PORT AUTHORITY SEEKS
MARCOM HELP.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey wants to tell the public about its role operating transportation hubs in the bi-state area and has earmarked $25M to get the word out.

"It is important that the Authority's customers, the public, community and government officials, and the media have a full and sound understanding of the Authority's mission," reads an RFP issued this month by its public affairs unit, which will administer the contract.

The quasi-governmental entity, which is funded by the fees it charges for fares and rents, is looking for proposals to handle its overall marketing, PR and advertising for five years.

The PA's operations include bridges and tunnels, bus terminals, the PATH subway system, New York's major airports, marine terminals and ferry services.
Proposals are due Jan. 19. Patricia Halligan ([email protected]) is handling submissions.

TOSHIBA SHIFTS FROM GH TO MAPLES.
Toshiba America has pulled its digital products division and corporate work from GolinHarris Orange County, and awarded the business to Maples Communications in Irvine, Calif.

Bob Maples, veteran of Hill and Knowlton, Western Digital and AST Research, said he resigned the Fujitsu computer systems business in order to trade up to TA. Fujitsu has issued an RFP for that business with six firms in consideration.

Toshiba had been a "legacy" account of The Benjamin Group for more than 10 years, billing over the $2.5 million mark at its peak.

Sheri Benjamin sold her business to True North in `99, which was in turn gobbled up by Interpublic. IPG shifted it to GolinHarris in June.

Lisa Zwick, who heads GHOC, is leaving the firm at yearend to do consulting work.

Fred Cook, CEO of GH, told O'Dwyer's his firm is reducing the scope of work for Toshiba, but noted it still works for Toshiba's storage division.

Valerie DiMaria, VP of corporate PR for GE Capital and a former president of GCI Group, has been named VP of communications and PA at Motorola following a year-long search to fill that post.

Janilee Johnson, chief communications officer, left the company last year after taking the reins from longtime comms. chief Rusty Brashear in 2002.

QORVIS RAIDED BY FEDS.
Federal agents searched three Qorvis Communications offices on Dec. 7 as part of an ongoing investigation into the firm's work for Saudi Arabia.

The firm says the FBI is conducting a "compliance inquiry" under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, the law which requires domestic agents for foreign governments to register with the Dept. of Justice. Qorvis says it has complied with the registration process.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. said the raids were part of an "ongoing investigation."

Qorvis billed $7.3M from Saudi Arabia during its last six-month reporting period, ending Sept. 30. That work included setting up media interviews, drafting letters to congressmen and other PR duties.

Managing director Shereen Soghier heads the Saudi account for the firm.

B-M SAYS 'HELLO, BIRDIES.'
Hartz Mountain Corp., which markets over 1,500 pet care products, has hired Burson-Marsteller for a $500K PR assignment after a competitive pitch. G.S. Schwartz & Co. also pitched.

Hartz traces its history to 1926 when Max Stern emigrated from Germany to the U.S. with five thousand singing canaries. He started making bird food under the Hartz Mountain brand in `32, and pioneered the sale of millions of hamsters, parakeets, tropical fish, canaries, and their supplies to variety stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Hartz Mountain Industries, based in Secaucus, N.J., sold its pet business in 2000 to a management group to concentrate on real estate development.

SDI RALLIES SUPPORT
FOR TROOPS.
Susan Davis International, Washington, D.C., is handling the Pentagon's "America Supports You" campaign to drum up support for the nearly 150,000 U.S. forces that may be occupying Iraq during the next four years.

President Bush plugged the ASY program on Dec. 7 during his speech before Marines and their families at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He urged the audience to visit the ASY website that talks about the way the homefront is showing support for the troops that are currently deployed abroad.

The ASY site features stories about programs, such as "Hugs from Home," in which participants "adopt" soldiers by writing and sending care packages. It also has downloadable ASY logos that people can affix to tee-shirts, water bottles, hats, etc.

The ASY campaign, which has received coverage on CNN, "Live with Regis and Kelly," and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," got a PR boost from Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld on Dec. 2 when he presented an ASY dog tag to Bill O Reilly during his interview on Fox News "The O Reilly Factor."

Rumsfeld rewarded O Reilly and his program for "being a terrific supporter of our troops."

PT LOBBIES FOR CARRIER CASH.
Powell Tate has been hired by the Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition, a group of suppliers to the aircraft carrier industry that advocates for more funds.

Northrop Grumman is bankrolling the organization. The Los Angeles-based defense company owns the Newport News Shipyard in Virginia. That operation bills itself as the nation's only designer, builder and refueler of nuclear-powered carriers.

