20, and Dunhill.

Bush, a University of Texas junior, is focusing on the firm's beauty accounts. Though Bush has an unpaid spot, gossip columnists Rush & Molloy report that her position offers prime access to New York's downtown club scene.

Lara Shriftman has yet to return a call about how her firm bagged President Bush's daughter.

H&S has branches in Los Angeles and Miami.

SYRIA SHOPS FOR PR FIRM

Syria is shopping for a PR firm to improve its image in the U.S., according to Farid Ghadry, co-founder of the Reform Party of Syria. His U.S.-based group opposes the rule of Bashar Al-Assad, and seeks political/social/economic change in Syria.

Ghadry, in a July 14 Washington Times op-ed, says Syria is eager to show Americans that its Ba'ath Party is different from Saddam Hussein's Baathists that ruled Iraq with an iron fist. He believes Syria will be hard-pressed to find a PR firm because of its poor human rights record, anti-Israel stance and occupation of Lebanon.

The U.S. Congress is to hike pressure on Syria via a vote for the Syria Accountability Act to punish the state for its effort to develop weapons of mass destruction and its support for terrorism.

The Syrian Embassy, on its website, asks friends of the country to urge their Washington representa-tives to oppose the SAA. It includes a quote from President Bush, saying the SAA would "limit our options and restrict our ability to deal with a difficult and dangerous regional situation at a particularly critical juncture." The Embassy claims the SAA will hamper U.S.-Syrian cooperation in the war against Al-Qaeda. Its public information rep did not return a call for comment about Syria's PR strategy.

C.L.A. 'TERMINATES' D.C. ARCHDIOCESE

The C.L.A. Group has "terminated" the Archdiocese of Washington as a client for "federal vouchers and investigations of the Catholic Church."

That isn't good enough for the Archdiocese. It says it never used C.L.A in the first place, and wants that on the record in the Senate. Bishop Kevin Farrell is waiting for a response from Pamela Gavin, Office of Public Records, Secretary of the Senate- the unit that administers Lobby Disclosure Act filings.

He sent Gavin a letter on July 14 to notify her that C.L.A. "does not and has never represented the Archdiocese of Washington." He requested that a "notation to this effect be included in the public record." Susan Gibbs, director of communications for the Archdiocese, says she never heard of the lobby firm until contacted by this NL on June 24.

How Much Is 'Less'?

C.L.A. CEO Laurence Socci, in his termination filing, says he received less than $10,000 from the Church during the first half of this year. Gibbs says Socci, who had done volunteer work for the Church, did not get a nickel from the Archdiocese.

C.L.A. also has removed the Archdiocese as a client on its website, and took down a letter in the "testimonials" section from the Church's Michael Scott thanking Socci for participating in "Catholic Advocacy Day."

Jane Belford, Chancellor of the Archdiocese, had sent Socci a letter on July 9 asking him to remove those references from the site.

GROVE TO COVER GOSSIP FOR N.Y. NEWS

Washington Post gossip columnist Lloyd Grove is joining The New York Daily News as a gossip writer.

Grove took over the "Reliable Source" column more than three years ago. The nationally syndicated column, which was created in 1992 by Lois Romano, who wrote it until 1995, runs five days a week on page three of the Post's "Style" section.

Grove started his career while working as a "column planter" for the now-deceased Mike Hall, who ran a New York-based PR firm for many years.

Michalangelo Signorile, a columnist for The New York Press, who also worked at Hall's firm, said clients of the firm were guaranteed mentions in gossip columns like Liz Smith, "Page Six," Cindy Adams, People's "Chatter" page and Parade's "Walter Scott's Personality Parade."

"Gossip columnists were given a bunch of items on a page, each one usually no longer than a paragraph. Every other item was a 'free' item-delicious, sometimes even scandalous gossip about a celebrity or a politician. The others were 'client' items (which were always underlined, so as to distinguish them).

"If the columnists used a 'free' item, it was understood that they had to use a 'client' item. Sometimes they would run it in the same column; other times the items would run days apart," said Signorile.

