COACHES WANT PR SUPPORT.
The International Coach Federation, the D.C.-based trade group for business, executive and personal coaches, has issued an RFP for a firm to handle global PR and marketing in 2005.

The Federation wants a firm to oversee an anticipated six-figure budget to "bring forth a better understanding and visibility of the coaching profession" in the U.S. and abroad, according to the RFP.

ICF counts 7,600 members (up from 1,500 in 2000), ranging from executive coaches who can teach clients to be more assertive, to personal coaches who draw up plans for eating habits, exercise and psychology. The group estimates there are 20,000 full-time coaches practicing worldwide, with three-fourths of them in the United States.

Proposals are due Dec. 6 and finalists will be expected to fly to Washington to make a presentation, but the search is being headed by Florida-based Robert Stack ([email protected]). Information can also be obtained from Linda Finkle (linda@ incedeogroup.com).

BRUNSWICK BOOTS GLAZER.
Brunswick Group has dropped Malcolm Glazer, owner of Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team, as a client because he would not accept its recommendations regarding his hostile takeover bid of Manchester United, the world's most popular sports brand.

The U.K.-based firm expected to receive fees in the $2 million range, according to a BG staffer, who added that the work was worth every penny because of the strong emotions that the takeover bid has triggered among Man United's fan base.

One observer likened it to a foreigner attempting a hostile takeover of the New York Yankees.

BG dropped the account following Man United's Nov. 12 annual general meeting, in which Glazer used his 28.1 percent stake in the soccer team to block the appointment of three directors to its board.

That move, according to the BBC, also prompted JP Morgan, which was lining up financing for Glazer's $1.3 billion bid, to withdraw from the takeover effort.

Korn/Ferry International is doing searches for Cisco (VP-corporate comms.), Edelman (president-global tech.), Securities Industry Assn. (SVP-CC), Aetna (VP-CC), Baxter Healthcare (VP-external comms.) and Public Strategies (Calif./mng. director).

Pepper Lunsford Binner (202/822-9444) has details

AT&T's SCHAUER REPORTS TO CEO.
AT&T, reversing a decision to have PR report through line executive John Polumbo to CEO Dave Dorman, reversed that decision in an internal memo distributed Nov. 8.

Dorman explained that Polumbo, president of AT&T Consumer, has numerous responsibilities handling consumer products and that a direct report from PR was needed.

Robert Schauer, VP-PR, who supervises the "PR Field Team" of AT&T, will now report directly to Dorman.

AT&T is cutting worldwide staff by about 20%. It had sales of $34 billion in 2003 but is restructuring.

The company has about 120 PR staffers worldwide. Schauer supervises PR pros in U.S. offices.

Arthur Page became AT&T's first VP-PR in 1927.

In the recent reorganization of PR, internal public relations was placed under human relations and business PR was placed under marketing.

KESSLER JOINS SS+K.
Weber Shandwick California president Joe Kessler is opening a Los Angeles office for Shepardson Stern + Kaminsky. He was responsible for four offices in the Golden State, and previously headed the Interpublic unit's global technology practice.

Mark Kaminsky, SS+K founding partner, said the New York-based firm is opening in California because it is "the promised land of innovative thought and practice." SS+K is also in Boston and Seattle.

The move into California follows the decision of Creative Artists Agency, the talent agency powerhouse, to purchase a minority stake in SS+K, which counts Time Warner Cable, Microsoft, Sirius Satellite Radio and the New York Jets as clients.

'ADVERGAMING' SET TO SURGE.
Marketers are salivating over the prospects of tapping into the $12.5 billion video game business, Stuart Elliott, New York Times ad columnist, told the New York American Marketing Assn. town forum on Nov. 12.

The basic attraction of video games is that consumers "choose to play them," and "are not sold to," as in traditional advertising, said Elliott, who moderated the session called "Advergaming: The Revolution Marketers Need to Join."

Panelists agreed that advergaming is in its infancy, chalking up a mere $50 million in annual ad sales.
The market, however, is on the verge of exploding as publishers "move beyond the game box," and build online communities of game players.

