CHANDLER CHICCO ACQUIRED FOR $65M.

Chandler Chicco Agency, which was founded in `95 by Robert Chandler and Gianfranco Chicco, is being acquired by inVentiv Health for $65M in cash and stock.

The deal also calls for earn-out payments based on topping financial goals. CCA serves clients such as Allergan, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline.

CCA had called itself the “world’s largest privately held healthcare PR firm.” AdMedia Partners brokered the deal.

Somerset, N.J.-based inVentiv acquired Chamberlain Communications for $13M and Ignite Health, a healthcare ad firm, for $20M in February. It added Addison Whitney, a brand identity and consulting firm, to the line-up in May.

NASDAQ-listed inVentiv earned $51M on $766M in `06 revenues by providing pharmaceutical companies clinical, sales and marketing support. It counts more than 200 drug, biotech and life sciences clients.

inVentiv projects `07 revenues in the $900M range.

DOKE NAMED COUNSELOR AT ABERNATHY.

Tim Doke, a seasoned PR executive who headed corporate communications for Dell and American Airlines, has been tapped as senior counselor for Abernathy MacGregor Group. He is based in Dallas.

Doke was VP of corporate communications for American Airlines thorough the Sept. 11 attacks. He later served as VP/cc for Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., and Dell. Earlier, he held posts at Alaska Airlines and Hill & Knowlton.

Jim Abernathy, chairman and CEO AMG, called Doke “one of the most widely respected communications executives in the business.”

Ogilvy Government Relations is educating members of Congress about Buddhism as representative of the International Buddhism Sangha Associations, which is based in Rosemead, Calif. Andrew Rosenberg, a former Virginia Congressional candidate, is leading that enlightenment charge. He joined Ogilvy in 2006 after serving as a Kerry/Edwards campaign spokesperson on healthcare and Middle East issues.

Bob Wolcott, an early PR Society president who built his Los Angeles PR firm into one of the largest in the U.S. before merging with Burson-Marsteller, died June 19 of natural causes at his California home. He was 86. In 1974, he sold his firm to B-M and became an executive VP in charge of the West Coast and Asia.

Harold Burson called Wolcott a “man of all seasons,” a "consummate PR professional.

RUBENSTEIN, M+R GUIDE NYC ‘GREEN’ PUSH.

Rubenstein Communications and M+R Strategic Services are supporting PR efforts for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s widespread environmental push for the Big Apple, PlaNYC 2030.

They are working on behalf of the Campaign for New York’s Future, a band of more than 140 public and private-sector groups that support Bloomberg’s effort to battle climate change and foster a cleaner environment.

Bud Perrone, SVP for Rubenstein, said the firm worked on the launch of the effort and is providing ongoing support.

Michael O’Loughlin, director of M+R’s New York office, is heading the work for his firm. M+R helped organize advocacy days around New York State and established presences at town hall meetings and public hearings on behalf of the campaign.

Members of the CNYF include the American Cancer Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, and Riverkeeper.

DUBAI TAPS GLOVER PARK.

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, which has targeted the U.S. for growth, has hired Glover Park Group to allay federal concerns about its acquisition of Landmark Aviation, an aircraft service company.

The Dubai-based company announced that deal in April as part of a $1.8B aerospace acquisition package.

GPG is to receive $250K under a six-month contract to win approval from the Treasury Dept.’s Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S., which must review acquisitions dealing with national security.

GPG is well-connected in Democratic circles. It’s the home of former Clinton White House press secretary Joe Lockhart and Al Gore’s Presidential bid strategist Carter Eskew. Howard Wolfson, Hillary Clinton’s spokesman, is a former staffer at GPG.

ACADEMIC FACTIONS BATTLE AT PRS.

Anthony D’Angelo, treasurer of the PR Society, who normally would move up to chair-elect, is facing a battle with secretary Michael Cherenson, who is seeking a jump to chair-elect without serving as treasurer.

Cherenson is making room for Rosanna Fiske, a member of 2005 board, who is seeking to return to the board as treasurer. Fiske, now a full-time PR professor at Florida International University after heading her own PR firm, ran from the floor of the Assembly in 2003, stressing her support of multiculturalism and her Hispanic background.

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BLUES WORRIED SICK OVER ‘SICKO.’

One would have to be “dead to be unaffected” by Michael Moore’s movie “Sicko,” according to an internal memo purportedly written by Barclay Fitzpatrick, VP-corporate comms. at Capital BlueCross, after he watched the movie about the state of American healthcare.

Moore says a CBC staffer sent him the memo, which is now posted on the filmmaker’s website, www.michaelmoore.com. Fitzpatrick has not returned an email from O’Dwyer’s seeking confirmation that he is the author.

