CKPR TO DRUM UP FLA. VISITORS.
CKPR has bested three firms to help Florida's tourism planning entity rebuild the Sunshine State's image in the wake of a brutal hurricane season.

Fleishman-Hillard, Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell and Lou Hammond & Assocs. had also pitched for the estimated $175K piece of business from Visit Florida.

Visit Florida wants to stress that, while storms ravaged several areas of the state, most of Florida's primary tourist destinations are open; beaches are hosting visitors, and conventions are taking place.

Four hurricanes slammed the state in late summer, causing $23 billion in damage and 2.2 million insurance claims, according to the governor's office there.

CKPR, in addition to the focus on hurricane recovery communications, will handle PR for a multi-year effort slated to roll out in March 2005. It will highlight the state's downtowns and small towns, part of its "Culturally Florida" campaign.

MOSES FLEES TO H&K.
Eric Moses, a veteran of the embattled Los Angeles office of Fleishman-Hillard, has taken a new VP slot at Hill & Knowlton in the city.

Moses takes the title of VP, media and public affairs. He was brought in for his issues management and media relations expertise and will bolster the firm's public affairs unit as well, according to Bonnie Goodman, GM for H&K in Los Angeles. Goodman told O Dwyer's the firm wants to grow its PA unit in L.A. and southern California and saw Moses as a good fit in the effort.

She noted H&K was recently picked by Wal-Mart after an RFP to work statewide on the company's corporate reputation.

The 35-year-old Moses was recently director of communications for the L.A. City Attorney's office –– which is now suing F-H in a billing scandal –– and a former assistant deputy mayor. At F-H, he worked on the L.A. Convention and Visitors Bureau, Southern California Water Co. and the contested Department of Water and Power account.

Omnicom reported a 17 percent rise in third-quarter net to $145 million on a 14 percent boost in revenues to $2.3 billion. PR units were up 14 percent to $258 million. CEO John Wren spent $274 million for acquisitions during the period; $170 million of that amount were for "earn-outs."

AIG AXES QORVIS.
American International Group fired Qorvis Communications on Oct. 25. QC had signed on as crisis management firm earlier in the month. The insurer claims the dismissal has nothing to do with QC's decision to contact Leading Authorities to line up speakers to criticize New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's high-profile probe of the insurance business. Spitzer has been investigating price-fixing and bid rigging among insurers and brokers.

LA sent e-mails containing "talking points" from Qorvis saying individual investors are being hurt by Spitzer's investigation, and that industry reform is best done without a "media firestorm." Those e-mails were sent the day AIG gave Qorvis the boot.

An AIG spokesperson said Qorvis was dropped because it was "unhelpful." The insurer, which is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Dept., denies any knowledge of the plan to criticize Spitzer.

Don Goldberg, managing director at Qorvis, handled the AIG account. He said Qorvis was just doing research for AIG.

MEYER OVERSEES HYATT'S PR.
Hyatt Hotels has named Katie Meyer VP-communications to oversee global PR for the 213-member chain from its Chicago headquarters.

Meyer joins from the London-based Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts, where she was responsible for its corporate and branding programs.

Previously, Meyer was VP-PR at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, handling the global PR integration of the Sheraton, Westin and Starwood brands.

MARKLEIN EXITS HP
FOR WEBER SHANDWICK.
Tim Marklein has left a director post at HP for an executive VP and GM role at Weber Shandwick in San Francisco. Marklein oversees the firm's San Francisco and Silicon Valley operations.

The tech PR pro, who headed global analyst and public relations for HP's enterprise unit, earlier was director of corporate media relations and was a key player in post-merger PR efforts for the company's combine with Compaq.

He is an eight-year veteran of Applied Comms. (now part of Bite), where he was an SVP & partner.

At WS, he ll coordinate with global tech president Casey Sheldon and report to Ken Luce, who guides the firm's West and Southwest operations.

TRINITY BROADCASTING
HIRES 5W PR.
Santa Ana, Calif.-based Trinity Broadcasting Network, the No. 1 Christian broadcasting network, has hired 5W PR, New York, for crisis PR work to handle fallout from homosexual affair allegations concerning TBN founder Paul Crouch (70) and former employee Enoch Ford (41).

The American Arbitration Assn. ruled on Oct. 14 that Ford violated an `03 court order barring him from talking about a `96 $425K settlement with Crouch regarding allegations of wrongful termination and sexual harassment. Ford claims to have had an affair with Crouch, who denies such a relationship.