PR PRO GIVES LAWYERS PUBLICITY TIPS

Steven Alschuler, president of Linden Alschuler & Kaplan, a New York-based PR firm, is writing a column about media relations and the profession for State Bar News, which is published bimonthly by the New York State Bar Assn. The NYSBA is also a client of LA&K.

In his first two columns, Alschuler gave pointers on pitching stories to the media ("The first step is paying close attention to what the media is interested in generally and to what individual reporters cover"), and how to start a relationship with a reporter ("Most members of the media are receptive to being pitched story ideas.").

In future columns, Alschuler said he will discuss op-ed articles, letters to the editor, working with TV and radio, the importance of weekly newspapers and business journals, and other topics.

PLACEMENT TIPS

The Washington Post Co. will begin publishing a free commuter newspaper in the Washington, D.C., metro area later this summer.

Daniel Caccavaro, formerly editor-in-chief of Boston Metro, a free commuter paper started in 2001, will be editor of the one-section paper, called the Express.

The paper, which will publish mostly wire service news and entertainment briefs, will appear each weekday morning, Monday through Friday, in tabloid form and will be distributed free-of-charge near Metro stations, on college campuses and in urban locations.

Metro International, a Luxembourg-based company, has started 25 free commuter papers in 16 countries, including papers in Boston and Philadelphia.

"By launching its own free paper, the Post hopes to prevent a rival tab from rooting in Washington," said Frank Ahrens, a reporter for the Post.

Walter Woods, who covers the restaurant and hospitality beats for The Atlanta Business Chronicle, was icd Media's June "Media Pro." In his column for the Alpharetta, Ga.-based video producer, Woods made a point of asking PR pros to stop leaving angry voice mail messages, or carrying a bad experience to the next idea/client/story. "I don't think it's professional," said Woods.

ABC News' "Good Morning America" wants PR pros to provide information and visuals on any new drug, medical device, or medical-science breakthrough.

Patty Neger, who recently replaced former medical producer Ami Schmitz, is especially interested in hearing from medical experts who can provide third-party opinions about studies and drug trials.

She can be reached at ABC News, 147 Columbus ave., New York, NY 10023. 212/456-6157; [email protected].

Steven Vames in Dow Jones News Service's Los Angeles bureau was recently assigned to cover mid-market public companies in Southern California.

His beat includes companies in the apparel, medical device and video game industries.

Vames, who had been in DJNS's New Jersey bureau, will also cover late breaking national news after the East Coast closes for the night.

He can be reached at 323/658-3874.

Alexandra Hall was named to replace Annie Copps as food editor at Boston Magazine.

Jon Marcus, editor of Boston, said Copps, who joined the magazine in 1998 and became food editor in 2001, will continue to write her monthly columns.

Workforce magazine has changed its name to Workforce Management.

The New York-based monthly magazine, now in its 81st year, will now target senior level human resource executives as well as other corporate leaders who make key workforce decisions.

New sections have been added, including "In This Corner," which examines critical issues in employment and labor law; "Out Front," covering workforce management trends and political or legal developments; "The Insider," a report on the who's who and what's happening in every aspect of workforce management, and in-feature articles on workforce management trends.

Carroll Lachnit is editor of the magazine, which is published by Crain Communications.

(Media news continued on next page)

INTERNET GIVES PR MORE MUSCLE

Alan Caruba, a veteran publicist, believes no business, product or advocacy of any kind can succeed today without PR and a website.

"Today's journalists, radio and TV news producers and editors prefer to instantly access websites to secure the facts," said Caruba.

"For me, the success of a PR program comes as the result of carefully targeting those Internet and mainstream media outlets that reach an intended audience and/or market," said Caruba. "In that manner, the message can successfully compete amidst the deluge of news and commentary from which to choose. Every enterprise must have its own dedicated site. It is the key element in PR today," he said.