The memo says Moore “presents a collage of injustices by selecting stories, no matter how exception to the norm, that present the health insurance industry as a set of organizations and people dedicated to denying claims in the name of profit.”

Though Humana and Kaiser Permanente are “demonized,” whatever “visceral reaction” the movie stirs will “spill over onto the Blues brands in every market.” The memo states that in “typical Moore fashion, the government and business leaders are behind a conspiracy to keep the little guy down and dominated while getting rich.”

The objective of Sicko is to push the healthcare coverage topic to the top of the political agenda. Moore “will be just as successful whether proponents mount momentum or discussion entails key stakeholders defending why it won’t work.”

On the PR front: “Ignoring [Sicko’s] impact might be a successful strategy only if it flops, but that has not been the history of Moore’s films nor the way this one appears to be headed. If popular, the movie will have a negative impact on our image in this community.”

The memo advises against attacking the movie for its “weaknesses or misperceptions,” and recommends “distancing ourselves and our brand from the groups and motivations he attacks, demonstrating the good that we do and achieve and in articulating our disappointment that he, Moore, did not address the truly relevant issue of improving our health and wellness.”

Moore has challenged Fitzpatrick and his boss, Anita Smith, CEO of Capital BlueCross, which is based in Harrisburg, Pa., to a debate.

KKR HIT FOR POOR PR.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is going to have to shed its secretive ways once the private equity funds sells shares to the public, according to the Wall Street Journal.

KKR is using Kekst & Co. and London’s Finsbury to handle its $1.25B initial public offering.

The company released details of the offering late July 3, which prompted the July 5 WSJ to comment on its penchant for operating in the shadows.

KKR is the company that “put the ‘private’ in private equity,” according to the paper. “KKR, which revealed details of its plans late Tuesday, has always guarded its privacy so keenly that even today, it doesn’t bother to employ an in-house press officer.”

The paper warned KKR that it will be the target of much public scrutiny after its shares hit the market. “That is bound to be an uncomfortable experience,” reported the WSJ.

CASSIDY KEEPS VORNADO ON TRACK.

Cassidy & Assocs. is working to gain needed federal approval for a $14B program by two New York-based real estate developers to transform midtown Manhattan’s James A. Farley Post Office into a transportation hub named after Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Former Rep Jack Quinn (R-NY), who joined Cassidy as president in `05, is contacting Amtrak officials and keeping members of Congress in the loop. He chaired the railroad subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and strongly defended Amtrak against cuts.

The development scheme of Vornado Realty Trust and The Related Cos. aims to restore the grandeur of Pennsylvania Station, which was demolished in the `60s.

It calls for moving Madison Square Garden into the Beaux-Arts Farley building and replacing the Hotel Pennsylvania with two skyscrapers, including one to top the Empire State Building.

The overall plan will add 10 million sq. ft of office space to the city, an amount equal to the old World Trade Center.

SLEEPLESS IN MIAMI BEACH.

Miami Beach is looking for corporate sponsorships of its “Sleepless Night” of 13 hours of continuous entertainment that is slated for Nov. 3.

Produced by the Miami Beach Tourism and Cultural Development Dept., Sleepless Night promises an A-list of representatives from the worlds of music, dance, drama, comedy and fine art.

It is projecting an upscale audience of more than 100K. Free shuttle buses will link the four venues when the show kicks off at 6 p.m.

Sleepless Nights have been held in Paris, Rome, Madrid, Brussels, Toronto and Montreal. This year’s event is the first for this country.

Gary Farmer (at miamibeachfl.gov) has sponsorship details. A consumer website for the event goes live on July 15.

Howard Miller Communications is promoting Sleepless Night.

SMITH SPRINTS TO H&K/D.C.

Douglas Smith, a key member of the “Chicago 2016” communications team, is taking a post at Hill & Knowlton’s Washington office.

The move reunites Smith with his wife, Elizabeth, chief of staff to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a leader of the Democratic Congressional leadership team.

Smith will continue work on behalf of Chicago’s bid to snag the `16 Summer Olympics. The city received the nod in May over Los Angeles from the United States Olympic Committee. Contenders for the Games include Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Prague and Doha in Qatar. The International Olympic Committee will decide the winning venue in `09.

Smith held communications posts in the Clinton White House. Emanuel was a key Clinton advisor.

Edelman is closing its Edinburgh office following an 18-month stint in August with the expiration of its lease. John Mullin, who headed the unit, has moved to Citigate Dewe Rogerson, a part of Huntsworth.

NEWS CORP. RIPS N.Y. TIMES.