5W's Ronn Torossian has been identified as a Crouch spokesperson in the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register. The Washington Times (Oct. 23) aided in the reputation rehabilitation of Crouch by including him in a wrap-up story about how evangelicals will vote in the Presidential election. Crouch predicted the born-again vote will create a "landslide" for President Bush, spurred by his opposition to abortion and homosexual marriage. He said John Kerry is "allegedly a good Catholic, yet he remains at odds with his own church on the abortion issue."

Torossian has close ties with the evangelical community gained from his work for the Christian Coalition and the Jerusalem Prayer Team, the largest pro-Israel evangelical group. He also reps rapper Lil Kim and Zionist Organization of America.

RUDER FINN AIDS
REEVE PARALYSIS CENTER.
Ruder Finn's Washington, D.C., office has been tapped by the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation for an outreach campaign aimed at boosting awareness and access to the institution's services.

The campaign was announced in mid-September, RF's Shonali Burke told O Dwyer's , and the firm is handling outreach and PR efforts. Reeve died of heart failure on Oct. 10.

RF helped the Foundation "re-affirm" the campaign in the wake of Reeve's death.

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center in Short Hills, N.J., is spearheading the initiative, which includes a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The PRC notes it is now equipped to deal with queries in 50 languages and says that despite "slow and steady progress," people afflicted with paralysis in minority communities are at a disadvantage with regard to employment, education, access to health care and community involvement.

PRSA's national conference drew 2,100 members, press and exhibitors and 1,400 students, president Del Galloway told the Assembly Oct. 23. The previous PRSA conference in New York in 1990 drew 2,058 registrants (no student total is available). Membership reached 20,040 in October, up from 19,600 in 1998. About 4,000 were at the Donald Trump speech.

PAPER HITS H&K WATER DEAL.
A multi-million dollar, three-year pact awarded to Hill & Knowlton by the South Florida Water Management District is under fire from The Palm Beach Post as unnecessary and ill-fated.

Blasted by the Palm Beach Post as "The $2.4 million mistake," H&K has been called on to build support for Everglades restoration work and the general image of the District, which is in charge of water quality and flood control for the region. The agency, which operates with a $792 million budget, is also working on damage assessment and recovery operations in the aftermath of four hurricanes this year.

H&K beat five other firms in September for the contract, which requires the firm to earn annual renewals.

The Post said the District "can save $2.4 million by telling the truth. No spin needed," adding any image problem is the result of poor decisions. The paper also hit the contract because the District has a public information staff or 24, down from a high this year of 37.

Harry Costello, H&K's Florida GM, has not yet been reached for comment.

PB PUSHES FOR KUWAIT.
Kuwait has signed Patton Boggs to a $22K a-month lobbying pact to win Congressional passage of the U.S.-Kuwait Free Trade Agreement.

PB is to advise Kuwait about its current image among U.S. policymakers, prepare economic/policy briefing materials and set up meetings with government officials.

In its engagement letter, PB says it may hire outside consultants to assist on the Kuwait project. [Qorvis Communications, PB's affiliate, has extensive Middle Eastern experience gained via its work for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The firm also was hired by Citigate Public Affairs to promote the Dubai International Financial Centre at last month's annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C.]

Kuwait scored political points in the U.S. for its role of launching pad for the invasion of Iraq.
Jordan was awarded an FTA with the U.S. in '03.

AUTODESK SELECTS BITE.
Bite Communications won a competition with five other finalists to become agency of record for Autodesk, a software/services company.
Tracey Stout, VP of worldwide marketing at Autodesk, credited BC's "non-traditional approach to strategy and communications," in announcing the win.

A key task for the PR firm will be to promote a new branding campaign for Autodesk that is slated for launch during the first-half of next year.

Autodesk, which is based in San Rafael, Calif., earned $39 million on $279 million in revenues during its latest quarter.

Burghardt Tenderich is general manager of BC's North American operations.

NATIONAL NEWS PEOPLE
PREFER SNAIL MAIL.
—"Give us a reason to write about it; not just a product pitch."
—"Tell us why our readers should care."
—"Put news in the context of a trend or idea."
—"Help us verify what has been written."
—"Have a news edge."
—"Get to the person who covers the beat."
—"Do the packaging of the trends."