He believes it is essential for publicists to be "absolutely relentless" in putting their news into the stream that flows 24/7. "Even if it does not always get coverage, it does put the name of your company, product or issue in front of editors and reporters, giving it credibility," said Caruba.

He said there is always a breakthrough point that initiates routine coverage. "It can often take up to six months to a year for 'a new face' to begin to make progress. This must be accompanied at all times with virtually instant response to any media inquiry," he said.

'INFLUENTIALS' RELY ON THE INTERNET

A study of 3,206 Washingtonpost.com visitors, who met Roper ASW's definition of an "influential," shows this trend-setting group spends more time using the Internet (excluding e-mail) than any other media during the week.

Through more than 60 years of research, Roper has been able to identify "influentials" to be the 10% of the population that shapes the attitudes and behaviors of the other 90%.
Other key findings of the study include:

-The Internet (56%) and newspapers (56%) are the top media online influentials would recommend that advertisers use to reach them.

-The Internet is the top media source online influentials use to research places to visit (86%) and what to buy (82%).

-Two-thirds of online influentials either are asked for or forward advice and information about products and services.

-Online influentials who forward advice do so to between five and 20 individuals.

In previous research Roper found 82% of influentials have Internet access.

CORRADINA TO MARTHA STEWART LIVING TV

Linda Corradina, previously an executive producer at Oxygen Media, has been hired as SVP/executive producer of Martha Stewart Living TV.

She will produce "Martha Stewart Living," cable programs such as "Martha's Home," as well as MSLTV's new "Petkeeping with Marc Morrone."

KELLER IS NAMED EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Bill Keller, 54, currently an op-ed columnist and senior writer for The New York Times Magazine, was named executive editor of The Times.

He starts on July 30 and will replace interim executive editor Joseph Lelyveld, who took over the job last month, following the departure of Howell Raines.

Keller said he plans to evaluate the organization of the newsroom's top management and name additional members of the team.

BW & WSJ MAKE BANKING BEAT CHANGES

New staffers have been assigned at Business Week and The Wall Street Journal to cover the bank news beats.

Mara der Hovanesian, who was BW's markets and investments editor, was named financing and banking editor, replacing Heather Timmons.

She can be reached at 212/512-4035.

At the Journal, Mitchell Pacelle, a veteran reporter who covers corporate bankruptcies, has added the commercial bank beat, replacing Paul Beckett, who was transferred to the London bureau where he is deputy bureau chief. She can be reached at [email protected].

MEDIA REUNION WEBSITE STARTED

David Davis, who was previously vice chairman of Edelman PR Worldwide and international president of Medialink Worldwide, has started a reunion website for media people, called Mediabuddies.

Journalists and PR people can register free of charge on the website (www.mediabuddies.com).

When the site goes fully operational in September, members will be able to trace and contact old colleagues and contacts via the database.

PEOPLE

Patricia Callahan, who was covering the food industry for The Wall Street Journal 's Chicago bureau, has been reassigned to the healthcare beat, replacing Gardiner Harris, who has joined The New York Times. Shirley Leung is now handling the bureau's food beat.

Dana Priest, 46, who covers national security for The Washington Post, has joined NBC News, where she will appear as an analyst on talk shows, do original news reporting, and appear as an on-air correspondent. Priest will also keep her job at the Post.

Judy Miller, 50, was named managing editor/news at The Miami (Fla.) Herald. Miller, who had been assistant managing editor/metro, will oversee most news reporting, including local, national, foreign and business news, as well as features coverage.

Irina Lallermand, previously a producer for "The Tavis Smiley Show" on National Public Radio, was appointed the Herald's radio news director for the partnership with WLRN-FM.

PR pros are expressing worry and confusion over the meaning of Nike/Kasky.

A panelist said PR pros are being "spooked" by the lawsuit, fearing their clients will stop talking and PR firms themselves will get sued.

Marc Kasky, who didn't sue Nike's PR firm, says the firms have no cause for concern. But lawyer Jeffrey Galvin is correct in saying the work of PR pros will be scrutinized more closely than ever.

