CARRYON EDGES TRIO FOR NEW BALANCE

CarryOn Communications has added New Balance, the running shoe/athletic apparel marketer, to its roster.

The Los Angeles-headquartered shop aced M Booth & Assocs., Bratskeir & Co. and CKPR for the “global brand platform campaign.”

CarryOn will bolster existing efforts by NB shops Dan Klores Assocs. and Regan Communications.

Klores handles consumer/product placement work, while Regan focuses on New England community relations for Boston’s NB.

CarryOn scored the business based on its “superior creativity, strategy and chemistry,” according to Amy Vreeland, corporate communications manager at NB.

The firm’s New York office handles the account of the $1.7B privately-held company, which also markets the iconic PF Flyers sneaker.

SelectResources International conducted the search. Dan Orsborn led the SRI team. SRI completed an ad agency search for NB last fall. That hunt resulted in new business for BBDO New York.

FIRE SAFETY GROUP LOOKS FOR PR

The Fire Protection Research Foundation, Quincy, Mass., is seeking PR proposals to support the launch of its Residential Electrical System Aging Research Report to educate consumers about the dangers posed by antiquated electrical systems.

The National Fire Protection Assn. reports that more than 110K home fires each year are due to faulty wiring, or bum heating/air conditioning systems. Those fires result in 850-plus deaths and cause more than $1B in property damage.

PR budget is capped at $100K. Proposals are due March 14. Selection will be made April 1. Kathleen Almand, executive director of the Foundation, is handling the search. She is at [email protected].

ALLISON BREWS PR FOR GORDON BIERSCH

Allison & Partners has won a competitive review for Gordon Biersch Brewing Company and Restaurant Group’s six-figure PR account.

San Francisco-based A&P said it emerged from an initial field of more than 40 firms. Dan Klores and Edelman were among the finalists.

The firm will tout GB’s 20-year anniversary in a year-long PR effort to encompass traditional and social media relations, special events, and viral marketing.

GB co-founder Dan Gordon cited Allison’s experience with lifestyle, food and wine clients in announcing the pact.

IPG 4Q NET SURGES 158%

Interpublic reported that fourth-quarter net surged 158 percent to $178.4M driven by solid organic growth and tough cost controls.

Revenues rose 5.6 percent to the $2B mark.

CEO Michael Roth said the `07 results reflect IPG’s “continued progress in the competitiveness of our offerings and our ability to drive profitability.”

He sees no signs of client pullback in `08.

Interpublic also announced that it has completed the “remediation of weaknesses in financial controls” and is now in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley effective as of Dec. 31.

The ad/PR combine reported a six percent rise in full-year revenues to $6.6B. It earned $167.6M compared to an `06 $31.7M loss.

IPG’s stock jumped two percent to $8.59 on the earnings news.

FREEMAN TO CHAMBER POST

Tita Freeman, who took a global communications and PA post at Google’s Washington office last June, has checked in at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

She is executive director of communications and strategy, responsible for web content, marketing among other duties.

Freeman worked at Burson-Marsteller’s Direct Impact unit prior to switching to Google.

She also was director of communications at the Business Roundtable, the organization of CEOs.

Freeman posted stints at LexisNexis (corporate/federal markets communications manager) and Teligent (corporate communications senior manager).

She began a PR career at APCO Worldwide.

HARASSED JOURNALISTS NEED SUPPORT

Record numbers of journalists are being assaulted and murdered worldwide but PR groups show little interest in this, said Lloyd Trufelman, president, Trylon SMR, New York.

There would be no such thing as PR without journalists, he noted in an op-ed column on odwyerpr.com.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, New York, which tracks harassment of journalists worldwide, does not receive any contributions from PR organizations, according to a list of contributors on its website.

CPJ (http://www.cpj.org) found that at least 65 journalists were killed around the world in 2007 because of their work.

This was the highest total in 13 years and compared

(Continued on page 7)

AT&T TAPS BREAUX/LOTT

AT&T is among charter clients of Breaux Lott Leadership Group, a firm established by former Senate heavyweights John Breaux (D-La.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.). Their sons are also involved in the family business.

The telecom giant has given BLLG the mission to back the controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. A temporary update allowing American intelligence officials to eavesdrop on foreigners without a warrant expired last month.

The Senate approved a FISA extension, but a deal fell apart in the House due to opposition by Democrats to grant immunity to phone companies from lawsuits.

