CA SEEKS PR FIRM FOR DISASTER PROJECT

California has set aside $250K for a two-month PR contract to produce “branding tool kits” for disaster volunteers.

The kits, which are to include collateral materials, logos, fact sheets, media materials and other information, are to be used to identify local organizations as part of the statewide Disaster Volunteer Corps.

The state has issued a “request for offer” to PR firms. The work outline starts with conducting informational interviews with state officials and volunteer organizations to produce the kits all the way through production and distribution.

The work is to be performed for California Volunteers, which administers state volunteer and service programs like AmeriCorps. CV coordinated thousands of volunteers to assist with the state’s recent wild fires. Funding for the PR effort comes from the state’s Office of Homeland Security.

Marta Bortner, manager of comms. for CV ([email protected]), is contact.

SINGER HANDLES S.F. ZOO CRISIS

Singer & Associates, the well-connected San Francisco PR firm, is guiding the San Francisco Zoo through a crisis sparked by the mauling death of a teenage boy by a Siberian tiger there last month.

S&A is working with the non-profit Zoological Society, which runs the San Francisco Zoo.

Singer’s involvement is generating heat, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Mark Geragos, the high-profile lawyer for two teenagers who were with the victim at the time of the attack, has threatened to sue Singer for allegedly planting stories that portray the two boys in a negative light, reports the Chronicle.

The paper noted that a dispatch in the New York Post last week had an anonymous source saying the boys had slingshots and that an empty bottle of vodka was found in their car.

Singer told the Chronicle that the slingshot rumor was “already out there” and denied he leaked the idea. “Reporters have asked about rocks, slingshots, bottle rockets and taunting,” he said. “Those are all things that San Francisco police are investigating, and that’s a fact.”

Microsoft has named Barry LaSala director of its government affairs team in Washington, D.C. He will tackle online security, trade and technology issues.

He had been a key staffer for the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee that is headed by John Kerry of Massachusetts.

OGILVY PICKS UP PAKISTAN

Ogilvy PR Worldwide has inked a three-month contract to provide media relations services for the Embassy of Pakistan.

The $45K a-month pact was signed prior to the Dec. 27 murder of the country’s former leader Benazir Bhutto.

Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf on Jan. 3 denied that his government had anything to do with Bhutto’s assassination.

He told a press conference that extremists, who have been carrying out suicide bombings in Pakistan, were responsible for the killing of Bhutto. Musharraf also noted that he warned Bhutto about the dangers connected with her conducting a public rally.

Marcia Silverman’s shop is to provide media training, guidance, reporter outreach and write press materials for the Embassy. The WPP Group unit does not anticipate participating in political activities for its client.

The contract will be re-evaluated after three-months to determine whether it should be extended.

Pakistan and its former PR firm Cassidy & Assocs. parted ways on a $1.2M one-year contract in November after Musharraf declared emergency rule in his country.

Either Ogilvy or Pakistan retains the right to terminate the agreement upon giving 30 days prior written notice. Ogilvy agrees not to disclose the nature of the agreement or relationship without obtaining Pakistani approval. The firm’s client agreement was sent to Pakistan’s U.S. Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani.

MGH CONNECTS WITH 811 ACCOUNT

Maryland-based MGH has won a review to guide PR and social media for the Common Ground Alliance, a utility industry-backed non-profit that runs a campaign to prevent people from uprooting pipelines and cables.

The CGA, based in Alexandria, Va., had worked with Fleishman-Hillard’s D.C. office in the past. It issued an RFP in late August for the $15K/month account to create a news bureau, handle media inquiries and reach out to bloggers, among other tasks.

F-H launched CGA’s 811 hotline, which was set for homeowners and contractors to call before digging or excavating. Damage to pipelines and cables costs the industry millions of dollars each year.

MGH, which was tapped after a unanimous decision by a team of CGA members, is charged with targeting would-be diggers in the planning stages before they break ground. The firm, for the last seven years, has been AOR for Miss Utility, a CGA member and call notification center based in the D.C. area. Michael O’Brien is EVP and PR director at MGH.

H&K, NUKE INDUSTRY HIT ON DISCLOSURE

A reader of Vermont’s Rutland Herald took that paper and Hill & Knowlton to task as the latest media outlet to not identify an op-ed piece author as a nuclear industry spokesman.

A Dec. 27 commentary headlined “Vermont’s Low Carbon Leadership” was bylined Patrick Moore, who was identified as an advisor to the Vermont Energy Partnership, co-founder and former leader of Greenpeace, and chairman and chief scientist of Greenspirit Strategies. Ltd.