NG's last Nimitz-class carrier, the George H.W. Bush, cost more than $4 billion. PT's lobby team of Howard Opinsky, Clare Lynam and Lauren Glasner must convince Congressional appropriators that aircraft carriers are relevant in the post-Cold War world and can play a role today.

WS BEEFS UP
Hardee's' MEGABURGER.
Weber Shandwick and client Hardee's' are riding a wave of publicity from their unapologetic launch of a mammoth, 1,420-calorie, 104 grams of fat hamburger for the No. 4 fast food chain.

Kicked off with an Associated Press story in mid- November, the Monster Thickburger has generated press across the globe at a rate neither the client nor WS ever expected at its outset, according to WS/Los Angeles VP Caroline Weilert.

With extensive coverage of obesity issues and fad diets in the U.S., media have been drawn to report on Hardee's' new double-Angus patty burger, which has nearly twice the number of calories in McDonald's two-patty offering. But Weilert credits Hardee's' approach to marketing the new sandwich with fueling the PR bonanza.

OGILVY ADVISES LENOVO.
Ogilvy PR Worldwide is advising Chinese PC maker Lenovo through its landmark acquisition deal of IBM's PC business announced last week.

Ogilvy's Beijing office counsels Lenovo, according to Philip Lisio, IR director for Ogilvy in Beijing. Lisio said he did not have knowledge of any other firms having a role in the Lenovo deal, which is the largest overseas acquisition by a China-based company to date. IBM uses Euro RSCG Magnet, Text 100 (product lines) and One Blue for its $40M PR account.

Scott Friedman, SVP/global managing director on the IBM account at Text, said his firm bolstered corporate communications for the acquisition. He noted Text's three years of work for IBM and said: "We expect to at least have a chance to continue that work."

Lenovo plans to pay $1.5 billion in cash and stock to take over IBM's PC business, a deal that has brought mixed reviews.

SOCOM WANTS PSYOPS HELP.
The Florida-based command unit for the 50,000 special forces deployed in President Bush's "war on terror" is reaching out to the marcom industry for help with its psychological operations efforts.

The U.S. Special Operations Command, or SOCom, based at MacDill Air Force Base, wants to hear from agencies using state-of-the-art design, pro duction and dissemination technologies for multimedia products, along with the know-how to monitor results, all in multiple languages. That includes audio, video, printed and web-based products.

SOCom says its mission is to disrupt, defeat, and destroy terror networks that threaten the U.S. worldwide. President Bush has called Iraq the central front in the "war on terror."

Responses to SOCom's request for sources are due Dec. 15. Dorothy Lewis is contracting specialist at [email protected].

HILLARY, JEB BUSH
AIDES JOIN PS.
Joe Householder, who was communications director for New York Senator Hillary Clinton, has joined Public Strategies as a director in its Houston office. He began his communications career as a reporter at a Houston radio station.

Householder moved into politics in `00, working on the successful campaign of Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsak. (Both Clinton and Vilsak have been mentioned as Democratic presidential candidates in `08.)

Householder also worked as press secretary for Houston Mayor Lee Brown, and media relations manager at Vinson & Elkins.

Jill Bratina, communications director for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will join PS in Washington, D.C., next month. She is a crisis expert who handled PA at Bridgestone/Firestone during its tire recall. While at Ketchum/D.C., she worked on the Dow Chemical account handling silicone breast implant litigation, and Wyeth-Ayerst during the phen-fen lawsuits.

1.4M+NEWS STAFF
CHANGES RECORDED.
Bacon's Information in Chicago reports more than one million reporters, editors and producers left their jobs, shifted positions, or changed their contact information since last January.

Ruth McFarland, director of research, said over 1.4 million changes have occurred so far this year.

"Few PR pros can claim long-term reliable contacts because few journalists stay in one place long enough to depend on long-term PR sources," said McF arland, who pointed out there is an average of 300 n<%0>ew outlets added each week to Bacon's database.

BUSINESS WEEK
HIRES NEW EDITOR.
Stephen Adler, 49, who is deputy managing editor of The Wall Street Journal and editorial director of its online edition, has been hired as Business Week's next editor-in-chief.

Adler, who will join BW in January, will assume his new job on April 1, succeeding Steve Shepard, 65, who is leaving to become the founding dean of a new graduate school of journalism at the City Univ. of New York, which will open in 2006 in the former New York Herald-Tribune building on W. 41st st.

Adler, who has a law degree from Harvard, joined the Journal in 1988 as legal editor.