That shift will come with the increase in the number of broadband Internet connections to allow video transmission of game content.

Online ‘Episodes'

Dave Evans, strategy director/integration services at GSD&M, described how MiniCooper developed an online "drive the streets of Manhattan" game to position itself as a marketer of a fun car.

Online gaming, according to Evans, builds "social networks" so marketers can "tell a story," and consumers can figure out where the brand "fits into their lives."

Dave Madden, EVP sales/marketing at WildTangent, predicted online publishers will produce "episodic programming like TV," giving marketers platforms in which they "brand cast" their products.

Game play, to Madden, is an intense experience in which players "lose sense of everything around them."

Sam Huxley, chief strategic officer of Bounce Interactive Gaming, a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, admitted gaming is not for all marketers.
Stove Top Stuffing, for instance, probably shouldn't develop a "stuff the turkey video game," but a placement in a "Sims" game may do the trick.

MACRIE LEAVING CARDINAL.
Sari Macrie, senior VP of Cardinal Health, Dublin, Ohio, $60 billion provider of healthcare products and services, is leaving the company following the elimination of her job. She headed pro-active communications and branding.

Cardinal is going through a $300 million restructuring and does not plan to refill the post, if they do at all, for at least a year, said Macrie.

With Cardinal the past two years, she previously had her own firm, Macrie & Assocs. Clients included Cardinal, Monsanto, Pharmacia, Tellabs and SBC Communications. Before having her own firm, she was at Ameritech.

Macrie is a member of PR Seminar and The Arthur Page Society.

Jim Mazzola continues as VP-PR at Cardinal.

W2 EXPANDS
' MARKETING ECOSYSTEM.'
The W2 Group has acquired an investment stake in One to One Interactive because of its "next-gen web services orientation," Larry Weber, CEO and former head of Weber Shandwick, told O'Dwyer's .

The seven-year-old Boston-based firm has 55 staffers and revenues in the $8 million range, according to Ian Karnell, co-founder of the firm.

OtO provides e–mail/database marketing and behavioral segmentation services to clients, such as Qualcomm, Unisys, State Street Bank, Novo Nordisk and GlaxoSmithKline.

OtO joins W2's "marketing ecosystem," which includes Racepoint Group (40 high-tech PR staffers), Digital Influence (seven people handling constituency management) and ThirdScreen Media (10 media management staffers).

The W2 family, according to Weber, is targeting chief marketing officers who "understand the need to establish a dialog with their customer base."

Weber said the future is about "two-way communications," and not just about buying 30-second spots, which is the "economic hang-up" of the ad/PR congloms.

'PAGE SIX' REWARDS, PUNISHES.
More than a dozen current and former writers for "Page Six" of the New York Post reveal their high and low moments in working for the gossip column in a lengthy feature in the December Vanity Fair.

"Bad guys" such as the late Roy Cohn came off looking good as long as they fed the column juicy, bullet-proof items.

He was the "number one" source for writer Claudia Cohen, who says "He knew everything."

"And nobody knew where more bodies were buried in New York City than Roy Cohn," she adds.

However, Cohn later "burned" the column and Cohen by giving her a false story after he swore it was "absolutely solid."

He was "banned" from the column.

The top contributors over the years, according to the writers, have been publicists Bobby Zarem and Sy Presten.

PR people working for restaurants contribute many items although the article notes that sometimes the celebrity mentioned may not even have been in the restaurant.

The practice of a PR pro or celebrity "trading" a bad story about the celebrity in return for a promised "scoop" is covered. However, the page admits that in some cases the promised "scoop" never arrives and that person is then "banned" from the page.

Disputes with Paul Newman (about his height), Donald Trump (about whether he was banned from the Maidstone Golf Club), Sean Penn (his alleged love life), and Mickey Rourke (ditto) are described.

For those who want to get themselves or clients on Page Six, there is a list of its favorite press agents — Zarem, Presten, Bernie Bennett, Sam Gutwirth, Jack Tirman, and Harvey Mann.

EDELMAN: DO
'NEWS-TAINMENT' PITCHES.
PR people should consider mixing hard news with human interest when pitching the media, says Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman PR, on his firm's weblog.

