WASHINGTON REVIEWS DAIRY PR ACCOUNT

The Washington Dairy Products Commission has issued an RFP to develop and run its planned “Dairy Trust Initiative,” a reputation management program for the state’s dairy farmers.

Dairy products are a $675M business in the Evergreen State, which is the No. 10 dairy producer in the U.S.

The campaign has three goals: renew and enhance trust between dairy farmers and the public; strengthen public trust in the quality, safety and value of dairy products, and boost perception of dairy farm families as contributing to quality of community life.

A budget figure was not released but the WDPC says compensation will be in line with industry standards.

The WDPC currently works with Seattle-based DeLaunay Marketing Communications for PR. A separate RFP is in the proposal review stage for its advertising and media buying account.

The resulting contract will run from March 24 through Dec. 31, 2010. Blair Thompson ([email protected]) is point of contact. Proposals are due Feb. 1.

The RFP can be downloaded from WDPC’s website, havemilk.com.

WEINER EXITS KETCHUM

Mark Weiner has resigned as senior VP-global research director at Ketchum, following an eight-month stint. He joined the Omnicom unit after exiting the presidency of Delahaye, which is now a part of Cision.

Weiner told O’Dwyer’s that he plans to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities in PR, communications research and corporate reputation.

He founded Medialink PR Research in `94, an entity that acquired The Delahaye Group five years later and took on the Delahaye name.

David Rockland remains managing director of Ketchum Global Research Network.

Via a statement, Rockland expressed appreciation for Weiner’s “thought leadership, innovation and business development skills.” He also respects Weiner’s desire to “pursue leadership opportunities outside the agency.” Weiner will remain at Ketchum through the end of this month to assist in the transition.

He wrote “Unleashing the Power of PR: A Contrarian’s Guide to Marketing and Communication,” a book published by John Wiley & Sons in `06.

Weiner can be reached at 203-414-8482 and [email protected].

EDELMAN HEADS DOWNTOWN

Edelman is moving its New York headquarters from the bustling tourist-clogged Times Square area to the more tranquil lower Manhattan when its lease expires in ’09, Matt Harrington, president of the firm’s eastern region, told O’Dwyer’s.

The move will bring Edelman’s staffers closer together as they are currently spread over 11 floors at 1500 Broadway.

“We are moving into four bigger floors,” noted Harrington.

Edelman has a 16-year lease on the 420 Hudson St. property, which is a 77-year-old building undergoing a $25M rehab that features a rooftop deck.

The West Village area is becoming something of a communications hub.

Harrington noted that Edelman will be a neighbor to Saatchi & Saatchi and “Getty Images is just across the street.”

Edelman will be a co-tenant with ad agency Lowe & Partners, which is moving into the 15-story building in June.

Edelman is a pioneer of the “new” Times Square. It moved into its current NYC headquarters in `89.

PHILBIN REBOUNDS FROM FEMA DEBACLE

John “Pat” Philbin, the former Federal Emergency Management Agency PA director who took the heat for its phony press conference, is now senior VP at Pier Systems.

Pier, which stands for public information emergency response, was created following a 2000 pipeline disaster in the Midwest. Its offerings deliver media, stakeholder and public information during a crisis.

Philbin became familiar with Pier while handling the Coast Guard’s public affairs efforts. He told O’Dwyer’s that had FEMA used Pier’s communications management systems the ill-fated press conference about the California wildfires would not have happened.

Gerald Baron, Pier founder, has known Philbin since his Coast Guard duty.

He studied the press conference situation closely, and knows that “it is not in character for Philbin to be deceptive or to try to pull a fast one on the media or the public.”

Baron blames planning errors for the FEMA press conference debacle.

He believes Philbin paid a very high price by media that “mischaracterized the errors” and superiors who “did not demonstrate the same level of leadership, professionalism and personal courage that Pat did.”

OHIO SEEKS MULTICULTURAL TRAVEL FIRM

Ohio's tourism entity is on the hunt for a firm to handle multicultural travel and tourism PR and marketing as African Americans and Hispanics represent a larger segment of its travel volume.

The Buckeye State's Dept. of Development, Division of Travel and Tourism issued an RFP on Jan. 15 for a two-year assignment budgeted at $900K. That includes "aggressive" PR, e-marketing, advertising and partnerships.

The state cites data indicating Hispanic travel increased 20 percent from 2000-02, while African American travel rose four percent. That compares with a two percent rise for other demographics.

A particular focus of the effort will be Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana and Michigan.

Fahlgren Mortine handles the state's main travel and tourism PR account, which it defended in an October review.

Tourism is a $33 billion industry for Ohio employing 550K people.