MEDIA/MARKETING TRENDS
In a study for the Media Center at the American Press Institute in Reston, Va., 40.8% of consumers said they spend a larger percentage of time viewing cable TV versus 37.5% of consumers who said they spend more time watching traditional TV networks.

Streaming radio services from America Online and Yahoo dominated the market for Internet radio in October, according to a new study.

Arbitron and ComScore Media Metrix reported 4.1 million people listened to Internet radio during an average week during the month. Yahoo's Launchcast service garnered 1.9 million, or 46% of the listeners; AOL Radio Network has 1.8 million, or 44%, and Microsoft's MSN Radio and Windows Media. com serviced 424,700 people, equal to 4%.
The report, which is the first in a monthly series, also estimated that 384,000 people age 12 and older, were listening during an average 15-minute period.

Harris Interactive said a new consumer purchasing study shows a continuing pattern of trading up to higher priced "new luxury" goods and trading down to lower-cost value brands.

The top trading up categories in the study were: personal computers, meat, homes or apartments, furniture, sit-down restaurants, cars, bedding, kitchen appliances, home entertainment products, and travel/ vacations.

The top trading down categories, according to the survey, were: canned foods, dry goods, snack foods, household cleaners, paper products, fast-service restaurants, accessories, soft drinks, bottled water and OTC health remedies.

Jericho Communications National Shopping Survey found heavy viewers of TV reality shows, especially "The Apprentice," are more likely to buy clothes they think will make them look sexier.

The survey found 28% of teenagers (13-16) who were heavy reality TV viewers, said sexuality was their main motivation for purchasing clothing, compared to 15% of non-viewers of the same age group.

The same trends held true for adults 23 to 45, where 51% of reality TV viewers gave the answer of "sexuality," compared to 46% of non-viewers.

The findings are based on responses from 4,236 people between the ages of 13 and 65 at seven malls across the U.S.

MEDIA BRIEFS
NBC will air a new weekday show next fall hosted by Martha Stewart, who is to get out of jail this month.

The live audience show, which will be produced by reality-show creator Mark Burnett, will focus on the home arts—cooking, decorating and crafts.
Stewart's earlier show, "Martha Stewart Living," was cancelled after she was sentenced to five months in jail for obstructing justice in an insider stock-trading investigation last year.

Newsweek's national ad rates will go up in 2005 by 5%. The new rates for a four-color page are $210,000 and $137,550 for a b&w page.
Newsweek's "Business Plus" edition will also increase rates by 4.8%, making a 4-color page $109K.

The magazine's U.S. circulation will remain at 3.1 million and Business Plus will remain at 1.2M.

CNBC has cancelled "McEnroe," a talk show hosted by tennis star John McEnroe, which occasionally registered a zero rating since debuting in July. It will be replaced by "The Big Idea," hosted by ad exec Donny Deutsch, which will go from a once-a-week airing to five days a week in late January.

Forbes.com has dropped the paid links in its news stories after objections from its editorial staff.

The Los Angeles Times will stop publishing a daily national edition at the end of the year.

Niche Media Publications, owned by Jason Binn, is starting magazines in Washington, D.C., (Capitol), Boston (Commonwealth) and San Francisco (Golden Gate) in 2005.

The new publications will be like Binn's other magazines—Hamptons, Ocean Drive, LA Confidential and Aspen Peak—which target affluent readers, focusing on luxury retail, real estate and celebrities.

The Houston Chronicle has acquired the weekly Spanish-language La Voz, a weekly paper started in 1979, which covers news, sports, food and entertainment, and has a circulation of 100,000. Aurora Losada will continue as editor.

Our Weekly, a new weekly newspaper dedicated to the African American communities of Los Angeles, will begin publishing in Jan.

The free paper is headed by Natalie Cole and David Miller, who are located in South L.A. Content will include news, lifestyle sections, health, wellness, art, entertainment, business, careers, education, real estate and a classified section.

PEOPLE
Everett Mitchell II, 42, managing editor The Detroit News, was named editor of The Tennessean, making him the first black person to become editor and VP/news at the Nashville paper.

Sue Burzynski was promoted to succeed Mitchell.

Bret Thorn, food editor of Nation's Restaurant News in New York was elected 2005 president of the 265-member International Foodservice Editorial Council, which is headquartered in Hyde Park, N.Y.

Carol Wilson, currently at Broadband Edge, is rejoining the staff of Telephony magazine as editor-at-large. She will contribute news, technology and features.

Carol Hunter was named editorial page editor of The Des Moines (Ia.) Register.

Beth Siriani and Joyce Chang have left Lucky magazine, where Siriani was associate fashion editor and Chang was senior fashion news editor.

