TEXAS SEEKS TRANSPORT PR.
The Texas Department of Transportation is seeking proposals from firms through late August for an agency-wide communications audit and the development of a strategic communications plan. The state agency, which employs 15,000 people across six offices and doles out a $2 billion budget, has embarked on the first year of a five-year strategic plan to provide “safe, effective and efficient” movement of people and goods throughout the second largest state in the union behind Alaska.

Contracting officer Gracie Saucedo said the RFP is a new requirement. Budget information is not available, she said.

A firm must have at least three years experience within the last seven years in conducting such an audit or similar services, and in carrying out strategic communications services, according to the RFP.

The DoT wants recommendations for improving and implementing internal and external communications strategies as it faces a revenue squeeze (Texas’ fuel tax hasn’t risen since ’91, but the DoT’s infrastructure has grown), a growing population (up 1.3M from 2000 to about 22M) and the maintenance of key routes for NAFTA trade. Gov. Rick Perry has proposed an ambitious 4,000-mile Trans-Texas Corridor program to complement Texas’ interstates with separate car/truck lanes, high-speed commuter rail service, commercial railways and utility lines across the state.

Responses to the RFP are due by August 23 and a pre-bid conference is slated for Aug. 19 in Austin (questions for the conference are due Aug. 2).

BKSH HIRED BY PENTAGON’S ‘PSYOPS’ FIRM.
Burson-Marsteller’s BKSH & Assocs. has been hired by The Lincoln Group, one of three firms selected last month by the U.S. Special Operations Command, to wage psychological warfare on behalf of the Pentagon in Iraq and other hot spots.

Chairman Charlie Black, the former Republican National Committee spokesperson and advisor to Presidents Reagan and Bush, heads the account with Gardner Peckham, senior policy advisor to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

BKSH has experience on the Iraqi front earned from work for Ahmed Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress.

Col. James Treadwell, director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element, said TLG was selected to develop “cutting-edge types of media,” including radio/TV ads, documentaries, text messages, Internet spots and podcasts for the U.S. military.

SORRELL IS WPP’S $40M MAN.
WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell hauled in $40 million in ‘04 compensation, which made him the highest-paid CEO among the U.K’s top 100 companies.
The 60-year-old executive’s pay package was up 10-fold, according to Bloomberg, and bucked a trend of slowing compensation growth.

Sorrell’s compensation more than doubled the No. 2 executive on the FTSE 100 Index Bart Becht, CEO of Reckitt Benckiser. He earned $15.6 million.

More than 80 percent of Sorrell’s compensation stemmed from long-term incentive plans.

MERGENTHALER TAKES IPG CFO SLOT.
Frank Mergenthaler, who was CFO at direct marketer Columbia House, has joined Interpublic in the same capacity, succeeding Bob Thompson who left after a year of service. He will receive a $750K salary, and is entitled to a minimum $750K in ‘05 bonus.

Mergenthaler views himself as an “operating partner” to IPG CEO and former MONY head Michael Roth.

He took the CH post after its leveraged buyout by the Blackstone Group. He got high marks for overhauling its information technology functions and “cost rationalizations.”

Previously, Mergenthaler was senior VP and deputy CFO at Vivendi Universal and chief accounting officer at Seagram Co., leading corporate overhead reduction initiatives. He was at Price Waterhouse from ‘83 to ‘96.

KC MAYOR JOINS F-H.
Carol Marinovich, the former mayor of Kansas City (Kan.), has joined Fleishman-Hillard as head of its public affairs practice in Missouri’s K.C.

She will focus her attention on healthcare, energy, real estate development and transportation.

The Kansas City Star lauded Marinovich, who stepped down earlier this year, as “one of the area’s best-known politicians.”

The Star credits Marinovich with “leading political reform and an economic turnaround in what was once a downtrodden municipality in the metropolitan area.”

