PHILIPS GIVES CHIPS TO TEXT 100.
Philips Semiconductors, which markets its chips in more than 60 countries, has awarded its PR account to high-tech specialist Text 100.

The Hoffman Agency was the incumbent on the business. It chose not to re-pitch.

Philips will rank among the “Top 5” accounts at the high-tech firm that boasted $45.1M in ‘04 fees, according to Text 100 spokesperson Nicole Kenyon.

Kenyon said London-based Cathy Pittham will be the global coordinator of the Philips business when Text 100 begins work on the account on Sept. 1.

Philips Semiconductors is part of Royal Philips Electronics, which also sells consumer products, lighting and medical equipment.

Eindhoven, Netherlands-based Philips employs 35,000 people and has manufacturing plants in 20 nations.

The company’s goal is to be the “leading provider of semiconductor-based solutions for connected consumer and communications applications.”

Manning Selvage & Lee continues to handle corporate PR duties for Philips.

GRAFICA NABS N.J. CLEAN ENERGY PACT.
Grafica has emerged from a field of seven firms to win a $9M, two-year PR and advertising contract to promote clean and renewable energy in New Jersey.

Along with Chester, N.J.-based Grafica, CMD & Partners, Novocent Partners, The Star Group and Winning Strategies were other Garden State firms submitting proposals. Out-of-towners GMMB (Washington, D.C.) and Conservation Services Group (Westborough, Mass.) also pitched.

Grafica will handle PR, ads and web production for the state’s Board of Public Utilities’ Office of Clean Energy. The firm has worked for the N.J. Attorney General and the state’s lottery.

The state has found that many residents don’t know about education, technical assistance and financing help offered to homeowners, business and schools through the New Jersey Clean Energy Program.

New Jersey is also rolling out a program for residents to pay a premium on their utility bills, which would purchase additional energy from renewable sources.

Edward Giltenan has joined the Investment Company Institute, a trade group of U.S. mutual funds based in D.C., to head its media relations effort. He had been at Citigroup Asset Management.

DIEBOLD HIRES OGILVY.
Ogilvy PR Worldwide is helping voting machine maker Diebold gain acceptance of electronic voting in California, according to Greg Stanko, a spokesperson for the WPP Group unit.

The outreach, Stanko said, is limited to California and is handled by the firm’s San Francisco office.

Michael Law, managing director for Ogilvy/California, heads the account. The hope, for Diebold, is that state officials will approve use of its AccuVote TSx touchscreen machine.

The “electronic voting is good” effort is part of a national PR campaign that the North Canton, Ohio, company is bankrolling. Former National Democratic Committee chairman Joe Andrew is fronting that drive.

The politico, according to his bio on the Leading Authorities Speakers Bureau website, is referred to as “the humble man with the golden rolodex” for his connections with CEOs and labor leaders.

Diebold has been a lightning rod for conspiracy theorists who contend that the `04 Presidential election was “fixed” in battleground states like Ohio.

FINLAYSON PLAYS FOR THQ.
Bob Finlayson, the former CEO for Burson-Marsteller’s Northern California unit, is now VP-corporate communications at THQ Inc, a publisher of interactive entertainment software.

The PR veteran with more than 20 years of experience also served as executive VP in Edelman’s Los Angeles office and has counseled Microsoft on the launch of its Xbox and Sony’s consumer division.

Calabasas Hills, CA-based THQ recorded a record fiscal `05 (ended March) as net income jumped 75 percent on an 18 percent rise in sales to $756.7 million.

CEO Brian Farrell credits the performance to robust sales of its three core brands: Nickelodeon (SpongeBob SquarePants), Disney/Pixar (The Incredibles) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE SmackDown).

PRSA ‘MAY’ GIVE ASSEMBLY TAX RETURN.
PRSA, after first saying it would file its tax return by Aug. 15, and then saying it would not file until Nov. 15, now says it “may” file the return in time for the PRSA Assembly Oct. 22 in Miami.