President Bush told the National Governors Assn. that he wants the House to approve FISA with telecom safeguards because, “If the enemy is calling to America, we really need to know what they’re saying.”

He added that companies “who are believed to have helped us after 9/11” shouldn’t be sued.

Both Breaux and Lott are working the AT&T business. The San Antonio phone giant, which uses Fleishman-Hillard as its key PR firm, joins Delta Airlines, a potential merger partner; United Space Alliance, which wants funding from NASA, and Assn. of American Railroads as charter clients of BLLG.

EDELMAN FOCUSES ON GETTY IMAGES

Edelman represents Getty Images as the No. 1 distributor of images and video agreed to be acquired by Hellman & Friedman in a deal worth $2.4B.

H&F is the San Francisco private equity firm with a sharp eye on the communications sector. That’s evidenced via past investments made in Young & Rubicam, DoubleClick, Catalina Marketing and Digitas.

Getty has been hurt due to troubles in the magazine business, which has led to a decline in orders for high-resolution photos, and competition from lower cost Internet rivals.

The Seattle-based firm announced Jan. 18 that it was seeking strategic alternatives to its existence as a publicly traded company.

Edelman’s Susan Stillings, John Dillard and Cara Jacobson are working the deal. The independent firm will be a neighbor to Getty’s New York office when it moves downtown next year.

Abernathy MacGregor Group handles H&F.

ST. PETER LEAVES F-H

Anne St. Peter, who headed Fleishman-Hillard’s Kansas City office for the past four years, has left the Omnicom unit to start her own business.

Warren Dudley, KC’s director of operations, is filling St. Peter’s shoes on an interim basis until a successor has been found.

St. Peter is exiting to discover her inner entrepreneur. KC is a Top Five F-H operation. It has about 90 staffers. The office is currently focused on supporting the Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tourney next month. While sales for the men’s games at the 18,500 Sprint Center are expected to sell out, ticket sales for the women’s games at the 9,000-seat Municipal Auditorium lag.

MS&L SCORES TOP CSR GRADE

Manning Selvage & Lee heads Corporate Responsibility Officer Magazine’s list of the top ten corporate social responsibility firms.

The Publicis Groupe unit has 160 staffers involved in CSR work for clients such as General Motors, Roche, Philips, Financial Times and Underwriters Labs.

Omnicom’s Ketchum is the runner-up with 110 CSR staffers handling duties for Fedex, Frito-Lay, Hyundai and White Wave Food.

Edelman, the No. 1 independent firm, is third on CRO’s roster. It has 105 employees working on General Electric, AIG, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Starbucks, Wyeth and Total.

CRO admits its list is “perfectly imperfect” because it is based on information submitted by the firms and from publicly available sources such as the O’Dwyer’s rankings.

CRO publisher Jay Whitehead, however, believes the list is a handy reference for CSR executives dealing with governance, compliance and sustainability issues.

Other listed firms (in order of ranking) are Porter Novelli, Ruder Finn, Burson-Marsteller, DDB Big, Golin Harris, Cone and National PR.

PASTER TAKES GWU POST

Howard Paster, WPP Group executive VP and former Hill & Knowlton CEO, is the new co-chair of George Washington University’s Council on American Politics.

He takes that slot with Jack Gerard, CEO of the American Chemistry Council and former head of the National Mining Assn.

Paster was President Clinton’s lobbyist before joining H&K. He also helped “break-in” pollster Mark Penn when he assumed the helm at WPP’s Burson-Marsteller operation.

The 10-year-old Council advises GWU on issues that shape its role of affecting positive change in politics through education.

Paster and Gerard succeed Frank Fahrenkopf and Tony Coelho, that duo served a decade at GWU.

TRANSPERA SWITCHES TO CONCEPT

Transpera, a start-up which transfers advertising and video content for use on mobile devices, has tapped boutique firm Concept Communications for its PR account after working with Weber Shandwick for six months.

Santa Monica-based Transpera, which has distribution agreements in place with carriers like AT&T, Sprint/Nextel and T-Mobile, recently inked a deal with entertainment video site Break.com to provide its advertising-supported content to mobile devices and allow it to be shared among users.

Transpera, which completed two rounds of venture funding last year, was founded in January 2007 by Frank Barbieri, who ran media products at InfoSpace and headed the Windows Mobile Media Device and Services group at Microsoft.

Barbieri said he felt “an immediate chemistry” with Concept and cited the firm’s experience with mobile industry PR campaigns.