Marinovich, during her tenure as mayor, attracted the Kansas Speedway and Berkshire-Hathaway’s Nebraska Furniture Mart to the K.C. area.

In ‘02, Governing Magazine named Marinovich one of the nation’s top 15 public officials. She was the first woman elected to serve on the K.C. council in 1989, and became mayor in `97.

F-H has about 100 staffers in its KC office, which is headed by Anne St. Peter.

IPS PROMOTES U.S. RETURN TO SOMALIA.
International Policy Solutions has a $360,000 contract with the transitional government of Somalia to encourage the Pentagon and Dept. of Homeland Security to provide the logistical support to rebuild the Horn of Africa country’s infrastructure.

Somalia has been ruled by warlords since they ousted military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in `91. The `93 U.S. humanitarian mission to Somalia resulted in the death of 30 American troops.

The International Crisis Group (Brussels) issued a report this month that called Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu, the home to “al Qaeda operatives and jihadi extremists.”

The transitional government moved from Kenya to Mogadishu in June. It expects to function with the help of 10,000 peacekeepers from the African Union.

IPS is headed by former Congressman Bill Brewster. He is to pitch the transitional government’s commitment to wipe out terror cells and eagerness to work as an ally of the Bush Administration in the war on terror.

Brewster serves as Somalia’s official representative to the U.S., United Nations, European Union and Gulf States.

Qorvis Communications has done some pro-bono work for Somalia.

MIAMI WANTS FIRM TO PUSH KIDS’ HEALTH.
Miami-Dade County’s public entity set up in ‘02 to support children’s health and development initiatives is looking for between three and five firms to guide its marketing communications on a project-by-project basis.

Emily Cardenas, senior communications manager for The Children’s Trust, told O’Dwyer’s she anticipated a PR contract would not exceed $50K-$75K a year for a lead agency. She noted the Trust is also looking to bring in its first ad agency and foresees an annual budget of nearly $3M for its multi-media campaigns.

“That could grow if other partners come in with an additional investment,” she said.

The Trust has issued an RFQ and is soliciting proposals through August 1. As a government entity in Florida, it cannot keep a firm on retainer so the work is set up on a project basis.

In the short term, the Trust want its firms to establish the agency as “a leading authority and resource on children’s issues,” to inform the public of the needs of Miami Dade’s children and families, and to improve the quality of services to children and families, according to the RFQ.

That work includes multicultural campaigns, staff media training, crisis management and event planning. In the long term, the Trust faces a voter referendum in 2008.

GolinHarris created the Trust’s five-year marketing plan and Cardenas (emily.cardenas@thechildrenstrust .org) said she’s certain the firm will be competing for the ongoing, longer-term relationship.

Cardenas also noted the Trust is not inclined to hire a national agency that does not have a strong local presence in the Miami market, a point she said was not made in the RFQ.

OMNICOM ACQUIRES ZIMMERMAN.
Omnicom has purchased The Zimmerman Agency, a leading ad/PR firm in Florida.

Curtis and Carrie Zimmerman, husband and wife, launched the Tallahassee-based firm in `87.

Carrie handles the travel PR side of the business and counts the British Virgin Islands, Diners Club/MasterCard and Marriott properties in Aruba, St. Kitts, Curacao, Grand Cayman and Puerto Vallarta as clients.

The firm recently received national coverage for the opening of the Muse Hotel in New York with a promotion based on the hit ABC series “Desperate Housewives.”

OMC is acquiring TZA via its Zimmerman and Partners, an ad/marketing entity in the Sunshine State. Its CEO Jordan Zimmerman is not related to TZA executives. The two shops will form a holding company called Zimmer Holdings.

TZA has 80 employees.

QORVIS SWEATS IT OUT.
Saudi Prince Bandar, who enjoyed exceptional access to Presidents Bush, resigned July 20 as the Kingdom’s Ambassador to the U.S. He is stepping down for “personal reasons.”