PRSA president Judith Phair, told Aug. 24 that critics were accusing PRSA leaders of hiding the financial statement from Assembly delegates, said the 990 IRS report for tax-exempt groups, a public document, “may be ready before then.”

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SPARKSOURCE COUNSELS VANCE.
Vance International, the Oakton, VA.-based firm that mapped out Northwest Airlines’ security plans to deal with its more than 4,400 striking members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn., uses SparkSource Inc. as its PR firm.

VI counts “man-made or natural disaster contingency planning and response”
and “workplace violence prevention” among its targeted services.” Its 3,700-plus staff includes veterans of the CIA, FBI and Scotland Yard. Vance was founded by Chuck Vance, a member of the Secret Service detail that protected President Gerald Ford. He married Susan Ford. SPX Corp., a New York Stock Exchange company bought VI in `02.

Nancy Pieretti is handling media inquiries about Vance at Lexington, MA-based SparkSource. She told O’Dwyer’s that high-tech SparkSource picked up the VI account via a referral. “That’s the way we get most of our clients,” said Pieretti.

SparkSource has counseled Juniper Networks, Progress Software, Gartner and BlueCross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

Northwest has hired nearly 2,000 replacement workers to keep the planes flying. CEO Douglas Steenland has refused to respond to media requests to discuss the use of non-union workers.

NWA is posting “labor updates” on its website. It claims that 99.5 percent of passengers confirmed to fly on Aug. 23 reached their final destination. The No. 4 carrier has vowed to fly “indefinitely” with the replacements. Bill Mellon is managing director of NWA’s corporate communications.

The AMFA launched its strike on Aug. 20 after refusing NWA’s demand for $176M cuts in pay and benefits. The strike is the first big airline labor clash since `98. The Wall Street Journal calls the squabble “a bold test of resolve by the union and the air carrier.”

FIDELITY HIRES HILL & KNOWLTON.
Fidelity Investments has enlisted Hill & Knowlton as its lobbyist dealing with Securities and Exchange Commission regulations.

Legendary Frank Mankiewicz, H&K’s 81-year-old vice chairman who headed National Public Radio and served as Press Secretaries to Sen. George McGovern and Sen. Robert Kennedy, and chief lobbyist Gary Hymel manage the account.

Fidelity, which has $2.2T in assets, has been under investigation by the SEC in a probe concerning gifts and gratuities.

Tom Eidson, Fidelity’s executive VP and director of corporate affairs, had headed H&K until `96 when he took a leave of absence to write “All God’s Children,” a novel about a plucky Quaker widow who raises four sons on the Kansas prairie during the 1890s.

Euro RSCG Magnet has named Steve Hoechster, a former executive VP in Edelman’s technology practice, head of its national high-tech practice. He reports to CEO Aaron Kwittken. He had been running ElsterGroup, counseling tech clients on corporate, financial, marketing and channel communications strategies.

GRUNIG HAS SECOND THOUGHTS.
Jim Grunig, who is billed as the “greatest contemporary PR scientist in the world” by organizers of a conference on PR in Iran, still hasn’t decided whether he will attend the festivities slated for Tehran in November.

An upswing in anti-Americanism triggered by the recent Iranian election is giving Grunig, the retired University of Maryland professor, second thoughts. Grunig and wife, Larissa, were invited in the spring to speak at the conference. Conference organizer Mehdi Bagherian assured them they would be perfectly safe, Grunig told O’Dwyer’s.

The educator, however, noted that the State Dept. on June 30 updated its “travel warning” on Iran to alert about the increased risk of harassment or kidnapping. Since the U.S. does not have diplomatic ties with the “axis of evil” member, an American must get a visa from the Pakistan Embassy to travel to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Grunig has been strongly advised to register his whereabouts with the Swiss Embassy, which looks after U.S. interests, if he decides to go.