News Corp. has charged the New York Times with using its news pages to advance its own agenda in the aftermath of its "Murdochracy" piece that probed the business dealings of CEO Rupert Murdoch.

The Times included NC's statement in the second installment, which covered Murdoch's dealings with China.

The paper reports that former Chinese prime minister Zhu Rongji once suggested to Murdoch that he become a citizen of China if he wanted to do more business there. [Australia-born Murdoch become an American citizen during the '80s to comply with U.S. television ownership rules.]

Murdoch will soon be a Beijing neighbor of Zhu once his house, a block from the "Forbidden City," is renovated.

News Corp. accuses the NYT of running "this unprecedented series" to further its "commercial self interest by undermining a direct competitor poised to become an even more formidable competitor" in the aftermath of NC's acquisition of Dow Jones & Co.

The Wall Street Journal reported that NC and the Bancroft family are close to a deal that would give the paper a degree of editorial independence if it becomes a NC unit.

SITE INVITES ELECTRONICS PITCHES.

Dan Havlik, editor of the two-month-old tech site DemystifyingDigital.com, said it is open to pitches for electronics reviews and features.

"We're trying to take some of the mystery out of consumer electronics," he said.

Havlik said many of the electronics review sites on the web are written from the point of view of an expert, so readers can be intimidated to even approach those outlets.

A team of columnists for DemystifyingDigital was selected to represent five demographics being targeted: the "digital grandparent"; "tech-confused father"; "born digital," for a younger demographic; "runaround mom," and "business fast trackers," the latter which is written by Havlik.

"We try to make it so people aren't coming to a scientist to get their information; they're coming to someone they know," he said.

Havlik said a section on new products, "New and Easy," is particularly ripe for pitches. That section, which is updated several times a month, includes reviews of three or more products that are relatively easy to use in a particular category, say, digital cameras.

Each writer for the site posts two or three columns per month and maintains a regular blog.

Another area the site wants content for is a section for how-to tutorials on electronics, for example, "How to set up a home theater system."

"We don't want to make it a complete advertisement, obviously, but products can be mentioned as we're explaining how to do something," said Havlik, who can be reached at danhavlik [at] gmail.com.

DemystifyingDigital is affiliated with the quarterly USA Today magazine insert of the same name.

BW DISCOVERS POWER OF PR.

BusinessWeek, in its July 9 issue, reports that "many savvy companies are starting to realize that a good name can be their most important asset-and actually boost the stock price."

Peter Engardio and Michael Arndt have unearthed the "new science of reputation management."

Many investment pros have traditionally scoffed at "suggestions they can be influenced by image manipulation," and most CEOs believe corporate image "is not something to fret about" except during a crisis, wrote the duo.

However, a "more sophisticated understanding of the power of perception is starting to take hold among savvy corporations."

More executives are "finding that the way in which the outside world expects a company to behave and perform can be its most important asset."

The pair reveal that a "company's reputation for being able to deliver growth, attract top talent, and avoid ethical mishaps can account for much of the 30 percent to 70 percent gap between the book value of most companies and reports their market capitalizations."

Engardio and Arndt report that a good reputation is why Johnson & Johnson trades at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than Pfizer. Procter & Gamble surpasses Unilever, and ExxonMobil tops Royal Dutch Shell.

The authors say "spin" alone can't create a lasting public image. Messages must be grounded in reality and reps are built over years.

The article cites consulting firms that mine data to steer clients to the "most effective messages and away from those that should be ignored. Those operations include Fleishman-Hillard's Communications Consulting Worldwide and KDPaine & Partners.

The piece has high praise for United Technologies and tosses brickbats at Wal-Mart Stores. According to a CCW study, Wal-Mart's market cap would be $10B higher if it enjoyed a rep equal to that of competitor Target.

Wal-Mart's PR firm, Edelman, declined to comment on the CCW study. David Tovar, director of media relations at the retailer, said the company has "focused on the long-term effort to proactively tell the Wal-Mart story."

MCCLATCHY’S HUTCHESON TO PSI.

Ron Hutcheson, McClatchy's White House correspondent and a former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., is joining Public Strategies Inc. on Aug. 1.

The more than 20-year veteran of the D.C. political scene has covered the White House for the last six years.

Hutcheson will do corporate work, eschewing lobbying. PSI vice chairman Mark McKinnon, who was President Bush's media advisor, is a top aide to Republican John McCain.

Hutcheson began his reporting career at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He worked at Knight-Ridder, which was acquired by McClatchy last year.

(Media news continued on next page)

FOREIGN BUREAUS WANT RESPECT.