These were a few of the many pitch tips tossed out by a panel of national news and business magazine editors and reporters at PRSA's International Conference on Oct. 26. The panel consisted of Lisa McLaughlin, senior features reporter, Time; Vicky Hallet, features reporter, U.S. News & World Report; Toddi Gutner, associate editor of Business Week, and Lisa Miller, society editor of Newsweek.

One of the biggest surprises for the more than 200 PR professionals who packed the meeting room, was snail mail is making a comeback as a means for pitching stories to reporters.

Miller, who oversees several beats, said she is too busy to read all of the e-mails she gets every day.

"Snail mail works," Miller said in response to a question from a Baltimore-based consultant who asked the panel how they like to get pitched because he is finding many reporters are not bothering to "look anymore" at their e-mail. Also, pitches are sometimes recognized as spam and automatically deleted.

Develop Contacts

Miller, who stressed there is no replacement for face-to-face contact with reporters and editors, said she will take the time to read something that arrives at her desk in an envelope.

"Snail or e-mail is okay," said Gutner, who pointed out she prints out her e-mail messages because she still prefers to have hard copies of everything. She said the downside to this is they get stacked up in her in-box and most never get read.

She said e-mail has one advantage over snail mail in that she can forward a pitch to a writer or another editor.

In any case, Gutner said PR people should make it a rule "not to pitch an idea unless it is developed."
She believes this is the "difference between a good PR person and a flack."

Hallet, whose habit is to print out e-mail pitches, admitted she doesn t always read them. She said she gets a lot of story ideas by looking at press releases on the Internet.

McLaughlin, who gets about 200 e-mails a day, said snail mail works for her. Since she is unable to make a decision based on a two-minute message left on her voice mail, phone pitches won t work.

Cover Stories Are News Driven

Irene Mazlowski, who moderated the session, asked the panelists how cover stories are decided.
Miller, whose staff wrote last month's lead story in Newsweek about the flu vaccine shortage, said there is no set rule in determining a cover story.

It is "usually a consensus" of editors that decides the cover at the Tuesday morning meeting based on what they have seen reported in newspapers and watched on TV.

"We talk all day" to other people about what is important, said Miller, who said Newsweek's covers have become "increasingly news-driven by natural events" since 9/11.

Gutner said Business Week's covers are usually about a business news scandal or event.
She pointed out BW specializes in providing "news analysis," which makes the magazine "unique."
McLaughlin said Time's covers are "pretty much news driven."

Hallet did not know how cover stories were picked at USN&WR.

All four panelists said lead time was not necessary when PR pros give them exclusives.

Gutner made the point of saying she likes to plan a story well in advance when a reporter has to go to the place where "something is happening."

MEDIA TIPS GUIDE
IS POPULAR AT PRSA.
One of the hottest freebies at the PRSA Conference in New York—where exhibitors gave away such things as digital cameras, iPods, pens, and cookies —was a wallet-size card containing "Ten Media Tips."

James Donnelly, Ketchum VP of issues management, gave away hundreds of the cards to people who stopped by the firm's booth for a five-minute demonstration on how to get ready for an interview.

The 10 tips are: 1. Be prepared. 2. Know your story. 3. Remember your audience. 4. Be assertive. 5. Use flags & bridges. 6. Turn negatives to positives. 7. When you don t know, say so. 8. Avoid professional buzzwords. 9. Focus on your objective. 10. Beware of interviewing traps.
Detailed instructions are given after each tip.

Cards may be obtained at 646/935-4062.

PEOPLE
Samantha Meiler, previously senior feature editor at the Star, has joined Bauer Publishing as executive editor of a new magazine.

Paul Hornell was named European editor of Motor Trend magazine.

Eric Alt, previously a senior associate editor at Maxim, has joined The New York Post as "Pulse" section editor.

William Grimes, previously chief restaurant critic of The New York Times, was named a book reviewer at the Times.

Myrna Blyth, who was editor-in-chief of Ladies Home Journal from 1981 to 2002, is writing a column about the media for The New York Sun.

(Media news continued on next page)

CRAINS CHICAGO BUSINESS
GETS NEW LOOK.
Crain's Chicago Business has been given a new three-section format. The front section includes short news stories and an expanded opinion page with new columns about politics, government and business.

The middle section is to provide information that readers can use in their working lives plus a monthly section that focuses on real estate, technology, and enterprise. The "Finance Mondays" page will be re-launched and upgraded.

The third section located in the back of the book and titled "The Business of Life," offers lifestyle-related stories and features with suggestions on how readers may spend time and money outside of the office. The articles will have local content.