Reader Brennan Michaels, in a letter to the editor dated Jan. 1, noted that Greenpeace has disavowed the current work by Moore, who has not been with that environmental group for 20 years. Wrote Michaels: “Currently, Moore is collecting large sums of money to promote nuclear power from the Nuclear Energy Institute… [and] has been the most visible feature of an $8M public relations campaign funded by NEI and run by Hill & Knowlton that has booked countless Moore speeches and planted countless Moore editorials, all trumpeting his ancient association with Greenpeace and failing to disclose his payments from the nuclear lobby.”

The Rutland Herald’s failure to disclose Moore’s ties was not the first case, by any measure. The Columbia Journalism Review, in a 2006 editorial titled “False Fronts,” noted the Washington Post, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Herald, Baltimore Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Rocky Mountain News, New York Times, and CBS News have all made references to Moore as a Greenpeace founder or environmentalist without mentioning his role as a paid spokesman for nukes.

A nuclear plant in Vermont owned by Entergy Nuclear is under review for its license to be extended beyond its 2012 expiration. That review has sparked a contentious debate in the state. Moore’s op-ed argued in favor of the plant and nuclear power.

NPC LAUNCHES CENTENNIAL

The National Press Club has joined with British insurer Aviva to conduct an educational outreach program to promote the history and future of the Washington-based journalism organization with about 3,500 members.

Des Moines-based Aviva USA is funding 12,000 DVDs and brochures linked to a centennial documentary called “The National Press Club at 100: A Century of Headlines.” The materials are slated for j-schools, libraries and community groups.

The documentary premiered Jan. 4 at NPC. A panel discussion followed featuring reporting legends Helen Thomas and Jack Germond. They joined NPC president Jerry Zremski and president emeritus John Cosgrove.

The documentary, according to Zremski, tells NPC’s story and that of the development of journalism in America. He believes the film will “transmit journalistic values and traditions to young and aspiring journalists.”

For its participation in the anniversary celebration, Aviva received NPC’s first centennial founders award. Tom Godlasky, president of Aviva USA, said his company teamed with NPC because it is a “forward-thinking company that is dedicated to building better tomorrows in American communities and worldwide.” He praised NPC’s “illustrious history of promoting the highest professional standards in journalism.”

The Iowa-based subsidiary accounts for $38B of the parent company’s $713B total assets. Aviva USA has 1,200 employees and 37K licensed agents.

BG&R KEEPS BUSY ON IRAQ REBUILD

Barbour Griffith & Rogers earned fees of $650K during the six-month period ended November 30 for work on behalf of the Iraqi National Accord and Kurdish Regional Government, two sides working to put the country back together again.

BG&R is promoting the “Six Point Plan for Iraq” that is the handiwork of former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and his INA. That calls for the exit of most American forces within two years and establishment of a federal state that recognizes the “importance of Iraqi Kurds and the KRG in building a new Iraq.”

The Washington-based firm placed op-ed pieces in the New York Times and Washington Post for submissions bylined by Allawi. It also arranged face-time for Allawi with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

BG&R placed an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal on behalf of KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani in which he defended his government’s measure to regulate energy resources in the region.

He promised to share the wealth with the rest of the country, but noted that Baghdad had tight control over Kurdistan’s energy wealth under Saddam Hussein, which it used to “create obeisance and loyalty to the center.”

He wrote that Kurdistan is not a “rogue province seeking an early escape from the chaos that has become Iraq.”

Barzani harbors “deep suspicions about becoming reliant on the capital that has brought us such misery for so many years.”

SCOVILLE GUIDES PR FOR BIODIESEL CO.

Seattle-based Scoville PR handles Imperium Renewables, the renewable fuel producer that suffered a December top executive shakeup and postponed its IPO last week citing “current market conditions.”

Imperium has raised more than $200M in funding and operates what it says is the largest biodiesel plant in the U.S., along with a separate research lab, in Washington state. It planned a $345M IPO for May.

Scoville, an independent boutique firm headed by John Williams, issued a statement for Imperium on Jan. 3 in which the company’s founder and interim president/CEO John Plaza announced the IPO postponement. The firm also announced the departure of Imperium CEO Martin Tobias on Dec. 21, a move CNET called “abrupt and not well publicized,” noting the news was released on the Friday before Christmas.

Biodiesel fuel, which produces low carbon dioxide emissions and is supported in Congress’ recently passed energy bill, is derived from organic material like agricultural products.

Scoville also works with Zipcar, the car-sharing service, and Targeted Growth, a biotechnology company.

WICI WEIGHS GENDER IN POLITICS

Gender trumps issues for prospective votes in the 2008 presidential election, according to a survey of 2,000 Americans by New York Women in Communications.