He believes this approach will work better because "media companies are now looking at the opportunity to market to a reader/viewer as an investor, consumer of upscale products/services, technology devotee, cultural connoisseur and science maven.

"The need to satisfy the `whole person with one-stop shopping is much harder to achieve. That suggests a more `news-tainment approach to PR, hard news blended with human interest," he said.

Edelman also believes there will be more paid content, less advertising-sponsored free content in the future.

" As an example, I can no longer watch the Yankees on WPIX, a `free channel, because the games are only available on the paid YES Network," he said.
He also said there is no more `town square effect from the nightly news broadcasts on network— "too much dispersion of the audience."

"Therefore, PR will have to work patiently niche by niche, cable plus trade media plus local media plus business media to achieve an overall effect. And perhaps we ought to consider playing in the paid content segment, with sponsored programming on cable," he suggested.

PR PRO SCORES
90-SECOND TV HIT.
Jeff Blumenfeld, president of Blumenfeld and Associates, Darien, Conn., scored a publicity coup for his client, The New York Pizza Show, which was being held Nov. 2-3, when ABC's "Good Morning America" aired a 90-second pizza throwing demonstration by the U.S. Pizza Team.

Blumenfeld, who has made a bunch of appearances on the "Today Show," got the team, which was in town to compete in the pizza show, through the back door of GMA's studios after he "couldn't get the time of day" from the show's bookers.

He called GMA's audience coordinator Samantha Green and requested passes into the studio. "Once there, the pizza team—all wearing official't -shirts and twirling rubber pizzas—got the attention of the floor manager and a few cameramen," said Blumenfeld.

The rubber pizzas, which are called Throw Dough, are a training tool for pizza athletes. ("Honest...you can't make this stuff up," he said.)

It didn't take long for members of the audience to start twirling the rubber pizzas, while the floor manager logged onto the team's website (www.us pizzateam.com) to verify the team was legit and there is a sport involving freestyle throwing and stretching of dough. During the demonstration, Tony Perkins, who is GMA's weatherman, mentioned the pizza show.

Blumenfeld said the real value of the placement is "how we will merchandise the appearance."

PLACEMENT TIPS
Advertising Age has a new publication , called Point, which will feature reports from top executives, marketing authors and academics plus case histories, Q&A sessions with notable names in the ad and marketing industry, book reviews, and opinion columns.

Geoffrey Precourt, former editor of Fortune, is editor of Point, which will be distributed free every month with Ad Age.

Newsweek is starting a new magazine, called Tip, a spinoff of its "The Tip Sheet" section.

Tip, which will go on newsstands on Nov. 15, will provide information that will help readers figure out what products and services are right for them.

There will also be an online component to Tip, which includes links to some products websites, a daily online forum with Tip editors, and a weekly online newsletter.

The debut issue has a holiday gift guide with 73 Tip-tested gifts, articles about holiday getaways, and information on how to throw the perfect party.
Kathleen Deveny, who is assistant managing editor of Newsweek, is editor of Tip.

Bride's magazine has started a new column, called "Wedding Spy," that takes a look at wedding industry trends.

For example, the first column in the January/February number, now on newsstands, reveals the return of the formal bridal portrait; doggie bags for guests; karaoke at rehearsals; super size diamond rings, and relatives shouldering wedding expenses. There's also the newly created position of "engagement concierge."

Cherie Shanahan, Bride's PR director, said the writer of the column will be incognito to avoid detection while covering weddings.

Shanahan said publicists can call her (212/286-7412) if they have something to pitch. She will pass the information along to the writer.

For Me, a new lifestyle magazine targeted to women between the ages of 25 and 35, made its debut on newsstands Nov. 9.

For Me's content addresses various issues, such as maneuvering early careers; purchasing an apartment; planning a vacation, and having fun on a limited budget.

Ellen Breslau, senior articles editor of Woman's Day, is editor of For Me, which is published in New York by Hachette Filipacchi Media.

Florida Travel & Life will make its debut as a quarterly publication in March 2005.