The Prince, who earned the nickname “Bandar Bush,” was the key figure in the PR campaign orchestrated by Qorvis Communications to position the Kingdom as an ally in the “war on terrorism,” despite the fact that 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers and terrormaster Osama bin Laden were born in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis spent nearly $13M for PR at Qorvis during the one-year period ended March. Despite that hefty outlay, Judith Kipper of the Council on Foreign Relations told Reuters there is a “huge gap of misunderstanding” between Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

The Kingdom is shifting Prince Turki al-Faisal, its Ambassador to the U.K., to Washington.

He was Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief for nearly a quarter century before being posted to London in `03.

HILL TAKES NEW PR POST AT PARAMOUNT.
Janet Hill, senior VP for MTV Networks and a former top publicity exec for Miramax Films, has been tapped by Paramount Pictures for the new post of executive VP of corporate communications.

Based in Los Angeles, Hill heads internal/external/ business and media communications and PR for the Viacom entertainment unit.

She reports to Gerry Rich, president of worldwide marketing, and will work alongside Nancy Kirkpatrick, EVP/worldwide publicity. Kirkpatrick and her team head day-to-day feature publicity for Paramount.

Hill managed MTV Networks’ internal and external communications, based on the West Coast and worked with Paramount on MTV Films releases like “Jackass: The Movie” and “The Longest Yard.”

She was formerly EVP for publicity for Miramax in an eight-year career beginning in ‘94 and earlier was a partner in Yorke & Hill PR.

Hill also held posts at Tri-Star and was a senior A/E for PMK PR.

EDITORS SEEK PRODUCTS FOR GIFT GUIDES.
The Publicity Club of New York took a look at Holiday Gift Guides at its July 19 luncheon meeting with four magazine editors.

On the panel, which was moderated by PCNY president Peter Himler, were Tom Conlon, gift guide editor of FHM; Lisa Arbetter, executive editor of Cargo; Margot Gilman, deputy editor of Ladies’ Home Journal, and Jacqui Stafford, senior editor/style director of Shape.

“You can start getting us stuff now,” said Conlon, who is only interested in gadgets and gear that is “really technology-focused,” such as stereos, MP3 players, flat screen TVs, computers, laptops, digital cameras, satellite radios, and the like.

“We shoot everything that we feature in the gift guides, so while we’ll take photos to look at for submissions we need everything sent to us so we can shoot it. But we want the newest stuff that you guys can possibly give us, especially in early August.”

He said week-long shooting begins Aug. 15.
As far as price ranges for products, “everything from small, little, inexpensive gadgety type products to those large, aspirational $20,000-type products” is considered. “Nothing’s off limits, we’re including everything,” he said.

A Monthly Gift Guide

Arbetter said the scope of Cargo’s gift guide is basically the same as the magazine, which she described as a “buyer’s guide for men that covers everything that guys are interested in.”

For the gift guide, “we’ll be looking definitely at men’s fashion with an emphasis on accessories, and everything from every price point from the smallest little gadgety thing up to a big plasma TV, CD’s, DVD’s, books, video games, all sorts of home products, desktop items, kitchen gadgets, barware, liquor, wine.”

She said women’s gifts will have an expanded section in this year’s gift guide. Some of the items to be featured will be jewelry, lingerie, small leather goods, beauty products, and things like that.

This year’s gift guide will have a section covering kids’ gifts, ranging in age from toddlers up to teens.

Arbetter said the magazine is always looking for experts to add credibility and authority to some of the stories and provide tips to help men navigate the holidays, so “we’re looking for etiquette experts, people who use the products to talk about how best to use them, people who are experts in a field.

“Your pitch can come whenever. Whenever you’re ready, we’re ready because we start shooting, also, in mid-August,” she said. “We have a rolling shoot through mid-September, but it’s best to get your pitch in as early as possible and we would definitely need products in the middle to end of August. If it is a tech item or something we’ll need to play with and test, then we’ll need it before that.”