"People in Frankfurt are fascinated with everything that happens in New York," said Roland Linder, business correspondent for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

In terms of media, the world is a flat place. PR pros learned this on June 21, when the Publicity Club of New York held a luncheon featuring U.S. Correspondents from some of the top foreign news organizations, including Britain's BBC, Japan's Nikkei, Italy's Milano Fianza and China's Xinhua News Agency.

"How do I get my stories?" Linder continued. "Reacting to the news around us, of course, is a large part of it. And trying to create my own stories - that's the fun part."

In an age that grows increasingly global, the need for international news bureaus has become par for the course. News that happens abroad must be documented, analyzed and spun to the masses back home. U.S. news is often the biggest source of this, as American affairs are typically of vital interest to the rest of the world. It's for this reason that foreign news bureaus - while seldom spoken of - flourish in the US.

Perhaps no news organization understands this more than the BBC. The broadcaster's radio and television stations reach more people than any other news agency in the world. In the US alone, the BBC has bureaus in New York, Washington DC, Miami and Los Angeles, a presence that Washington bureau chief Andrew Steele said is needed not only to cover US news but also to work within the U.S.'s framework of integrated media technology.

"We cover a lot of business stories in New York. It's our job to provide news to the U.K. but over the decades we've developed an international side to our affairs. We're trying to increase our output in the U.S.," Steele said.

The panel said that while publicists are often very helpful in pitching stories or introducing the press to a company or a product they otherwise wouldn't know about, it can often be difficult to get publicists to open up or otherwise give foreign press the scoop.

Hajime Matsuura, US correspondent for Japan's Nikkei, said this might stem from a misconception among publicists that the foreign press isn't a prime spot for visibility.

"I live here, but obviously I write my stories in Japanese. Many times I get the exclusive but no one in New York knows that. That's frustrating," Matsuura said.

Linder agreed, and said he has his suspicions about publicists giving preferential treatment to networks their clients would recognize.

"The main problem I have is getting access - access to information and access to people," he said. "It's kind of hard to get beyond the 'no comment' and I can't help but think that maybe they wouldn't say the same thing if they were speaking to the Wall Street Journal."

Andrea Fiano, US correspondent for Italy's Milano Finanza, said PR people often pitch him stories but many times communication reaches a snag when the writer wants to delve beyond the product-push.

And though the international press is often overlooked by American PR pros, one thing's for sure: getting ink in the foreign news isn't playing second fiddle.

Matsuura's Nikkei, for example, is the world's largest-selling business daily. It currently has 35 overseas offices in the US, Europe and Asia, and its international edition is printed in New York, Los Angeles, London, the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Sydney. Likewise, Fiano said he is the only Milano Finanza correspondent in the US, doing all American hard news and financial stories that go in the Italian paper. Because American news items are so popular, Fiano said it's common for these stories to get reprinted "over and over" in varying formats. "Our market is huge," Matsuura said. "While newspapers have suffered in the US, the Japanese still hold a firm belief in the newspaper."

The panel said that reaching out to this largely untapped market can be successful for both parties, though there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

"If you have something you'd like to tell us, we'd love to hear it. We need a lot of information, so we need PR. But, sometimes I have reservations on how that information is delivered to us," Steele said. "The CEO is not always the best one to talk to at a company. Usually there is someone else who can articulate the company's position better."

WSJ REPORTERS DEMONSTRATE.

Reporters for the Wall Street Journal stayed away from work on the morning of June 28 to apparently protest News Corporation's proposed takeover of Dow Jones and highlight their union's ongoing contract negotiations with DJ. The reporters returned to work later that afternoon.

A statement issued by The Newspaper Guild's New Jersey-based chapter of the Communications Workers of America, Local 1906, said the Journal's "long tradition of independence, which has been the hallmark of our news coverage for decades, is threatened today."

The union outlined two reasons for the demonstration, noting first that the Journal's editorial integrity "depends on an owner committed to journalistic independence." The group also stressed the need for a "fair contract at a time when Dow Jones is finding the resources to award golden parachutes" to top executives.

The full statement was posted at Poynter.org.

Perry Trunick was promoted to chief editor for Penton Media's Logistics Today magazine and website. Clyde Witt has been upped to chief editor for Material Handling Management, and mhmonline.com.

Judy Brenna has re-joined the Journal Register Company as its director of investor relations, overseeing corporate communications, media and IR. She held that title from 2001-02.

She previously was director of corporate comms. for Nassau Broadcasting Partners and asst. VP of financial comms. for Noonan Russo Communications. She began her career as a reporter for The Trentonian, a Journal Register newspaper.

Because PR Society of America has failed to live up to the values of democracy and free debate on which this nation was founded, we are going to omit the “America” part of its name in future references until it reforms.