World Publications, based in Winter Park, Fla., hopes to establish FT&L as the "first affluent lifestyle magazine devoted to the Sunshine State."

Steve Blount, editorial director of WP, who will serve as editor for the launch of FT&L, plans to publish profiles of the most successful Floridians.

Al Tompkins, who suggests story ideas on Poynter Online, said the travel industry is cashing in on the shortage of flu vaccinations in the U.S. by offering "flu vacations" to Canada, which does not have a shortage of flu vaccine.

One company is offering a cruise from Seattle to Victoria, where travelers can get a flu shot as soon they arrive, and a service called The Medicine Express is busing folks from New York to Canada, Tompkins said in his Nov. 7 "Morning Meeting" memo.

He also advised reporters to keep an eye on coal stocks, which have done well since President Bush was re-elected.

USA Today has boosted its book coverage from one to two days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) under book editor Carol Memmott, who was given this year's "AAP Honors" award by the Assn. of American Publishers.

Memmott's strategy is to keep reviews short in favor of trend stories and publishing stories. She also strives to be newsy.

Sporting WomanQuarterly, based in Wellington, Fla.., will make its newsstand debut in early Spring 2005 with an initial rate base of 400,000.

JA Plank, who handles media relations for the publisher, said it will target the well-heeled sports socialite or enthusiast 25-49+, who works from a social secretary or social calendar, and goes to sporting events and related charity functions.

The magazine will feature seasonal highlights of women's luxury sporting events, including polo and equestrian events, golf, tennis, and premium international sports.

It will also feature athlete interviews, sporting trends, fashion, sporting goods, travel information, and upcoming events.

Plank said the editor-in-chief will be announced shortly. Plank can be reached at 404/432-6179 or preferrably via e-mail at media@ sportingwomanquarterly.com.

(Media news continued on next page)

THE JOURNAL TO AIR
NEWS ON WEEKENDS.
"The Wall Street Journal This Morning," an early morning radio news program being carried by 80+ radio stations, will expand to weekends beginning Jan. 8.

Besides highlighting the top business stories of the week, each one-hour weekend show will have original material appropriate for Saturdays and Sundays, including:

—"Weekend Adviser"—a look at movies, DVDs, music and books.

—"Takeoffs and Landings"—exclusive travel news, deals and tips.

—"Home Front"—an update on buying and selling, design ideas and gear for the home.

—"Stocks to Watch"—a segment devoted to stocks likely to move up or down in the weeks ahead.

There will also be news on autos, fitness, health, career-planning and portfolio update ideas.

Cheryl Simone-Miller, who recently joined the Journal from all-news WINS-AM, New York, will appear on the program, which will be hosted by Michael Wallace, who is current host of the weekday program.

PHILIP MORRIS
EXTINGUISHES MAGAZINE.
Philip Morris will no longer publish Unlimited, a custom magazine that was sent to two million smokers.

The quarterly magazine, which was published by Hachette Filipacchi, was started in the early 1980s by Guy Smith IV, who was PM's VP/corporate affairs and editor-in-chief.

The magazine, which was called PM back then, featured mostly articles and photos about topics related to smokers rights.

When the name was changed to Unlimited about eight years ago, the articles shifted to outdoor adventure travel, which were linked to the items in a catalog that smokers could buy with coupons clipped from Marlboro packages.

About a dozen people worked on the magazine, including Kevin Haynes, who was editor-in-chief.

MEDIA BRIEFS
Graphic Arts Monthly, a Reed Business Information magazine, has moved its editorial offices to Oak Brook, Ill., from New York, and promoted Bill Esler, previously Midwest editor, to editor-in-chief, succeeding Roger Ynostroza, now editorial director.

Glenn Beck, nationally syndicated radio talker, has renewed his contract with Premiere Radio Networks. Based in Philadelphia, Beck's show airs weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon ET.

ABC Radio Networks and Spanish Broadcasting System will nationally syndicate three popular Hispanic radio programs in the U.S.: "El Vacilon de la Manana" with Luis Jimenez and Moonshadow, which is a morning show originating on New York's WSKO-FM; "El Cucuy de la Manana," with Renan Almendarez Coello, which airs from KLAX-FM in Los Angeles, and "El Vacilon de la Manana," with Enrique Santos and Joe Ferrero, a morning show in Miami on WXDJ-FM.