She advised the publicists to include the release date, the price, what’s new and unique, a photo and, if the product is in stores yet.

She said the information should go to the senior editors on the staff who cover all different categories. She offered to forward along pitches if PR pros aren’t sure who to pitch and noted e-mail is “usually best.”

Gilman said editors begin previewing products for the gift guide section in the third week of August.

Price Is the Story

“The way we go at it is it’s really a price story. We find that a cover line on the magazine, `Great Gifts under $30’ works really well for us so we really try to stick with that,” she said.

She pointed out the gift guide is divided by the person for whom the gift is intended, and the categories change every year, but typically they are gifts for children, gifts for men, gifts for female relatives or friends, dogs, foodie friends—“it’s a little bit of a wild-card situation.”

She said publicists should send their pitches to the editors of each of these categories. “Take a look at the masthead of the magazine: address home-related ideas to our home editor, beauty-related items to our beauty editor, etc.,” she said.

Gilman canvassed the different editors before she came to the meeting to find out how they like to be approached. She said the woman who’s handling toys likes to see the toys, “it’s really hard to make a judgment about gifts for kids just based on photographs, you want to take it out of the box, feel it and play with it. “Our fashion editors are happy to be approached by e-mail and they like to get books of photos, not just one thing but a lot.”

She also wants to see the product. “We don’t need to know the story behind it, we don’t need to know that the creator of this particular item came up from poverty or whatever, it’s all about the product,” she said.

Devoted to Beauty Products

She said the magazine shoots all of its own photos for the guide.

Stafford said Shape’s gift guide, which is running in December, is devoted to beauty products.

The editors want to know if the products are beneficial because Shape is a health, lifestyle and wellness publication. “So do make sure that is in your pitch: what good is this doing?,” said Stafford. “It might look great on the page, but is this something we can actually use that’s good for skin? What are the ingredients for us, are they going to be beneficial for our reader?”

She pointed out editors are not influenced by which celebrity uses any product.

“We don’t use celebrities on our cover so don’t feel that simply because you don’t have celebrity endorsement we won’t be interested in your product, that’s not true at all,” she said.

She said the editors are interested in products that are “new, innovative, so in your pitches make sure we know why we should use this. It could be a particularly bland-looking product, but if it’s got some fabulous ingredient to it or it’s got some real piece of news attached to it that you think a reader would love to know then please do pitch us.”

The editors need everything for the gift guide by August.

(Media news continued on next page)

SURVEY PINPOINTS MEDIA TRENDS.
The results from Bennett & Co.’s 15th annual media survey, which pulled in responses from a nationwide gamut of nearly 500 journalists, found the majority of journalists still rely on PR pros for information, but online media rooms and blogs are becoming more popular.

While contacting a PR pro was the choice of 57% of the polled media when looking for additional information, 33% said they are turning to online media rooms as their preferred method of obtaining additional information for a story, and 11% of the respondents said web logs, which are better known as blogs, is their preferred source.

Nearly 80% of the journalists said they have spoken with a PR pro in the past week. Sixty-six percent of the respondents indicated they get 1 to 10% of their story content from a PR firm, while only 2% admitted they get most of their story content from a PR source.

Laura Bennett, president of the Alamonte Springs, Fla.-based PR firm, said this year’s survey reflects preferences from a gamut of journalists nationwide, including USA Today, Time magazine, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox affiliates nationwide.

Bennett said the survey of more than 10,000 media also scopes the preferences of daily and community newspapers, trade publications, consumer magazines and TV and radio broadcast outlets.

Journalists surveyed cover beats including travel, features, tourism, sports, technology, business, real estate, seniors/retirement and hospitality.

Majority Read Every E-mail

“Things have certainly changed since the first survey in 1990,” said Bennett, who pointed out 80% of journalists surveyed 15 years ago, including some of whom are the same ones surveyed in 2005, said they preferred to have information provided by postal delivery.