The new look also features a new weekly column by Greg Hinz, a veteran political reporter for Crain's .

Jeff Bailey is editor of Crain's Chicago Business. He took over last November after 20 years with The Wall Street Journal.

NEW MAG WANTS
PRODUCT PLACEMENTS.
Life & Style Weekly, which began publishing on Nov. 1, offers a product and editorial friendly environment to publicists.

The magazine, published by Bauer Publishing in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., features new products placed alongside pictures of celebrities wearing, carrying or using them or ones just like them, according to Lindsay Loderstedt, manager of publicity.

Loderstedt said the new fashion and lifestyle magazine will cover everything from the hottest celebrity belts and skirts to what Hollywood moms are buying their babies.

"L&SW will showcase celebrities and the trends that young women in their 20s and 30s are following," she said. "It will present the latest and hottest trends created by celebrities and translate them for women all over the country to emulate," she said.

"If J. Lo carries a $2,000 Louis Vuitton bag to a movie premiere on Saturday, L&SW will show readers how to get the same look, with bags ranging in price from the same $2,000 one to a similar $20 bag found at Target by the following Wednesday," she said.

Although L&SW will give pricing and retail locations, it is not a shopping magazine, she said.

"It will showcase the products that best mirror a celebrity, no matter what the price point," she said.
The magazine's editor-in-chief is Sheryl Berk, and Bill Lieberman is managing editor. They can be reached at 201/569-6699.

NEW MAG PUTS FOCUS
ON WHAT'S NEXT.
Giant Magazine is a new entertainment magazine for men ages 21 to 34.

Content in the magazine will focus on "what's new, what's influential and what's next," said Judith King, principal/co-partner at Andy Morris & Co., which handles PR for Giant.

The magazine want to set itself apart from other "lad mags" by defining the issues that most men think and talk about, such as movies, video games, TV, and music.

The monthly magazine has 100,000 subscribers and has printed 350,000 copies for newsstands.
Its offices are in New York at 212/404-1266.

NYFWA PRESIDENT
ASKS FOR VOLUNTEERS.
Brad Finkelstein, president of the New York Financial Writers Assn., said volunteers are needed to fill vacancies on almost all of the committees.

He also urged members to pay their annual dues.

"Paying your dues is a sign of your commitment," said Finkelstein, who is the editor of National Mortgage News. The organization must have "a stronger commitment" from its members, said Finkelstein.

The ethics committee has a new opening as the result of Gene Smith's resignation as co-chairman.
Smith, a former president of NYFWA, has also resigned from the board of governors.

Chana Schoenberger of Forbes was appointed by Finkelstein to fill Smith's term.

Smith, who recently retired as editor of Utility Spotlight, has moved to "his beloved Plum Island," Finkelstein said in a letter sent to members.

HOT ROD EDITOR
TO OVERSEE CAR CRAFT.
David Freiburger was promoted to editor-in-chief of both Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines.

Both magazines, which are based in Los Angeles, are published by Primedia's Performance Automotive Group.

Rob Kinnan, formerly editorial director for ProMedia and editor of Race Pages, has joined Hot Rod as editor.

Hot Rod, which was recently redesigned, reaches more than seven million readers each month. Car Craft has a circulation of approximately 327,000 and reaches three million+ readers each month.

MEDIA BRIEFS
Inspire Your World, a consumer magazine on volunteering and philanthropy, has been nominated for an Eddie Award for magazine editorial excellence.

Angela Harrington, president/CEO of Harrington Comms., a PR firm in Springfield, N.J., is editor-in-chief of the magazine, which is published by Gary Schneider, CEO of BizExUSA in Millburn, N.J.

Strut, a free monthly women's magazine, made its debut in Detroit.

Published by Third Street Publications, it will feature personal essays on a range of topics such as dressing for parties and pages of photos and Q&As with local celebrities.

The magazine will be mailed to 10,000 women selected from marketing lists for the next three issues and 50,000 will be distributed at downtown events.

Travelgirl, which was launched in July, will be published on a bimonthly basis in 2005, according to Stephanie Oswald, who is editor-in-chief of the Atlanta-based magazine.

The national magazine is targeted at women because they make 75% of all family travel decisions, according to Oswald, who was the anchor of CNN's weekly traand-As with local celebrities.

The magazine will be mailed to 10,000 women selected from marketing lists for the next three issues and 50,000 will be distributed at downtown events.