Broadcasting & Cable, which was started 73 years ago as Broadcasting magazine, has changed its name to B&C, and unveiled a new look.
Max Robins, editor-in-chief, said the new look is intended to "downplay the differences between broadcasting and cable TV and, instead, to emphasize that they are two sides of the same coin."

PEOPLE
John Mancini, 44, an assistant managing editor at Newsday, was named to succeed Howard Schneider as editor of the Long Island daily.

Charles Hayward, previously president/CEO of The Racing Form, was appointed CEO of New York Racing Assn., which is under federal investigation for tax fraud and mismanagement as well as probes from the state attorney general, the state comptroller and the New York Racing and Wagering Board.

Philip Bennett, 44, was appointed managing editor of The Washington Post, replacing Steve Coll, who is stepping down.

Dan Briody, previously a senior writer at Red Herring, was named executive editor of CIO Insight magazine, based in New York.

Laura Gilbert, previously a senior editor at Maxim, has joined Bauer Publishing as deputy editor of a new magazine that is in the works.

Richard Chang, a business reporter for Reuters and a member of the New York Financial Writers Assn., has written and performs in a one-man comedy/musical show, called "Goy Vey!," which opens Nov. 17 at the 45th Street Theatre in Manhattan.

Marisa Sandora, previously deputy editor of M magazine, was promoted to executive editor of M and editor-in-chief of M's bimonthly spinoff QuizFest.

Bernadette Grey, who is editor-in-chief of Scholastic Administrator magazine, will also serve as editor-in-chief of Instructor, a magazine for K-8 educators, published eight times a year.

Robert Hager, who spent 35 years at NBC News, has retired as a correspondent.

James Brady, a former sports editor and then assistant managing editor of washingtonpost.com from 1995 to 1998, was appointed executive editor of the website, succeeding Doug Feaver, who is retiring.

Brooke Magnaghi, most recently a W fashion editor, was named fashion editor of W Jewelry and jewelry news editor at W.

MEDIA BRIEFS
"The Amie Jo Show," an Internet-TV talk show, will be disgtributed exclusively by Black Insight Magazine, a digital interactive magazine featuring African Americans.

The show, hosted by Amie Jo Greer, who is president of Corner4Success, will be shot in the Omni Hotel in Los Angeles and in various locations in Las Vegas before a live audience.

Amie's first guest is Lisa Price, president of Carol's Daughter, located in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Melissa Estrada is handling pitches and inquiries about the show at 866/432-8385.

Monthly magazines distributed free of charge at railway stations and convenience stores are popping up all over Japan, reports Japan Today.
Seven types of these free magazines are available in Tokyo subway stations.

The magazines, which focus on lifestyle and highlight travel destinations and products, have begun carrying intervirews and feature articles.

The New York Times Co. has sold its 15-story, 750,000-square-foot headquarters in Times Square for $175 million to Tishman Speyer Properties, which will convert it to an office building.

The Times will remain in the building, which opened in 1913, until sometime in 2007, when the newspaper plans to move to a new skyscraper across 8th ave. from the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

The Society of Publication Designers, a nonprofit group, is the under investigation by the Manhattan district attorney's office for alleged "financial irregularities."

The SPD board recently fired executive director Bride Whelan, who had run the organization for 22 years.

An unidentified source told The New York Post that "at least" $500,000 is believed to have been siphoned out of the organization over a 10-year period. Whelan denies the claim.

There was good and bad corporate news last week. After a brief period, the $34 billion AT&T again let PR report directly to the CEO.

But Sari Macrie, SVP of Cardinal Health ($60B), said her job doing "pro-active communications and branding" was eliminated. The company just wasn't interested in doing this any more, she explained.

No doubt pressure by AT&T's 120-member PR staff and many alumni helped CEO Dave Dorman change his mind.

AT&T, after all, was the home of Arthur Page, for whom the Arthur Page Society is named.