Grunig said he was “surprised” to learn about the level of PR sophistication in Iran. He explained that PR grew with the development of the oil industry, and flourished under the regime of the Shah. Jim Grung’s conference topic is “research on the role of PR in strategic management.” Larissa Grunig, a fellow researcher and educator, will tackle ethics in PR.

Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance’s Dept. of Advertisement and Information is among co-sponsors of the conference.

The publication of the first PR encyclopedia in the Persian language – a two-volume item – establishment of a technical center for electronic PR in Iran, and creation of a world coalition to promote Iranian PR are promised highlights of the conference.

PENTAGON PLANS ANTI-IED CAMPAIGN.
The Pentagon plans to spend nearly $8M to educate Iraqis about the threat from, and the need to remove improvised explosive devices from their country.

The Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Task Force wants to hire an Iraqi firm to create a “series of media products” to influence targeted Iraqi audiences. It will be the Pentagon’s first-ever ad campaign targeted directly at the Iraqi people, according to Inside the Army.

The AP reports that more than 65 percent of U.S. casualties in Iraq since May have been caused by IEDs.

JOELE FRANK REPS SIX FLAGS.
Six Flags Inc., which put itself on the auction block following a raid by Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, is using Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher as its PR counsel.

Snyder’s group, Red Zone, has launched a $140M partial tender offer for the amusement park operator that would boost its ownership stake from 11.7 percent to 34.9 percent.

Six Flags contends that Snyder is attempting to take over the company, which has a $675M market cap, on the cheap. It says if Snyder is serious about the takeover, his group should bid for the entire company. Six Flags is now inviting others to do so.

LIPMAN LEAVES JOURNAL FOR CONDE NAST.
Joanne Lipman is leaving the Wall Street Journal to join Conde Nast Publications as editor-in-chief of a new monthly business magazine and website.

Lipman, who has been a deputy managing editor of the Journal since 2000, will depart after the launch of the new “Weekend Edition” section on Sept. 17.

Paul Steiger, managing editor of the Journal, has named assistant managing editor Edward Felsenthal to replace Lipman.

New China Bureau Chief

Rebecca Blumenstein has succeeded Jonathan Kaufman as China bureau chief for the Journal.

Kaufman, 49, was named a deputy page one editor charged with overseeing the first page of the Journal’s new Weekend Edition.

Blumenstein, 38, previously was chief of the Journal’s New York technology group, which covers mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunications industry.

Steiger said Felsenthal, who has been working closely with Lipman, will oversee all “Business of Life” coverage, including the “Personal Journal” section on Tuesday through Thursday, the Weekend Journal section on Friday, and the “Pursuits” section on Saturdays in the Weekend Edition.

Typical “Business of Life” coverage includes articles about personal finance, family, recreation, health, personal technology, cooking and dining out, sports, fashion, and travel.

Felsenthal will keep his title as assistant managing editor for news strategy at the Journal, and will be editor-in-chief of Personal Journal.

TWO TO WRITE ‘RELIABLE SOURCE.’
Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger were picked to write the Washington Post’s “Reliable Source” column.

The two veteran reporters succeed Richard Leiby, who took over the daily column when Lloyd Grove joined the New York Daily News as a gossip writer. Leiby is writing for the paper’s arts section.

Roberts, 50, who has covered the social beat for many years, has been writing the “Out and About” column for the Post, while Argetsinger, 36, a 10-year veteran Post reporter, was a metro reporter prior to her transfer to Los Angeles last year.

Roberts wants to run more local gossip items including more Washington, D.C., personalities in the column, which was started in 1992 to take the place of the “Personalities” column, which was written by Chuck Conconi.

ULIN IS NAMED BOOK EDITOR AT L.A. TIMES.
David Ulin was named book editor of the Los Angeles Times.

Ulin, who is currently a contributing editor to the Bloomsbury Review, will join the Times in October.
He will oversee the Sunday and daily reviews, and also help to expand coverage of books, publishing and literary news and analysis throughout the paper.