TIERNEY SLICES 68 IN PHILLY

Philadelphia Media Holdings, the entity fronted by ad/PR man Brian Tierney that acquired the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, is cutting another 68 staffers due to the poor advertising market.

Jay Devine, spokesperson for PMH, said the company needs to be “absolutely efficient” in order to cope with the depressed market conditions.

PMH has about 2,400 staffers. The layoffs take place March 28.

The Newspaper Guild is upset that PMH did not consult with it about the further need for layoffs. Henry Holcomb, union chief, said PHM “has done nothing but create a climate of fear, and everybody knows that’s not conducive to growing a business.” The Guild statement urged PMH to “stop these self-destructive cuts and work with its employees toward a more profitable future.”

RBI AUCTION WILL FETCH $2B+

Reed Elsevier is expected to receive more than $2B from the sale of its Reed Business Information unit that houses titles such as Variety, Broadcasting and Cable, Publishers Weekly, New Scientist and scores of other magazines/websites.

The Anglo/Dutch combine is selling its trade publication group because of its slow growth prospects and reliance on advertising revenues. It will earmark a healthy chunk of the sale proceeds to help fund the $4.1B acquisition of Choicepoint, a supplier of electronic data to the insurance/financial services sectors.

The idea is to combine Choicepoint with RE’s LexisNexis Risk Information and Analytics Group to create an entity with $1.5B in annual revenues.

RE CEO Crispin Davis says there is no timetable for the sale of the magazine group.

NYT EXECS TO MEET WITH INVESTORS

New York Times Co. management will meet with investors from Harbinger Capital, the private equity fund that has amassed a 19 percent stake in the publisher.

The company says it is reviewing the dissident slate that Harbinger has put forward for seats on the company’s board. The annual meeting is penciled in for April 22. Harbinger believes the Times needs to invest more online and divest some peripheral properties beyond the New York Times corporate jewel. 

It also does not yet object to the two-tier voting system set-up that gives the Sulzberger family a controlling stake in the company. The Sulzbergers get to appoint nine members to the 13-member board of directors.

Meyer exits About.com

Scott Meyer is out as CEO of About.com after seven years atop the NYTC online entity acquired in '05. His last day is March 6.

Meyer expects to take some time off before embarking on another phase of his career. In a letter to staff, he wrote that About is in a very strong competitive position and that he will miss playing a part in its future.

Martin Nisenholtz, senior VP of the NYT digital operations, assumes Meyer’s duties.

Meyer’s departure comes as Harbinger Capital expressed disappointment in the NYT’s digital strategy.

COMCAST ACCUSED OF PACKING MEETING

Philadelphia-based telecom giant Comcast is being accused of packing a Boston public meeting Feb. 25 in an attempt to bar detractors from attending.

Many would-be attendees arrived early at a Federal Communications Commission hearing held at Harvard Law School only to find long lines and a packed room, according to members of SavetheInternet.com, a national coalition coordinated by non-partisan organization Free Press.

Photos taken at the event by Free Press members show many filling the seats may have been “plants” paid by Comcast. They appeared uninterested in the contents of the hearing. Some were even caught sleeping.

Free Press members also said many in the audience wore matching “yellow highlighters” on their shirts or jackets, ostensibly as identification to Comcast organizers.

The meeting was called by the FCC to address complaints leveled at Comcast, the largest cable television company in the U.S. and the second largest Internet service provider.

Comcast actually admits that it hired stand-ins to arrive at the meeting early, but said it was done only to hold seats for Comcast employees who planned on attending.

However, many of these paid attendees stayed the duration of the hearing, sleeping in seats that would later be denied to the public, including would-be Comcast critics.

“It’s shady, it’s underhanded and it goes against the spirit of a public hearing,” said Craig Aaron, communications director for SavetheInternet.com.

More than 100 people were turned away from the meeting as a result of the overcrowding. The room was so packed that even members of Boston’s media were turned away, including a cameraman for Comcast’s Boston cable station.

Aaron said a Free Press member was later told by one of the “sleepers” that he was “getting paid to hold someone’s seat.”

In 2007 Comcast was accused of “packet-forging,” or using data encryption to prevent customers from peer-to-peer file sharing. In January, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said the government agency would investigate complaints that the company “actively interferes with Internet traffic as its subscribers try to share files online.”

Aaron likened the tactics as similar to Comcast’s attempts at stifling legislation on Net Neutrality, the notion that all content on the Internet should be available for equal access.