He was AT&T's first VP-PR in 1927 and ever since then all VPs of PR had reported to the CEO.

If PR is going to be downgraded at AT&T, the whole field is in a lot of trouble.

As for Macrie, veteran corporate PR pros theorized she may have been a victim of a management consultant such as McKinsey & Co., Chicago.

Such consultants take a dim view of companies communicating too much with the outside world and often either urge dumping the corporate department or dispersing it to various operating units.

Macrie called us back and was candid about what caused her departure. When we called the company PR unit looking for more details and her picture, no one called us back. Almost needless to say, McKinsey did not return a call.

But the AT&T PR dept., acting like corporate PR units used to act, sent us full details on new PR head Robert Schauer including his picture.

The key corporate PR statistic this year is the 42 new members that PR Seminar needed to hold its annual meeting (6/16/04NL). That shows how insecure top corporate PR jobs have become. PRS only used to need 7-10 new members yearly.

Some PR pros groused about the blunt language and combative attitudes that were in the speech by Donald Trump at the PRSA conference.

It was definitely not marketing-speak nor PR-speak. Trump urged PR pros to fight enemies with no holds barred and exact revenge on those who wrong them. He portrayed the business world as close to a bar-room brawl where submissive types can't survive. Not trusting anyone was a key part of his message. While PR pros may not like his blunt "slanguage," some business schools are welcoming this candid take on the biz world. Babson College, Southern Methodist University, the University of Washington, Northern Illinois University and Ohio State University are using Trump's "The Apprentice" in their curriculums, "complete with the cutthroat culture and back-stabbing way of life," said the New York Post Nov. 8. Sex in the boardroom can't be ignored, says Trump.

"We can say it isn't there, but it is," he says.

Another sampling of blunt language is in Vanity Fair's take on the Post's "Page Six." Reporters irreverent approach is a far cry from marcom strategic plans. Yale Prof. William McGuire told a PRSA conference that the first step to convincing an audience of something is to talk, dress and act like the audience in as many ways as possible. PR pros must use "news-speak in dealing with the press.

Our list last week of PRSA committees and task forces whose advice was ignored left out several including the four-year $150,000 "credibility" study of 1999 that wasn't published except for a small excerpt and the two-year APR/PR recruiter study that was totally squashed in 1999.

But the granddaddy of all bootless errands at PRSA was the two-year quest of seven chapters for national h.q. The board said in 1984 it was moving h.q. from midtown [where it was too convenient to New Yorkers] and would think about moving to another city. It later became apparent, despite heroic efforts by seven chapters, that the board had no intention of moving from New York no matter how many arguments were made about cheaper rent, better offices, more central location, and cheaper labor.

By early 1985, a foot and a half of materials had been sent to h.q. PRSA/Chicago ended up sending 15 pounds. When the board, meeting at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel, Calif, voted on Aug. 16, 1985 to keep h.q. in New York (without even waiting for the Assembly to say anything), the seven chapters exploded, charging the board with committing an "outrage" and "railroading" the issue. The 1985 Assembly, by a vote of 126-20, ordered the board to reconsider its action. The supposedly neutral staff lobbied heavily against the move, 34 of the 38 staffers saying they would quit. The board, its back up against the wall, hired Touche Ross for $25K (actual cost was $37K) to do a study of the costs of moving from New York. TR said it would cost $1.09 million, which the chapters regarded as preposterous.

TR estimated $180K in recruiter fees to hire new staffers and said $257K would be lost due to inexperienced staffers. Indianapolis argued that it could provide rent/salary savings of $300K a year and this was being ignored. Houston was furious, member Sally Evans saying locations in lower Manhattan she was shown "made me sick" (one was a converted hat factory). "We could have top-notch space in Houston for less," she claimed.

Oddly, PRSA staffers later claimed their offices at 33 Irving place had such bad air and other problems that the offices were unhabitable. Despite all the moaning, the board voted again in May 1986 to stay in N.Y. It permanently cancelled the spring Assembly the same year. National continues to dominate the Assembly.

– Jack O'Dwyer