PANG HEADS XINHUA NEWS DIVISION.
Amy Pang, previously Reuters’ general manager for Central China, has joined Xinhua Finance as managing director of its news division.

Pang is based in Hong Kong and responsible for the news business throughout Asia.

Xinhua Finance has 22 news bureaus across Asia, Australia, North America and Europe and covers key Chinese and international markets.

PEOPLE________

Matt Power, who has covered the homebuilding industry for more than a decade, is joining the Reed Building Group this fall as senior contributing editor.

The Oak Brook, Ill.-based company publishes Professional Builder, Professional Remodeler, Custom Builder and Giants magazines.

John McCormick and Anna Maria Virzi were promoted to editor-in-chief and executive editor, respectively, of Baseline magazine, published by Ziff Davis Media. They are replacing Tom Steinert-Threlkeld who is taking a senior editorial position at a broadcast industry publication.

Nancy Gillen, previously managing editor of Vitals magazine, has joined ELLEgirl in the same position.

Alan Fredericks, 70, former editor of Travel Weekly, who was named travel journalist of the year in 1995 by the American Society of Travel Agents, died July 31 at his home in Old Bridge, N.J.

Daniel Peres, editor-in-chief of Details magazine, and actress Sarah Wynter, who starred in “24,” a TV show, were married Aug. 20 in Australia.

Albert Eisele, 69, is retiring Sept. 1 as editor and columnist of The Hill newspaper. Eisle helped start the Washington, D.C., paper in 1994 with Martin Tolchin, who retired in 2003.

Maria Menounos, previously a correspondent for “Entertainment Tonight,” is joining NBC Universal’s “Access Hollywood” as a special correspondent and contributor for NBC News “Today,” based in Los Angeles.

MEDIA NUMBERS________

52—According to a national study by Find/SVP, more than half of consumers surveyed (52%) said they would be much more or somewhat more likely to buy a product seen in a TV commercial versus one featured in a product placement (23%).

71—A new study commissioned by the Asian-American Journalists Assn., which examined six daily newspapers from different parts of the country, found culture and entertainment features on individuals and immigration/naturalization were the most frequent topics of Asian American-related coverage – representing about 71% of the sample.

Stories on business, education, and food were the fourth, fifth and sixth most common topics.

(Media news continued on next page)

REPORTER HEADS PR FIRM’S MEDIA DEPT.
Jennifer Jolly, a reporter for KTVU-TV for the past eight years, has joined the San Francisco office of Allison & Partners as senior media specialist.

Jolly will leverage her experience in broadcast news to build a newsroom-style media department, according to Scott Allison, president/CEO of the firm.

“We’re poised to revolutionize the role a PR firm can play in the making of daily news,” said Jolly, whose goal is to make Allison the one-stop-shop for assignment editors, producers and reporters to get story ideas and gain direct access to spokespeople, from top CEOs to ordinary people.

“I know what it takes to tell an unforgettable story, and along with the deep experience and expertise that surround me at Allison, we will be unstoppable,” said Jolly.

Her high-profile track record in TV news reporting includes interviews with four U.S. presidents.

GRAHAM HOSTS UNCENSORED ’NET SHOW.
Michael Graham, who was dropped by WMAL-AM in Washington, D.C., as a talk show host for his controversial remarks about Islam, is joining the web-based conservative radio network RightTalk.com.

Graham said webcasting on the Internet “frees me to say what needs to be said without censorship from over sensitive corporate suits and jittery advertisers being intimidated by hostile special interest groups.”

Graham was referring to the Council on American-Islamic Relations which initiated a campaign against WMAL and the station’s advertisers after receiving complaints from listeners who heard Graham state repeatedly on the air that “Islam is a terrorist organization.”

While WMAL initially stood behind Graham, it changed its position after hundreds of people responded to CAIR’s action alerts by contacting the stations and its sponsors.

“Michael Graham Unleashed” can be heard at www.Righttalk.com at noon Monday through Friday.