Proposals are due Feb. 13. The RFP can be downloaded via the state's procurement site, procure.ohio.gov/proc/searchProcOpps.asp.

NOTRE DAME LOOKS FOR PR HEAD

The University of Notre Dame will soon launch a national search for a PR head following its announcement that Hilary Crnkovich plans to step down as VP-PA & communications on Aug. 1.

She plans to relocate from South Bend (Ind.) to Chicago to be closer to her family.

Crnkovich joined ND in `05 after serving three years as managing director of Burson-Marsteller's brand practice in Chicago.

Earlier, she was a partner in Designkitchen, a web design site, and worked at Earle Palmer Brown Cos.

ND credits Crnkovich with handling the inauguration of Rev. John Jenkins, launching a major fund-raising drive, arranging a tribute in Washington, D.C., for ND president emeritus Rev. Theodore Hesburgh and creating a more robust web presence for the school.

CHENEY TAKES PA POST AT NAVIGATORS

Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, has left AOL for a communications post at public affairs firm Navigators in Washington, D.C.

Cheney takes on a VP role in Navigators' strategic communications unit. She had been VP for standards and practices at AOL, handling issues like Internet privacy and child safety. She was also chief of staff for AOL vice chairman Ted Leonsis and played a key role in the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign.

Cheney will be working with principals like Mike Murphy, former political strategist for Govs. Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Ruder Finn exec and Dick Cheney aide Ron Christie, and Todd Harris, former spokesman and top PR aide to Schwarzenegger.

Cheney previously worked in issues management and corporate responsibility at Coors, where she was corporate relations manager for the gay and lesbian community.

Navigators, which has worked with BellSouth, Pfizer and managed the Schwarzenegger for Governor campaign, has operations in D.C., Sacramento, Los Angeles and Tallahassee.

CALIF. QUAKE INSURER SEEKS PR FIRM

The public-private entity set up to provide earthquake insurance for California residents following the catastrophic 1994 Northridge quake is looking for an outside PR firm.

The California Earthquake Authority, based in Sacramento, has issued an RFQ for PR and marketing help with tasks like crisis communications services, development of news releases and fact sheets, web design, public affairs and news conference support.

A firm within 100 miles of Sacramento is preferred, but not mandatory. Proposals are due March 7 (questions by Feb. 15). The RFQ has been posted on CEA's website, earthquakeauthority.com.

The CEA is funded mostly by private insurance companies and was established when many insurance companies stopped covering or limited coverage for California homeowners following the 6.7-magnitude '94 quake. The entity allows the insurers to meet a state law to provide quake insurance without covering non-essential property like swimming pools.

QUINN SAILS WITH CIRCLE LINE

Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, a New York City institution, has selected Quinn & Co to handle PR. "We officially began Jan. 15," John Frazier, executive VP, at Q&C, told O'Dwyer's.

Circle Line began a review of its PR in October. The account had been handled by Danika Communications in Greenwich, Conn.

The RFP called for media relations, communications and developing creative ways to promote the CL brand in a "changing environment" with "various challenges and opportunities."

Circle Line has been plying the waters around Manhattan since 1945.

BLACKWATER EXPANDS D.C. PRESENCE

Blackwater Worldwide, the embattled private security firm, has hired Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice as its D.C. representative for contracting and acquisition issues. Its team includes Jimmy Broughton, chief of staff to former Senator Jesse Helms; Mark Harkins, ex-aide to Rep Brad Miller and Kevin Jones, a legislative assistant to U.S. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen.

WCS&R has more than 500 staffers. It was established in Blackwater's home state of North Carolina in 1876.

Blackwater, which was involved in the shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in September, faces new scrutiny as the Associated Press reported Jan. 12 that the company immediately repainted its trucks after that incident.

The painting destroyed evidence, according to the AP, and hindered a Justice Dept. probe of the shooting.

Anne Tyrrell, Blackwater's spokesperson, said the repairs "would have been at the U.S. Government's direction."

RAINES RE-EMERGES ON THE MEDIA SCENE

Howell Raines, former New York Times executive editor who was a casualty of the Jayson Blair scandal, has joined Conde Nast’s Portfolio as a media columnist.

His first column is slated for March, and will deal with coverage of the Presidential campaign.

Raines, a 25-year veteran of the Times, took the exec editor post just prior to Sept. 11. He also served as Washington bureau chief and editor of the paper’s editorial page.

In '03, Raines was forced out of his job along with Gerald Boyd, managing editor of the Times, following news that Blair had written a series of fabrications.

Raines says he will write about the Times, while at Portfolio, but promises that he is not out to settle any old scores.