Only 20 percent said they would support a woman as a historical precedent, although 36 percent of Hispanics and that same percentage of 18-24-year-olds would vote for a woman because of the historical significance.

NYWICI found that just 17 percent of women and 14 percent of men said they’d be more likely to vote for a woman if they liked a male and female candidate equally, and 59 percent said they are neither more likely nor less likely to vote for a female candidate.

However, a sizable number (36 percent) of women said they would support a female because of strength in issues like education and healthcare. That number was higher for black and Hispanic voters (41 and 45 percent, respectively).

“The survey suggests that although women won’t support another female unconditionally, they’re more receptive to certain campaign messages, and they’re far more sensitive than men to public scrutiny of a female candidate,” said Kristine Welker, NYWICI president.

Gender bias in media

Nearly half of women polled said females are more likely to receive negative press coverage, while 35 percent of men agreed with that analysis. Sixty percent of women said female candidates are more likely to be judged by their clothing and hairstyle. Half of men concur.

Fifty-five percent of all respondents said Hillary Clinton has been treated differently by her male opponents because she's female, and a large chunk of them (78 percent) call that treatment negative or critical.

As for celebrity endorsements, respondents said they aren’t swayed. Only eight percent said they would be moved by a celebrity’s support of a candidate. But there are a few high-profile figures with influence. Twenty percent said Al Gore’s backing would affect their vote, while Oprah Winfrey’s support (she’s backing Barack Obama) registered among 12 percent of respondents. Diane Sawyer (10 percent), Jon Stewart (9 percent) and Bill O’Reilly (9 percent) also registered.

The survey queried 1,016 men and 1,009 women 18 years of age and older from December 13-17.

FOX BIZ NEWS OFF TO DISMAL START

Fox Business News is averaging viewership of 6,300 during its first two months, far below the 283K people who tune into CNBC each weekday, according to the New York Times.

FBN launched in October with much ballyhoo including boasts from CEO Roger Ailes about burying CNBC.

FBN’s viewership falls below the 35K minimum threshold that Nielsen Media Research uses before publicly disclosing a cable network’s rating. That figure represents a tenth of a ratings point.

CNBC is available in 90M homes, while FBN can be viewed in 30M households.

MERC BOOTS HUTTON

The San Jose Mercury News, which has a circulation of more than 230K, has replaced executive editor Carole Hutton with Dave Butler, VP-news at parent company MediaNews Group.

The Denver-based publisher bought the Merc, which had been Knight-Ridder’s crown jewel, from McClatchy in `06.

Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews, said Butler’s job is to spark innovation to the San Jose paper. He noted that the paper is located near Google and Yahoo!, two of the big drivers of the new media scene.

Butler has been editor and publisher of the Detroit News, and editor of the Los Angeles Daily News. He retains his corporate post.

FLORIO DIES AT 58

Steve Florio, the colorful former CEO of Conde Nast Publications, died Dec. 27 from the aftermath of a heart attack suffered around Thanksgiving. He was 58.

Florio, who had a history of heart troubles, stepped down as chief in `04. He retained the vice chairman position.

Conde Nast chief S. I. Newhouse said in a statement that Florio was a “great executive and great leader.”

At CNP, Florio was in charge of magazines such as Glamour, New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Bon Appetit, Self and Vogue. The company’s magazines attract more than 70M readers each month.

KAHN, FISHER UPPED AT NYT

Joe Kahn and Ian Fisher have been promoted to deputy foreign editors at the New York Times.

Kahn has been reporting from China for the paper. Earlier, he was a business reporter, Washington correspondent and staffer at the Wall Street Journal. He assumes his new post in March.

The well-traveled Fisher has written for the Times in Africa, Europe, Israel and Iraq. He will join Kahn in April.

Briefs ____________________

Wondertime, a Disney-published magazine for parents, said it will increase its rate base to 500,000 with its February 2008 issue. That’s a 25% boost from its current base of 400,000.

People ______________________

BusinessWeek assistant managing editor Paul Barrett, who led investigative reporting for the magazine, is returning to the Wall Street Journal to write on non-business topics for the front page.

Betsy Sagges, formerly of Access Communications, to Chief Executive magazine, as marketing relations manager, a new position. She markets events and handles outreach for corporate CEOS and C-suite participants. She previously managed events like Comdex and the International Housewares Show.

(Media news continued on next page)

MTV RECRUITS ‘CITIZEN JOURNALISTS’

Viacom’s MTV Networks has recruited 51 members for its “Street Team `08” to report election news from each state and the District of Columbia.