Bob Johnson is executive producer of RightTalk, which is based in Alpine, N.Y.

PLACEMENT TIPS________

Road Trip, a new publication, is devoted to the motorcycle travel lifestyle.

Published by Sidecar Suite in Tarzana, Calif., the magazine will be targeted at affluent, highly educated and multidimensional riders who relish all aspects of travel and seek to turn every weekend escape and vacation into a two-wheeled journey.

The magazine will provide motorcycle and travel industry news alongside advice, features, tips on what to see and do, and information on the amenities.

The magazine will also investigate and report on emerging touring trends as well as the best recreational activities, historical and cultural attractions, lodging, and dining. It also introduces and reviews a wide range of products that enhance motorcycle travel.

USA Weekend, the Gannett-owned Sunday magazine, which was started 20 years ago as Family Weekly, has found articles focused on music and health topics are attracting readers in its target audience group – 25 to 45-year-old readers.

The magazine is distributed by more than 600 newspapers, with a circulation of 22 million.

Katherine Lande was named style director of Palm Beach Media Group in Palm Beach, Fla., publisher of Palm Beach Illustrated, Naples Illustrated and Tampa Bay Illustrated.

Lande will create the fashion spreads for the resort magazines including Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in addition to styling fashion and interiors for the Illustrated magazines.

The Weather Channel is starting a weekend talk show, hosted by Dao Vu, called “Weekend View,” on Sept. 17.

The show, which will air every Saturday and Sunday morning, will provide “relevant weather and lifestyle information to help viewers plan their weekend activities.”

Vu will present stories and conversation on the role that weather plays in the lives of viewers.

WORTH NOTING________

Business readers make upwards of $100,000 in annual income, and regularly read the business section of their daily newspapers, according to a media study of 87 metro markets by International Demographics Inc., a Houston-based market research firm.

The study found nearly one in 10 business readers earn at least $150,000 in household income each year. Twenty-two percent make $100,000 or more and 35% have just as much in savings.

A full 16% have more than $250,000 in liquid assets, and more often than other readers, business readers own homes whose value tops $500,000.

Nearly half (48%) of those readers have earned one or more academic degrees, compared to 35% of the total population.

Bob Jordan, president of ID, said that combination makes them “a significant influence on the buying habits of others.”

Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa are reaching a total unduplicated audience of 35 million adults (15 and over) per week according to the latest ACNielsen survey released by Middle East Broadcast Networks in Springfield, Va.

The new survey also shows both Alhurra and Radio Sawa are regarded as credible sources of news and information by their audiences.

According to ACNielsen, Alhurra the satellite TV station reaching 22 countries in the Middle East, has an adult audience of 21.3 million each week in the nine countries surveyed.

Radio Sawa, the Arabic-language radio network broadcasting music and news, has a weekly audience of 20.8 million adults.

The survey reported 77% of Alhurra’s viewers and 73% of Radio Sawa’s listeners consider the news reliable.

Omnicom, the owner of Fleishman-Hillard, Ketchum, Porter Novelli, Brodeur and probably 100+ other PR firms, reported a 9% rise in revenues to $2.6 billion in Q2 but said PR was its worst performing sector, up only 0.7% to $264M.
For the first half, it said the PR group grew 3.7% to $521M, less than half the gain of its other sectors.

Where OMC gets these numbers from is a mystery not only to us but security analysts.

We don’t know how it defines PR. For the third straight year, OMC has forbidden any of its PR units from releasing fee income or staff totals.

How much of its PR numbers come from acquisitions is not known. OMC has grown heavily through acquisitions, spending more than $800M in some years. It buys firms over a period of time, adding more of their revenues each year to insure a steady quarterly growth rate.

We think the information-averse policies of OMC (it almost never answers press calls and has shifted its annual meeting from New York three years in a row) are damaging to its PR operations, which publicized themselves for decades by pointing to their overal growth rates and leadership in the dozen specialized PR areas such as beauty/fashion, technology, financial, healthcare, food, etc.