We ought also to remove “PR” because the Society doesn’t live up to PR’s ideals either such as adhering to “the highest standards of accuracy and truth” (words from the Society’s own Code of Ethics).

Two of the biggest and worst decisions in the group’s history were made without the knowledge or the permission of the rank-and-file members or even the Assembly—the $6 million move of h.q. downtown for 13 years and the suspension of the printed directory.

These decisions involved serious policy and philosophical issues and were far from mere housekeeping details.

When the Central Michigan chapter, in the wake of these boondoggles, proposed last year to rein in the board by making it answerable to the Assembly, basing its proposal on the constitutions of the AMA and ABA, the leaders of the Society hid this initiative from the members.

The proposal was made six months before the Assembly but leaders banned any mention of it on the Society website or in its two publications, Tactics and Strategist.

Society leaders, in a letter to Central Michigan, argued the Assembly already had the power to supervise the board. But if delegates don’t know what is happening, how can they exercise any power? Another specious claim was that the entire 300-member Assembly would become a “board of directors” and would have to be insured.

Leaders are currently enmeshed in fierce election politics and we see no hope for reforms such as opening national office to all members, reporting finances fully, letting senior members work at h.q., again publishing the Blue Book, polling members’ opinions via e-mail, allowing debates on the Society website, etc. Candidates run on their bios, avoiding discussion of such topics.

Two factions are battling—those identified with Prof. Maria Russell of Syracuse University and those identified with 1997 president Debra Miller of Clark Atlanta University, 2006 president Cheryl Procter-Rogers, 2007 president Rhoda Weiss and 2003-2005 director Rosanna Fiske, unopposed for treasurer.

In an unusual move, secretary Mike Cherenson is vying for chair-elect vs. treasurer Tony D’Angelo who normally would move up to chair-elect. This is a slap in the face to D’Angelo, an executive at Carrier who is based in Syracuse and who teaches in Russell’s PR program. Our money is on Cherenson because the anti-Russell faction has shown it can get its way. One way for PRS to practice democracy would be by staging debates between D’Angelo and Cherenson on the issues named above.

Russell came back on the board as treasurer in 2004 after her name, title, school, address, etc., were placed beside nine committees and boards in that year’s Blue Book. This blatant log-rolling enraged many leaders. The anti-Russell faction showed its power in two ways.

Although Russell was in line to become president-elect in 2005, the nomcom headed by 2002 president Joann Killeen chose director Cheryl Procter-Rogers for that post even though Procter-Rogers was not even an officer.

Another political victim that year was Kenneth Kerrigan of Ernst & Young, who was a student in Russell’s program. At first he was told he had been nominated to the board. But this was withdrawn on the technical ground he had not voted in an Assembly. Cherenson got the nomination and defeated write-in director Phil Ryan at that year’s Assembly. Ryan had taken a one-year term on the board expecting to be elected to a three-year term.

The politics of PRS are costing it exactly the kind of board members it wants—those from corporations. This includes Kerrigan; Tom Vitelli of Intermountain Healthcare who left the board last year; Gerry Corbett of Hitachi who is leaving this year; Margaret Hennen of Fairview Health Services, ditto; Dave Rickey of Alfa Corp., ditto; Ron Owens of Kaiser Permanente and Gary McCormick of Scripps, both of whom resigned last year, and D’Angelo, who will most probably lose this year. That would leave one corporate person on the 17-member 2008 board--Christopher Veronda, internal PR specialist at Eastman Kodak.

PR academics are showing increasing influence on the Society and they are mostly ardent fans of APR even if that means that the Society is undemocratic and has two classes of membership (one that can hold national office and one that can’t). Removing this “perk” of APR might kill the program, they feel. In 2002, educators and 21 ex-presidents of the Society opposed a move by Killeen and others to open PRSS student membership to the 3,400 colleges without student chapters. Reportedly, the professors and ex-presidents made a deal that they would allow decoupling the Assembly from APR to be brought up in 2003 if the at-large student proposal were dropped forever. The at-large proposal has never resurfaced.

Turnout for the revised APR test, which was three years old as of June 30, has been miniscule—367 new PRSA APRs created as of May 31 or an average of just over 123 yearly. Educators took all the major awards last year (besides Outstanding Educator) including Gold Anvil; Distinguished Service; Parke Gibson; Behavioral Science and Lund Public Service.

Directors are not to “succeed themselves” says the PRS bylaws and for 52 years until 1999 this was interpreted to mean that once you left the board, you didn’t come back. Lawyers say that a tradition of that length almost becomes a law but the PRS board could cement it by passing a bylaw.

--Jack O'Dwyer