He says it would be “awkward” to avoid coverage of the Times because of its role as a media institution.

OPRAH TO OPEN TV NETWORK

Oprah Winfrey is to launch “OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network in `09 in a venture inked with Discovery Communications.

OWN will debut in more than 70M homes, replacing Discovery’s Health Channel.

Winfrey will serve as chair of the network, which will be 50/50 owned by her production company Harpo and Discovery. She will have editorial control over the venture and be responsible for branding, programming and creative vision.

OWN will be tied into Oprah.com, a site that offers advice, interactive workshops, inspirational stories, books and features. It attracts more than six million viewers a month.

OWN has begun a search for a CEO to oversee day-by-day activities. The network will launch without Winfrey’s syndicated talk show that has been sold to stations through `11.

Discovery has 1.5B viewers in 170 countries.

SOLOMON TO HEAD WASH TIMES

John Solomon, a national investigative reporter for the Washington Post, has joined the Washington Times as executive editor. He succeeds Wesley Pruden, who is retiring after 25 years with the Times, including 16 as editor-in-chief.

Thomas McDevitt, president of the Times, called the appointment a “step forward” for the conservative paper.

Pruden will continue to write his “Pruden on Politics” column.

"They said we would last six weeks, said Pruden, “and now, a quarter of a century later, we're strong, brighter, bolder than ever and the newspaper is embarked on great change.” Pruden noted Solomon comes from the Times’ “archrival.”

Solomon was director of multimedia investigative reporting, assistant bureau chief, news editor and a reporter for the Associated Press in Washington.

The Times said an extensive nationwide search resulted in the appointment of Solomon from among several excellent finalist candidates.

METRO INT’L PUTS PAPERS ON BLOCK

Metro International, which bills itself as the “world’s largest global newspaper,” is reportedly putting its Metro New York, Metro Boston and Metro Philadelphia up for sale.

The media combine launched a strategic review of its holdings in October. The Boston Globe reports that potential buyers have looked at each of the papers.

The group has lost more than $10.5M during the past year, according to filings of MI, which publishes free dailies targeted at young people in more than 20 nations.

The New York Times Co. owns a 49 percent in Metro Boston, which suffered a 10K circulation dip to 170K over the past year.

The NYTC purchased the Boston paper with the idea of cross-promotion. It owns the Boston Globe.

Brunswick Group does IR for MI.

SEYMOUR TAKES ON MORE

Lesley Seymour, editor-in-chief of Marie Claire, has been named editor-in-chief of Meredith Corporation’s More magazine, effective January 22. The 10-year-old 1.2M circulation lifestyle mag targets women over 40.

Seymour takes over for Peggy Northrop, who left the EIC post in November.

Seymour was previously editor-in-chief of Redbook, editor-in-chief of YM, beauty director for Glamour magazine, and contributing editor, Vogue.

GOLFWEEK SAYS SORRY FOR NOOSE COVER

Golfweek apologized on Jan. 19 for putting a noose on its cover to illustrate the controversy triggered by Golf Channel broadcaster Kelly Tilghman, who suggested the only way to stop Tiger Woods is to “lynch him in a back alley.”

Made during the Mercedes-Benz Championship, that remark resulted in a two-week suspension for Tilghman.

Golfweek devoted four pages to the Tilghman/Golf Channel affair.

The magazine is sorry for the noose cover after it “received negative reaction from consumers, subscribers and advertisers across the country,” William Kupper, president of GW parent Turnstile Publishing, said in a statement.

He continued: “We were trying to convey the controversial issue with a strong and provocative graphic image.”

Kupper said it is “now obvious that the overall reaction to our cover deeply offended many people. For that, we are deeply apologetic.”

Dave Seanor, editor of GW, has been replaced by Jeff Babineau. He is a nine-year GW veteran.

Babineau said the magazine has a “job ahead of us to re-earn the trust and confidence of many loyal readers.” His wish: “one regretful error does not erase more than 30 years of service we’ve dedicated to this industry.”

(Media news continued on next page)

DILENSCHNEIDER LAUNCHES ‘HOTNEWZ’

The Dilenschneider Group is supporting the Jan. 21 launch of Internet TV channel HotNewz.TV, Phillip Anastos, CEO of the venture geared to the 18-to-26 largely college demographic, told O’Dwyer’s via email.

HotNewz promises to deliver news that the world’s 119M college students can use, plus information from the worlds of entertainment and sports.

It will feature experts offering advice on topics such as career planning, job opportunities, dating, relationships and “life coaching.”