One would think that with more than 40 quarters in a row of higher sales and earnings OMC’s stock would reflect this.

But as of Aug. 26 it was $80, which is 27 points below its high of $107 on Dec. 17, 1999. As soon as it hits $85 or so, analysts say, OMC is hit with heavy selling. The stock is being propped up by reducing the number of shares in the open market.

In the first half of 2005, OMC spent $475M on net share repurchases and $256M for all of 2004 (total of $713M). Acquisition spending is a fraction of what it once was (less than 0.6% of revenues in Q2/05). OMC is instead buying its own stock to reduce the float.

The repurchased stock appears destined for key executives via stock options and “restricted stock” (outright gift of stock at no cost but recipient must remain with the company a certain time, usually several years).

The holding company model of OMC, WPP, Interpublic, Havas and Publicis, which collectively have longterm debt of $12 billion, is being questioned on Wall Street.

OMC and IPG have acknowledged Sarbanes-Oxley costs of more than $60 million a year each. Costs of the debt could skyrocket if interest rates rise. OMC once was able to sell no-interest bonds convertible to stock but this option has closed since its stock is not rising. It is now paying interest on those bonds.

Analysts say it would be hard for OMC ever again to duplicate its 15% growth rate of the 1990s simply because it is too big and suffers from “the law of large numbers.” Also, disintegrating mass media no longer have the impact they once had, hurting ad profits. Creatives in both adland and PR can easily walk and set up their own firms, say the analysts.

Adding to OMC’s PR problem on Wall Street is that insiders almost never buy the stock and sold more than $30M in 2004. CFO John Wren sold $3.4M on Jan. 13, 2005 and officer Jean-Marie Dru sold $4.3M. Wren has given two interviews that we know of since June 2002–MarketWatch and AdWeek. OMC has a PR problem with Wall Street but it can’t stand the thought of doing PR

“Diversity” means something different in Europe than it does in the U.S.

The Global Alliance in Trieste, Italy at the end of June (attended by Judith Phair and Catherine Bolton of PRSA), heard speakers say that “from a PR point of view, diversity starts from the technical recognition that each individual is diverse–different from all others.” Diversity encompasses more than racial, religious, ethnic or sexual-orientation differences, the conference was told...the PRSA Foundation gets most of its money from $30 donations made by members which are a suggested contribution on dues invoices.

Income from this source was $123,968 in 2003 and $114,974 in 2004. In 2003, Manning, Selvage & Lee was the sole major contributor, giving $20,000. In 2004, the estate of the late George Hammond, who headed Carl Byoir & Assocs., gave $25,000. Total Foundation income was $174K in 2003 and $161K in 2004.

PRSA leaders continue their silence on the legal pursuit of “John Doe,” who allegedly libeled Bolton in an e-mail last year. The story is not on the PRSA website. Nor is there any report of the board/staff task force that is supposed to deal with staff complaints nor the “ombudsperson” who is supposed to be appointed... PRSA’s legal pursuit of “Doe” was like President Bush’s legal pursuit of the person who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame: instead of the matter being settled privately, it became an embarrassing media circus because court proceedings are public.

The $60K+ cost for PRSA is also an issue...a big problem with APR is illustrated by new APRs in Charlotte (page 7) who are comparing themselves to people who become CPAs or pass the bar exam.

Michael Willard, former head of the Moscow office of Burson-Marsteller, writes in The Portfolio Bubble: Surviving Professionally at 60, that he was shocked to be ousted from a job that paid $200K, replaced by youngsters who were “smart,” “brash,” and “cheap.” He said he had unfortunately become one of B-M’s “most expensive executives”.

PRSA veteran member Rene Henry gave $50K to his alma mater, College of William & Mary, for its office of sports information. He headed this office in 1953...cigarette companies spent a record $15.2B in 2003 (mostly via ad agencies) to promote smoking, up 21% from 2002.

– Jack O'Dwyer