“This method (‘snail mail’) has seemingly been left in the past, as 85% of this year’s respondents say they prefer immediate delivery through e-mail,” said Bennett.

The majority—43% of the media—say they read every e-mail except for obvious SPAM. This response is down from last year when 70% indicated they read every e-mail.

The survey found many journalists are prioritizing their e-mails, 32% read all e-mails from senders they already know and then try to get to the others later.

Interesting subject lines were tabbed by 12% of the group as the best way to get them to read an e-mail.

A personalized address versus a “dear editor” is an attention grabber according to 56% of those surveyed.

Also, nearly two-thirds of the survey respondents said news releases written with proper AP Style are not important to them.

“You don’t have to use complete sentences—just outline the main points,” said an assistant editor for Robb Report.

“It should only take about 10 seconds to read a release.” she said.

‘CHICKEN SOUP’ MAGAZINE DEBUTS.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Magazine made its national debut with its fall edition on July 26.
The magazine, published by Modern Media, may be one of the first publications created from a successful book, according to Diane Stefani, who handles PR for the magazine, whose 11 investors include Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen, co-authors of the best selling book series.

J. Mignonne Wright, who started the now-defunct American Magazine, is editor-in-chief of the magazine, which will incorporate the inspirational message of the Chicken Soup books (100 million have been sold since its inception).

Of the 11 investors, the 31-year-old Wright, who is based in Memphis, Tenn., is the only female investor. She is also a member of the board of directors of Modern Media.

“Its mission is to `change the world one story at a time,’ yet be fun and full of information for women ages 25-54,” said Stefani, a former publicist for Playboy and the New York Daily News who is with the Rosen Group in New York.

The magazine plans to print two issues in 2005 and go bimonthly in 2006.

The magazine, which will be sold in Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, and other major retailers, will begin with a circulation of 150,000 and print 200,000, Stefani said.

PLACEMENT TIPS__________

Relish magazine will begin publishing as a monthly food magazine in Feb. 2006 via distribution in more than 1,200 daily newspapers with a combined circulation in excess of 6 million.

The magazine will be published by Franklin, Tenn.-based Publishing Group of America, which published American Profile, and operates Hometown Content, a syndicated news service.

The company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit and Franklin.

Fred Pfaff, who handles PR for Relish, can be reached at 212/572-8353.

FAMA Magazine, based in Miami, Fla., is starting a new magazine called Viviendo Sano (Living Healthy) that will debut as a special insert.

The magazine, targeted at Hispanic women, will have information on health-related issues like exercise, nutrition, health advances and preventive measures women can take, according to Ileana Muniz, who oversees Fama and Auto Mujeres al Volante magazines.

Media numbers________

1928–The year when the news “zipper” began flashing headlines in Times Square in New York.

50–The number of times Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appeared on the covers of Muscle & Fitness and Flex magazines since 1968.

84–The number of new bridal mags in ‘04.

News item: Martin Sorrell, 60, CEO of WPP (Burson-Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton, etc.) is the highest-paid CEO in U.K.’s 100 biggest companies.

His 2004 pay of $40 million is more than double that of the next CEO in the U.K. top 100.

Another item: John Dooner, replaced as CEO of troubled Interpublic in 2003, was given a severance plan worth up to $32.7 million over 15 years.

John Wren, head of Omnicom, got a $4M bonus in 2004 even though OMC stock went down several points and remains $25 below its 1999 high. His stock is worth $32M and his exercisable “in-the-money” options as of Dec. 31, 2004 totaled $53M. A new SEC rule forced Wren to reveal he got $193K in “personal use”of company aircraft in 2004.

The financial executives who head the ad/PR conglomerates are doing pretty well while saddling the industry with $12 billion in debt (counting debt of Publicis and Havas).

A recent posting on the OMC Yahoo bulletin board took OMC executives to task for lining their own pockets while neglecting investors.