Phillip is CEO of Anastos Interactive Media and the son of New York Fox 5 news anchor Ernie Anastos. He worked seven years at Trump Organization, handling sales and marketing before establishing AIM. The senior Anastos is a director at AIM, producer of HotNewz.

Broadcast PR veteran Alan Weiss is AIM’s president and programming chief for HotNewz.

His Alan Weiss Productions syndicates “Teen/Kids News,” which airs on more than 220 TV stations.

CNNMONEY.COM BOOSTS VIDEO OFFERINGS

CNNMoney.com launched a broadband initiative to produce 30 original videos per day. CNNMoney.com's homepage has been redesigned with an embedded video player.

Jonathan Shar, general manager of CNNMoney, said the site will "leverage the power" of sister publications like Fortune, Money, and FSB: Fortune.

New content includes daily segments, weekly shows, monthly programming, and annual specials headed by executive producer Caleb Silver, and a team of producers and reporters.

Daily segments include business updates by Poppy Harlow, reporting live from the CNNMoney newsroom; stock analysis; commentary, and "Street Life," featuring Fortune managing editor Andy Serwer discussing story-making headlines.

People _________________________

Ilene Cohen has been promoted to VP, consumer marketing, for Condé Nast Publications.

She has been with the company for more than 20 years and continues to oversee all consumer marketing efforts for Vogue, Men's Vogue, Architectural Digest, Cookie, and Condé Nast Portfolio.

Cohen joined as subscription promotions manager in 1986.

Anne Wright, an 18-year veteran of Crain Communications, has been named corporate director of content overseeing the company’s content management system and directing information and data sharing across its titles. She was previously assistant managing editor/data services for Automotive News and director of Crain’s Detroit corporate information center.

NYTimes.com has added Tim Egan and Olivia Judson to its opinion section. Egan is an 18-year Times veteran based on the West Coast. He pens “Outposts” every Thursday about environment, economic and political issues. Judson, an evolutionary biologist and author, pens “The Wild Side,” which appears Wednesdays and covers evolutionary issues.

Allison Arieff, an occasional contributor to NYTimes.com, is now writing “By Design,” a column on design appearing on the second Tuesday of each month.

John Brownlee, founding editor-in-chief of Center Console Angler magazine, has returned to Salt Water Sportsman as editor-in-chief. He began his career at SWS in 1992 rising to senior editor. Bonnier owns SWS.

Lisa Keefe, editor of Marketing News, has joined Meatingplace as editor of the monthly magazine and a contributor to meatingplace.com, both covering the meat and poultry industries. She was was previously an editor and reporter for Crain’s Chicago Business.

Chris Saridakis, CEO of rich media company PointRoll, Inc., has been named senior VP and chief digital officer for Gannett Co. responsible for expanding and enriching the company’s global digital operations. PointRoll is a subsidiary of Gannett.

Saridakis was previously senior VP and GM of the global tech solutions unit of DoubleClick.

Gannett also promoted Jack Williams president of Gannett Digital Ventures to oversee Gannett’s portfolio of online classified companies and other businesses.

Stephen Dunbar-Johnson has been named publisher of the International Herald Tribune to succeed Michael Golden, who continues as The New York Times Company's vice chairman.

Dunbar-Johnson was named executive vice president of the IHT in 2006 after serving as vice president/commercial director and as advertising director since joining the IHT in 1998.

Earlier, he was the U.K. ad director of the Financial Times.

Briefs ________________________

Franklin Templeton Investments has renewed its sponsorship of PBS’ “Nightly Business Report” through 2011. As a sponsor, FTI gets two 15-second spots (at the beginning and end of the program), which appear on the broadcast TV and Internet streaming versions of the program.

The relationship is the second longest national sponsorship on PBS.

Inc. magazine is accepting applications for this year's annual Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies.

To be eligible, companies must be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, independent, and have been generating revenue since Jan. 7, 2004 at the latest. Companies are ranked by percentage revenue growth from 2004 through 2007.

Info: www.inc5000application.com. Deadline is April 30.

The Council of PR Firms’ deal with Infocom/Bulldog Reporter (1/16 NL) recalls PR Society’s deal with PR Week/U.S. in 1998.

Both are interference in the competitive marketplace by trade associations that should be 100% neutral toward the media covering them.

John Beardsley, 1995 president of PRS, and COO Ray Gaulke went twice to London to urge Haymarket to start a U.S. version of PR Week, U.K.

They believed increased coverage of PR would be good for the entire industry. We agree.

But Gaulke on Aug. 12, 1998 wrote a letter to PRS advertisers, saying that he and Beardsley told Haymarket “we could help them meet our advertisers, we could encourage our members to subscribe, and we could launch some new products down the road.”