They will file weekly multimedia reports that will also be distributed via the Associated Press Online Video Network of more than 1,800 sites.

The rookie reporters will provide a youthful take on the important issues affecting the presidential race.

Ian Rowe, VP-PA and Strategic Partnership at MTV, said Street Team `08 is a “key way for our audience to connect with peers, as well as get informed and engaged on the local and political issues that matter to them most.”

The project is bankrolled by a $700K grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which has earmarked $25M over the next three years to back community news ventures.

LHJ UNVEILS NEW LOOK, COLUMNS

Ladies Home Journal has been redesigned for its 125th anniversary.

Diane Salvatore, editor-in-chief for the last five and a half years who oversaw the changes, said: "The previous aesthetic - which worked extremely well at that point in our evolution - put more emphasis on pure gracefulness. Now we want to have a touch more swagger and intensity in key places." New columns include "Medical Mystery," covering a woman whose symptoms confound doctors but is eventually diagnosed; "Anatomy of a Splurge," comparing a high-priced beauty item to an economically priced version, and "Can This Recipe Be Saved?" an expansion of an existing column of makeovers for family recipes.

Among the changes are new typefaces, illustrations, graphics, and photo essays.

The changes take effect with the February edition.

ADWEEK REVAMPS

Adweek, which has cut back to 36 issues a year, has announced a "re-launch of its brand."

The advertising trade said it will unveil a new website, magazine and events schedule on Feb. 4 which will be more closely aligned.

Editor Alison Fahey called the changes an "important shift in editorial direction, scope and content distribution." She added: "We will move from a vertical agency book to a broader perspective with more in-depth analysis and a focus on innovation and marketing strategies."

In addition to the web revamp, Adweek.com will include a searchable creative database of ads which users can ad to and critique, forums, video interviews, and agency profiles with user generated content. The print magazine will have longer features, case studies and client strategy critiques. A key goal is reaching beyond the agency sector to reach "outside industries." Its circulation will include 26 regular issues and 10 special editions focusing on topics like design, mobile marketing, digital services and media/measurement.

An ad campaign via New York agency Cowboy about the changes is running online and in print.

FALCONHEAD OWNS ENDURANCE MEDIA

Private equity firm Falconhead Capital, which focuses on sports, leisure, lifestyle, and media, announced three separate acquisitions in the endurance sports event and publishing industries. FC has combined them to form a new platform company known as Competitor Group.

The three acquired companies are based in San Diego, Calif., the so-called "endurance-sport capital of the world," are Elite Racing, La Jolla Holding Group, doing business as Triathlete Magazine, and Competitor Publishing, Inc.

Faconhead said CG is the largest media and event-based enterprise in the endurance sport space, with total monthly magazine circulation of about 500K; marathons, triathlons, cycling and other endurance events in sixteen major cities with more than 150K participants.

Financial terms were not disclosed. FC pegs the endurance sport industry - including running, cycling and triathlons - as a rapidly growing, $1.3 billion sector with more than 3.4 million active participants nationwide and attractive to the key 25 to 54-year-old demographic with an average household annual income consistently in the $75,000 to $95,000 range.

Elite Racing is the top owner and operator of running events in the United States. Triathlete is the largest triathlon consumer magazine and online content provider in the industry with monthly circulation per issue of about 60K.

CP publishes regional magazines on endurance events, training tips, nutrition and products, with controlled monthly circulation totaling about 450K. CP also owns the Muddy Buddy endurance events.

Falconhead has named one of its operating partners, Peter Englehart, as chief executive officer of CGI, effective immediately.

Englehart, 55, is founder and former president of the Convention & Trade Show Television Network, LLC (CTS-TV); senior vice president of programming and production for the Outdoor Life Network, and director of program planning at ESPN.

AIM ACQUIRES SNEWS

Active Interest Media, the parent company of Backpacker magazine and Yoga Journal, has acquired SNEWS (Specialty News), a trade news service for the outdoor and fitness industries. SNEWS produces the GearTrends trade magazines and online news services.

AIM's president and CEO, Skip Zimbalist, called the deal a "powerful partnership of the leading consumer and trade brands in the outdoor and fitness industries."

AIM also publishes Vegetarian Times, Better Nutrition and custom publications like the soon-to-debut Whole Foods Market magazine.

SNEWS said it is retaining key senior staff including partners Michael Hodgson and Therese Iknoian, who will continue to operate out of Grass Valley, Calif.

Hillary Clinton's third-place showing in Iowa is being laid at the doorstep of none other than Mark Penn, president and CEO of Burson-Marsteller, once the biggest PR firm but whose fee and staff figures have not been seen since 2001.