The writer, signed “Stall” (not us), complained about stingy dividend payments while execs are receiving (1) salary; (2) cash bonus; (3) perks; (4) stock awards; (5) stock options; (6) retirement plan/insurance/medical coverage; (7) salary continuation (50% of salary up to 10 years), and (8) senior management incentive plan (new for 2005).

The last item could take $140M or 11% of operating profits using 2004 financials as a base, “Stall” says.

Dividends have lagged “far behind” earnings growth, meaning shareholders are not getting a proper share of the profits, says “Stall.”

He is incensed that OMC’s annual meeting has gone “on the road” three years, apparently to avoid “individual investors” in New York (and the press–ed. note). OMC transported, housed and fed 15+ directors/execs to Los Angeles (2003), Atlanta (2004) and Dallas (2005) while attracting few shareholders, notes “Stall,” who figures each director gets at least $160K in stock and cash.

It’s not good for morale at these firms for the non-creatives to be carting away so much cash.
But our big beef is the suppression of vital statistics that the congloms have enforced, citing (falsely, we believe) Sarbanes-Oxley.

This is the third year that hundreds of PR firms and ad agencies have been forbidden to reveal fees or even headcounts. This not only robs the PR industry of statistics but cripples the new biz programs of the firms. Muzzled are 21 of the top 25 firms that were on the last ranking that was published (2001).

The Council of PR Firms, supposedly set up for the entire PR counseling industry, abandoned collection of all statistics when the main source of its funds (conglom PR firms) stopped reporting.

It should have continued urging independent firms to report their numbers backed by W-2s and tax returns.

Since PRSA is looking around for topics for its “advocacy” program, we urge it to look at a real, industry-wide problem such as the above and stop busting on PR firms and others that run into ethical situations such as Ketchum, Fleishman-Hillard and broadcasters using unidentified VNRs.

PRSA itself is far from clean (dysfunctional, undemocratic governance; copying scandal; formally chastised by the FTC for illegal code provisions; stopped enforcing its own code; misleading, substandard financials; persecution of Summer Harrison who criticized PRSA leaders for giving advice to the CIA; disqualifying hundreds of Silver Anvil entries for nitpicking reasons while pocketing the entry fees; threatening with a lawsuit an employee who criticized management, etc.).

Pretty soon some major medium is going to ask, just who is this PRSA that is mouthing off all the time?

IABC, which has a few skeletons in its own closet, rejected an advocacy program (7/20 NL).

Another problem is the alarming drop in face-to-face meetings between reporters and PR pros. Paul Holmes, U.K. reporter who came to the U.S. nearly 20 years ago, said he is returning to London where he will cover the U.K. and Europe while keeping The Holmes Report in the U.S. but abandoning his PR Week column.

Holmes says one reason is that “they like to do things face to face over there.” We hope he’s right because U.K. journalist Mike Magee told us last year U.K. reporters rarely see PR pros anymore.

He says PR has become “depersonalized” and “automated.”

The latest accounting atrocity at PRSA is the removal of $2.2 million in “allocated” expenses for activities such as publications, awards, sections and membership services.

Publications, instead of costing $1.47M in 2003, now cost only $970,726 because $454,838 in office costs such as rent, heat, etc., have been “backed out.”

Profits on awards are now shown as $140K in 2003 instead of the previous $54K. CFO John Colletti says the allocations were “too arbitrary.”

This removal of data recalls the cancellation of the entire functional expenses statement (300 stats) in 1991, which was brought back after one year after members complained.

PRSA staff at 33 Maiden Lane (Federal Reserve Plaza) are stressed by the heavy security enveloping the building and this may have been a factor (along with the downtown location) in the departure of five key staffers last year (6/29 NL).

Tenants have been warned that in the event of an “incident” they will not be allowed to leave the building.

This worries parents who want to be able to go to their children.

– Jack O'Dwyer