Fiorella Valdesola, previously at Teen Vogue, has joined Nylon as beauty and style editor, replacing Charlotte Rudge, who went to Vital for Women as beauty editor.

Mickey Dolenz, who appeared in Broadway's "Aida," takes over as WCBS-FM's new morning host on Jan. 10. He is a member of the former band, The Monkees.

(Media news continued on next page)

N.Y. TIMES REVAMPS
TRAVEL SECTION.
The New York Times has added nearly a dozen new columns to its revamped Sunday "Travel" section, which made its debut on Dec. 5.

"The section will be newsier, livelier and more visually compelling than ever before," said Stuart Emmerich, edtior of the section.

Several columns will remain in the section, including "Practical Traveler" and "Choice Tables." New columns include:

—"Surfacing"—a spotlight on up-and-coming neighborhoods, restaurants and nightclubs around the world.

—"Check-in/Check-Out"—weekly reviews of recently opened hotels, such as a high-tech trendsetting hotel in Hong Kong or a family-run pensione in Tuscany.

—"Foraging"—a weekly shopping column that will identify some of the most alluring stores around the world.

—"High-Low"—a monthly column from two reporters visiting the same city but on different budgets.

—"What's Over/What's Next"—a look at travel trends such as remote regions of the world that are attracting tourism.

—"A Weekend with the Kids"—a regular feature about family travel, and how to pick a place that will satisfy both parent and child.

—"Why We Travel"—a photo essay.

PLACEMENT TIPS
Rachel Ramos, who is the media and marketing columnist for The Atlanta Business Chronicle, said product placement, luxury marketing, and Hispanic marketing topics are "hot" right now.

What is not hot is "technology, technology, technology," Ramos told iCD Media, Alpharetta, Ga.-based interactive CD producer.

She loves to cover out-of-the-ordinary stories that illustrate new trends.

Ramos likes to get calls on Thursdays and Fridays, but never on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays when she is on deadline, except if the publicist is returning her call about a news story, or they have "huge breaking news."

Phone calls are not unwelcome, but "e-mails are my favorite," said Ramos, who can be reached at 404/249-1044; [email protected].

Kevin Finnegan, who produces stories for medical correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin on "CBS Evening News," told Bulldog Reporter that the three elements to make a successful pitch are: exclusivity, access and a well-spoken patient and/or doctor.

Finnegan said the best pitches are those which offer embargoed scientific data because he needs enough lead time to produce the story.

He can be pitched at [email protected] or 212/975-3691.

Prevention, a diet, health, wellness and fitness magazine published by Rodale Press, has signed up Liz Lange, the former Vogue editor and maternity-wear guru, to write a column.

Lange told Fashion Week Daily her columns will focus on maternity-wear for travel, exercise, work and formal occasions.

NBC Universal has teamed with San Francisco-based Delivery Agent to allow viewers of "Will & Grace," "Las Vegas," the daytime soap "Passions" and Bravo's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" to buy products featured on these TV programs, including the stars wardrobes and accessories.

Brooklyn, a controlled circulation quarterly magazine, is being acquired by Townhouse Media from Susan Berman and Susan Myers, for approximately $400,000.

TM is headed by Joseph McCarthy, a Brooklyn filmmaker and husband of The New Yorker's executive editor Pamela McCarthy.

The new publisher may expand the magazine's focus and increase it to six times a year.
Joseph Steuer is staying on as editor of the magazine.

FOR THE RECORD
Audi designers developed and built a car explicitly for the movie, "I, Robot." It was "a product placement first," according to the Ingolstadt, Germany-based automaker's PR spokesman Eric Felber.

The concept car is visible for a total of almost nine minutes in the film, which has drawn a worldwide audience of more than 55 million to date.

Tim Miksche, who is responsible for product placement at Audi, said the placement has reinforced the core values of the Audi brand in the U.S.

Paramount Homes in Jackson, N.J., printed its news release on a clipboard for distribution at a recent event held to announce the start of construction on the redevelopment of Asbury Park, N.J.

Phil Entin, who handles PR for the builder, said the unusual press release "helped my client stand out" from competitors who used the traditional pocket folder as a press kit.

The clipboard was created for Paramount Homes by Promotion Corner.com.

A news story about a proposal that would require pharmaceutical companies to post information about upcoming drug trials on a public database to make sure the public knows what trials are taking place, and when they should look for results, was ranked as one of the top 10 health stories of 2004 by the editors of the Harvard Health Letter.

"Bad news about drugs should see the light of day," said HHL.