Not only was PRS pitching PRW to its advertisers, it was also proposing to go into business with PRW.

Worse yet, the “sacred” PRS mailing list of 19,000 members became the initial circulation of PRW for an unknown number of months.

Patrick Jackson, 1980 president, denounced PRS leadership for helping to create a direct competitor for ads to Tactics and Strategist and for allowing PRW to use the PRS membership list.

President-elect Steve Pisinski said: “This assistance to PRW was neither board initiated nor board approved. PRS should not be favoring or appearing to favor any PR publication.”

Gaulke and others had killed PRS’s PR Journal in 1994, its 50th year, to create T&S. The apparent strategy was for PRS to increase its own “trade press,” thus shouldering aside or minimizing the legit PR press. Members would be satisfied to get their own two “free” publications. The pathetic journalistic nature of Tactics is obvious from its failure to print one word about the Central Michigan democratic initiative in 2006 that would have made the Assembly the “ultimate policy-making body” of PRS (as similar bodies are for the ABA and AMA).

PRS owes us and other authors lots of money for admittedly selling tens of thousands of copies of our stories (and whole chapters of books) without our permission. Thus far, all we have is an apology from 1996 president Luis Morales who said PRS was only guilty of lack of “courtesy.”

PRS’ gross profit was at least $200,000 from this practice ($67,000 projected for 1993 alone). It has refused to pay a nickel to the ripped-off authors. But one solution would be to give them ads in Tactics, a comparatively minor expense. Fifty-two O’Dwyer articles, an average of five per packet, were found in 11 packets that were purchased. Annual volume was about 3,800 packets so that at least 50,000 copies of O’Dwyer articles were made over a four-year period (info packets were sold 15+ years). Second most copied was PR Quarterly, ripped off for 50 pages in the 11 packets. PR professors who were copied include Dan Lattimore and Bill Brody of Memphis State, whose chapters in PR Writing were used, and Tom Bivins, Univ of Oregon, author of Handbook for PR Writing. Chapters were taken from Power and Influence, by Robert Dilenschneider, and Publicity Handbook, by David Yale.

Putting the minimal value of $1 on each copy of our articles, PRS owes us $50K or 17 pages in Tactics at the 12X rate. Others should get proportionate ad space. We have records of the copied materials to help them negotiate.

As for CPRF and Infocom/Bulldog, if Infocom is to get $85K from the CPRF, then so should the other three major PR publishers—PR Week/U.S., PR News, and us. Otherwise, CPRF should back out of this deal. CPRF has plenty of money—$600,000+ in cash at the end of 2006. There’s plenty of money in OMC when it comes to the pay of CEO John Wren. Some of the same people who were prominent in PRS in 1998 when it was helping PRW are in the leadership of CPRF today including Ray Kotcher, CEO of Ketchum and 2008 chair of CPRF. Ketchum had 62 members of PRS in 1998 and 82 in 2001. Had Ketchum and other big supporters of PRS said something about the PRS/PRW deal, PRS would have listened. Ultimate responsibility lies with Wren and Martin Sorrell of WPP.

PR firms can market themselves nationally, locally and in 12 special categories by providing documentation for the 2008 O’Dwyer rankings.

Conglomerate PR firms have dropped out but 140 independents and 11 ad agency PR units took part in 2007. Conglom PR firms left in 2002 after Sarbanes-Oxley started providing fines of up to $25M and jail sentences for misleading financials. Skyrocketing totals for some of their PR units damaged the credibility of the rankings.

For instance, Porter Novelli, founded in D.C. in 1972 by Bill Novelli (now head of AARP) and John Porter, joined the O’Dwyer rankings in 1982 with $2.23M in fees and 43 employees. It had sold itself to Needham, Harper & Steers, part of OMC. Doremus, billing $5M, became part of Doremus Porter Novelli in 1986 and this included $5M from Doremus acquisition Richard Weiner & Assocs.

DPN claimed on Sept. 3, 1986 it was the “third largest PR firm in the U.S.,” a false statement because it ranked sixth with $22M in fees. OMC in 1988 created the “Omnicom PR Network” that lumped together PN and an unknown number of other PR units. We disallowed this stockpiling of PR units to get a boxcar total so PN came back in 1995 with $45M in fees. This jumped 164% to $121M in 1996 as 83 offices of Countrywide PR of the U.K. were added. By 1999, the roll-up PN was claiming $214M in fees and 2,483 employees.

Another OMC PR entity “on steroids” was Brodeur, which went from $9M in fees and 80 employees in 1995 to $70M in 1999 and 700 employees.

--Jack O'Dwyer