Different people got different things from Donald Trump's PRSA speech. Here's what we got.

Trump told of having trouble with one bank in the early 1990s to which he owed $500 million+.

There was a "nasty, mean vicious guy" at the bank who wanted to "take me down," said Trump. He knew friends who had been driven into chapter 11 bankruptcy by the banker.

The press at that time had "screaming headlines" about Trump's troubles. "I was hammered," said Trump. The press was "so happy" he was in trouble. But Trump said, "I said to them, f— you," causing an outbreak of laughter and applause.
One night Trump dragged himself to yet another black-tie dinner at the Waldorf and by chance sat next to that very banker, whom he had never met.
The first ten minutes were "tough," he told the PRSA conference. But the two executives warmed to each other. "We just hit it off," said Trump.
On Monday, Trump went to the banker's office and cut a deal that practically saved his organization.

Trump told this story to show that "the harder you work, the luckier you get."

But we see a different meaning. Hostilities often melt at lengthy lunches, dinners, golf dates, nights-on-the-town or whatever provides a chance for two different sides to spend quality time with each other.

We'd like to see PR pros and reporters do more of this. It would do more to improve PR's understanding of the press than panels where editors sit apart and tell their deadlines and ways they want to get stories. PR firms need to loosen tight budgets.

Trump, the most publicized figure in business, showed a love/hate attitude towards the press.
"I think I get the worst press of any human being in the world," he said. He feels coverage of him in New York is particularly "terrible."

There's always some "shot" against him in every story such as "his hair looks like sh-t," he said.
"I take it very personally," said Trump. "I used to really go crazy...but everyone else thinks I get great press. Howard (Rubenstein) does."

Rubenstein, honorary conference chair, had obtained Trump as a speaker when Trump would have been golfing.

Trump said he gets so much good and bad press that it evens out.

He told of being very cooperative with media and rarely passing up a chance for publicity whether it be TV commercials for Pepsi and McDonald's or public service appearances.

For instance, he said "Entertainment Tonight" wanted to do a feature but he said he had no time. He agreed when the show said the taping could be done in his office. "I gave my four minutes," he said. He did the same for "Access Hollywood." ET even asked him "how brilliant" he was although he could never say such a thing in an ad, he noted.
He did a Super Bowl promo reasoning that more would see it than a $2-$3 million Super Bowl ad.
"PR is much more important than advertising," he said to applause. "When I get the word out that a building of mine is hot," he said, "it's better than a full page ad" in a newspaper that few will read.
But he also pointed out that "The press can kill you...the press can just eat you alive." Especially vulnerable, he said, are those who avoid the press but get one "defining story" that may be bad.
He told of a friend whom the press made out to be "the meanest jerk and he is exactly the opposite. It was a defining story. He may never have another."

Advice we didn't like from Trump was, "If somebody goes after you, go after the SOB and get them...the next time they won t go after you so much." He also advised not trusting anyone, including employees and even "the people sitting next to you right now...they ll take your job, they ll take your money...being a little paranoid is not so bad"... the appearance of Trump was brought about by the media-friendly Rubenstein firm. Conference co-chairs Kathy Lewton and Grace Leong are to be complimented for obtaining the help of Howard...the odd thing is that the powerhouse, 170-member Rubenstein firm has only one PRSA member– Howard himself. PRSA national and PRSA/New York should have been courting him for years. He knows so many people (3,000 attended his 50th anniversary celebration in PR) that he could easily put PRSA/New York back on the map again by supplying major speakers at chapter events, getting publicity, etc ... PRSA leaders enthused about national having 20,040 members but it had 19,600 six years ago. Included in the 20,040 are two months of expires. Growth of 440 in six years is nothing to crow about. PRSA president Del Galloway told the Assembly registrations (not counting 1,400 students) were 2,100. The figure was 2,058 when PRSA had its last conference in New York in 1990 ... PRSA Assembly delegates were shocked when they came out for the 10:45 "break" and found no coffee or pastries. Some leaders said PRSA couldn t afford it, that attendance was good but expenses were so great that PRSA would lose money on the conference. The bare bones press room didn t even have coffee although there was a hot, well-stocked buffet for staffers down the hall. We also think leaders (who gave their two hours of speeches in the morning) wanted to tamp down the decoupling debate by keeping the delegates hungry. The debate ran from 11:30 until 12:45 p.m., well into the lunch hour.

– Jack O'Dwyer