BzzAgent, Boston marketing firm that got a cover story in the Sunday Dec. 5 New York Times, is employing so-called "word-of-mouth" publicity techniques that cross the line of ethics.

BzzAgent's 60,000 "volunteers," who receive free samples, boost these products to others without necessarily saying that they are paid via the samples.

The NYT devoted seven pages to the technique noting that it is used by Procter & Gamble, which has 240,000 teenagers who push products for its Tremor "word-of-mouth" unit.

In a typical scenario, Sony Ericsson had 600 actors in 10 cities ask passersby to take pictures with its new camera-phone. The actors praised the device.
Another company hired people to walk around fairs and amusement parks with its new camera around their necks. People are also hired to read books in a conspicuous manner in public transportation.

The "Code of Conduct" of BzzAgent says its agents should "feel free" to tell friends that they re "involved" with BzzAgent. We told founder Dave Balter his code should read, "must" tell friends.

The old as well as the new PRSA code bars "stealth" communications.

Balter said he is "struggling" with the transparency issue, wondering "where the line should be drawn."

People are not asked to promote products they don t believe in, he notes. But one PR veteran said: "Friends don t buzz friends, do they?"

Some big PR firms belong to WOMMA–Word of Mouth Marketing Assn. (womma.com).

Blogethics.com says WOMMA members such as BzzAgent are "evil word of mouth marketers."

WOMMA says its purpose is to "fight against underhanded online marketing, including random, anonymous attacks and the practice of invading other websites." WOMMA says it is dedicated to "win-win ethics standards." A Word of Mouth Marketing Ethical Code is to be released in January.

Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion, by Arizona State Univ. Prof. Robert Cialdini, describes psychological tricks used in selling. Cialdini wrote it for consumers but marketers are the biggest buyers.

Beware of people doing favors for you or asking you to do favors for them, he warns. Don t answer polls or sign petitions, he says, because they may "set you up." In one study, homeowners were asked to sign a petition to "keep California beautiful." The next week, they were asked to display a big sign on their lawns saying, "DRIVE CAREFULLY." Half the signers agreed to do this while almost no one else did.

The signers had defined themselves as public-spirited citizens and were afraid of being hypocrites.

Some real estate agents "set up" prospects by showing them overpriced "dogs" before lower-priced nicer homes. Cialdini cited one firm that owned the "dog" house.

The tally of how the PRSA chapters voted on decoupling APR from the Assembly (page one) is the Rosetta Stone of PRSA, revealing the political landscape of PRSA in stark outline.

Now we know which chapters are the hotbeds of APR, the opponents of democracy that have sabotaged the governance of PRSA for 31 years.

Some directors of PRSA battled for a month and a half to block publication of the vote but finally gave in to pressure from the big chapters and national board member Gary McCormick.

There are several shocks in the tally, carried in full on the O'Dwyer website. Reed Byrum, 2003 president, after campaigning a year for decoupling, voted against it.

Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Indepen-dence was signed, was unanimously against giving all members the right to serve in the Assembly.

Other chapters voting to preserve the elite status of APRs in PRSA were Los Angeles, Puget Sound, Orange Cty., Wisconsin, Cincinnati, S. Carolina, Kansas City, Richmond, and Charlotte. Their rank and file members, with help from enlightened chapters, must instruct their leaders in the merits of democracy.

Another shock was a "no" vote from Sarah Yeaney, president of PR Student Society of America. So young and so reactionary! We could expect a no vote from the College of Fellows, represented by Joe Epley, who spoke against decoupling at the Assembly. The Counselors Academy, corporate, military, and health sections also voted for the status quo. The information in the tally needs study and analysis. It should have been available immediately to the delegates and members ... the 52 delegates in the top ten chapters voting for decoupling represented 4,837 members or 3.5 times the 1,354 members represented by the 15 voting against it ... bylaws call for one vote per 100 members or part thereof resulting in about 12 chapters with less than 120 members getting two full votes. Some have as few as 107 or 102 members. This must be replaced by proportional voting so that a chapter with 105 members gets 105 "units" and one with 196 gets 196 "units" ... present at the Assembly were 97 chapters. Voting for decoupling were 149 delegates representing 12,969 members and voting "no" were 67 delegates representing 5,728 members ... none of San Diego's three delegates showed up, the only chapter in the top 59 not repre sented ... three of the six delegates-at-large didn't show–Les Goldberg, Rock Jenkins and Susan Schumacher ... the national board should be decoupled early in 2005 so all members, at last, can run for office. Only ten showed up for seven national posts this year.

– Jack O'Dwyer