PR pros will have to know their subject matter as well as they once did, before they got entranced with methodology and concentrating on longterm "strategy" as opposed to hard facts.

Teaching once got hung up on methodology as opposed to individual subjects. But teachers' colleges were abolished and emphasis was at least partially returned to subject matter.

PR pros who are well-versed in products and issues can return to their role as teachers of reporters.

Company statements that are general or political in nature and/or express an opinion are not going to result in a Kasky-type lawsuit.

As Business Ethics magazine points out, it's okay for a company to say "free trade is good for the developing world," but quite another for it to say: "We pay double the minimum wage." The second statement purports to be a fact and must be true. PR pros must be certain of the "facts" they disseminate.

BE argues that company social and environmental statements should be subject to anti-fraud liability, just like financial reports. What companies are asking for, says the mag, is the right to "plead the First Amendment" when challenged about their corporate citizenship statements. Many consumer protection and securities laws would be invalidated, it feels, and the reliability of corporate financial and social reporting would be undermined.

We thought the 1999 (all-APR) board was the worst in PRSA's history but the 2003 board is attempting to better that record. The 1999 board:

-Censored PRSA's own four-year $150,000 study of the credibility of various spokespeople after the study found PR pros ranked 43rd on a list of 45. The ranking didn't appear in any PRSA publication.

-Censored the two-year study by the PRSA Fellows among 16 PR recruiters showing APR has virtually no impact in the job market.

-Granted a five-year contract to Ray Gaulke to the end of 2004 at $200K+ yearly. Director Frank Stansberry, apparently upset at lack of board input, walked out of the board meeting in Vancouver.

-Rejected the unanimous vote of its strategic planning committee to decouple the board and Assembly from any link with APR.

-Presided over the ditching of the PRSA code after ethics chair Bob Frause said the ethics board was "powerless" to enforce it. PRSA wouldn't order PR firms to divulge client lists, an issue that involved 1999 PRSA treasurer Lee Duffey, whose firm was accused of using front groups to attack EIFS building materials.

-Twice voted a staff and board boycott of all O'Dwyer publications. Our offense? We dared to report on the above. Also, we did a 10-year study showing PRSA massaged its books by drawing down the deferred dues account from $904,767 in 1991 to $350,309 in 1998 to "smooth out" income and expenses. DD should have gone up, said CPAs, because membership rose from 15,276 to 19,623.

-We were accused of harassing the PRSA staff and wasting too much of its time on our questions. However, 20 PR leaders including Dan Edelman, Fraser Seitel (PRSA's own editor), and Dennis McGrath, Counselors Academy head, called the boycott "childish," "stupid," "un-American," etc. It was removed at the first meeting of the 2000 board.

The 2003 board is closing in on the 1999 board:

It refuses to recognize the obvious will of most PRSA members who want an immediate end to any link between office-holding and APR.

It refuses to recognize that the APR rule has choked off the supply of officers and board members to the point where previous board members have to be brought back to serve, breaking a long tradition.

Kathy Lewton in 1999 became the first non-board member to be nominated as an officer. She had served on a previous board. Lewton was brought back as president-elect ostensibly because the firm of Lee Duffey, then treasurer and by tradition the next president-elect, was accused of using front groups in a campaign against EIFS.

That was an understandable emergency but also indicated that none of the board members at that time wanted to be president-elect.

The current candidacies for treasurer of Maria Russell and Art Stevens, who were both on the 1999 board, should not be happening. They should go away like their numerous predecessors on the board who gave up power to new leaders.

Russell, appointed "senior counselor" to nine boards and committees by 2003 president Reed Byrum, apparently is ashamed of these appointments. They are not on her application for nomination for treasurer although they got prominence in the 2003 members' directory. Therefore, she has not accurately described her PRSA "Activity Record."

The board, which failed to make the $100K "leaders' rally" June 20-21 also serve as an Assembly that would open the election process to the 79% non-APR members, should rectify this wrong at its meeting in N.Y. this Thursday and Friday.

-- Jack O'Dwyer