Penn has long been criticized for leading the campaign of Clinton while at the same time heading a giant PR firm with large numbers of business interests.

Columnist Ariana Huffington has called for Penn to resign B-M and Ari Berman, writer for The Nation, has been blasting Penn's "centrist" policy for Clinton.

Penn used this approach to save the presidency for Bill Clinton after the Democrats lost both houses in 1994, says Berman. Republican themes like welfare reform and tax cuts were co-opted by Clinton.

Penn also rescued Hillary when she ran for the Senate in 2000 by getting her to focus on "pot-hole politics" rather than grand themes," wrote Berman.

Critics, including columnist Robert Novak, are now saying that Clinton's emphasis on "experience" is playing poorly against Barack Obama's promise of "change."

A dialog on what clients should pay to PR firms for what services raged in the Wall Street Journal print and online editions Dec. 31.

One writer claimed that PR firms "are a complete ripoff for small businesses. They take your thousands of dollars each month and put a recent college graduate on your case who knows even less about PR than you do."

The writer told small businesses to read a few books and then attempt their own PR: "As long as you see things from a media perspective, it's not that hard to do your own PR."

This touched off a string of rebuttals including the statement that "PR is about vastly more than simple publicity." Anyone who thinks about PR that way is "narrow-minded," said Tim Pennington of Allendale, Mich.

Another writer did not think "pay-for-play" is a bad idea because "too many firms collect their retainers without delivering the goods." At the same time, he noted, "too many clients don't pay for services rendered."

A related article was by New Yorker financial writer James Surowiecki who said in the Dec. 24/31 issue that the true meaning of the web is price & item shopping. For the first time, buyers know as much about prices as sellers, he said. People are not buying much on the web (only 3% of retail sales). Rather, they are shopping on the web and doing their buying in the stores.

PR firms have missed this boat which is based on massive amounts of facts and prices available. Fighting this new era of information are firms that display no accounts at all when they used to display hundreds of them. They clasp to their bosoms any data about fees, staff names and staff totals, make no speeches, hold no press functions and exhibit no public personality. Some small and medium-sized firms also do this.

But to be modern, PR firms should start competing on the basis of price (so many activities in a month for such-and-such price) while practicing full disclosure about themselves. The activities could be special events, parties and receptions; letters to current and past customers; new brochures for the sales force; interviews set up with the press and Wall Street; promises to obtain publicity in ten of 20 target media; a certain number of hours of counseling, etc. The web is about prices and information, not secrecy.

PR has a numerical story to tell as Ketchum research head Mark Weiner has pointed out. PR returns about $6 for every dollar invested while ads return about $1.20, according to his research. Return on investment can be measured in terms of revenue, doing more with less, and for less, and avoiding catastrophic cost, he says.

The first statements of 2008 PRS chair Jeff Julin show he is a master of the overblown empty phrase.

Prof. Bill Sledzik of Kent State University, critiquing Julin, said that if he were a student in his sophomore writing class he would get a "gentleman's C" for his first release but only on the condition that he re-write it. The grade would be much worse were Julin in the senior media-relations class, Sledzik added.

As an example of Julin's "fluff," Sledzik quotes this sentence: "Implementation of the (strategic) plan will maximize member value by enhancing our real and virtual communities, more aggressively profiling best practices and PR research, and leveraging our leadership position in PR ethics."

Julin's basic flaw is overuse of abstract "buzz words" like "stakeholder engagement" while avoiding anything specific, says Sledzik. It's "B.S." writing that lacks "substance," he says.

We found much worse than just poor writing in Julin's first remarks. There is mountainous hypocrisy in his statement, "I also hope to advance a broader understanding of our profession as PRS engages in public discourse on such timely issues such as ethical communications, the free flow of information and first amendment rights."

The last thing PRS believes in is the "free flow of information" because it is withholding from members the transcripts of the last three Assemblies; COO Bill Murray's employment contract; how individual delegates voted in the 51-49% defeat of the proposed five district bylaw at the 2007 Assembly (the board has this valuable political information), and what the arguments are for switching the charter from New York (which disallows electronic meetings) to Delaware (which allows them). Julin shows no interest in overturning the 35-year-old undemocratic rule that bars 80%+ of members from running for national office. Julin's remarks so far are 100% air. His new "stealth board" meets Jan. 24-26 in New York but there's no word of this on the PRS website. We expect not a peep from any of the directors in 2008.

Sledzik feels the writing at PRS is so bad that he has started the Facebook group, "PRS Needs Professional PR Help-NOW." (www.toughsledding.wordpress.com).

--Jack O'Dwyer