Neutrality supporters believe lifting current Internet regulations could potentially allow telecoms like Comcast to become Internet “gatekeepers,” thereby using their power in the marketplace to slow down or even deny access to certain websites in favor of sites with whom they have financial or political affiliation.

A new version of Net Neutrality legislation made its appearance in the Senate this month.

(Media news continued on next page)

YAHOO! EXPANDS EDITORIAL, AD SERVICES

Yahoo! has added four publishers to its editorial and advertising consortium of newspapers.

Shaw Newspapers, which owns 25 papers in northern Illinois and Iowa, the Buffalo News, the Times Publishing Company (Erie [Pa.] Times News), and the Columbian Publishing Company (The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.) are the new additions.

Yahoo! says it now has 634 newspapers in its program – that includes 425 dailies, or 30 percent of all U.S. dailies – which includes the use of Yahoo!’s HotJobs platform on newspapers’ sites, distribution of news headlines on Yahoo.com, and access to Yahoo!’s national advertising sales team and ad platform.

Unveils ‘Buzz’

Yahoo.com has added a service to aggregate content drawing buzz from readers of sites across the ‘Net.

The platform, Yahoo! Buzz, measures consumer votes and search patterns for news stories, video and blog content and features the higher-rated content on Yahoo.com.

Yahoo! noted that “instead of editors, real people vote and search for their favorite stories to determine the top rated content from across the Web.”

Yahoo! said Buzz is part of its “openness” initiative launched last year to highlight more third-party content on Yahoo.com.

“Getting a link on Yahoo!’s front page is like connecting to a fire hose,” said Evan Hansen, editor-in-chief, Wired.com.

Info: buzz.yahoo.com.

People _________________________

Judith Coyne, executive editor of Good Housekeeping for the past seven years, has taken the EE slot at More vacated by Barbara O’Dair earlier this year.

Coyne, 59, was previously editor-in-chief of New Woman magazine and executive editor of Glamour during the 1990s.

She was also on staff at Redbook and Cosmopolitan.

Briefs ___________________________

washingtonpost.com is adding personal finance features and regular coverage from Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine and Kiplinger.com to its business coverage.

The content deal also provides washingtonpost.com with access to Kiplinger video content.

The site recently debuted two new personal finance columns with staff columnist Michelle Singletary and Bloomberg columnist Jane Bryant Quinn.

Link: www.washingtonpost.com/personalfinance.

Curtis Circulation Company, New Milford, N.J., has inked a deal with GGW Brands to publish Girls Gone Wild Magazine, an extension of the profitable pornographic video franchise.

The publisher said the magazine will be published bi-monthly beginning on April 15 and will be sold everywhere Penthouse and Playboy are sold.

5W PR handles GGW.

Niche Media has acquired Philadelphia Style from DLG Media Holdings.

"With the per capita income of the Philadelphia metropolitan area making it the fifth most affluent market in the U.S., our advertisers and readers will now have unprecedented access to yet another of the country's great wealth markets," said Jason Binn, CEO and founder of Niche Media.

The 11-year-old magazine will relaunch with the May issue and continue to distribute 70K copies per issue.

Philadelphia Style founder and publisher John Colabelli and editor Sarah Schaffer and their respective staffs will continue to work in tandem to deepen the magazine's reach and influence within the community.

MCGURN EXITS W.H. FOR NEWS CORP.

Bill McGurn, who was President Bush’s chief speechwriter, has returned to News Corporation as VP in charge of speechwriting for key executives.

He also will contribute to various publications of News Corp., owner of the Wall Street Journal and New York Post.

McGurn spent the past three years at the White House responsible for the output of a half dozen writers.

“I have counted on Bill to help me prepare State of the Union addresses, policy announcements, and speeches to the Nation,” said the President.

McGurn had been penning speeches for News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch before joining President Bush’s staff.

Murdoch, in a statement, welcomed McGurn back and praised his willingness to leave the private sector and take a pay cut to “serve our country in a time of war.”

The 49-year-old McGurn was posted throughout Europe and Asia for Dow Jones and was chief editorial writer for the WSJ.

News Corp. has revenues of more than $30B.

SARD AIDS UNIVISION LATIN MUSIC DEAL

Sard Verbinnen & Co. is handling media relations for Univision Communications, which announced a deal to sell its Latin music recording and publishing division to Universal Music Group.

Univision Music Group includes Univision Records and a Mexico affiliate, Fonovisa Records, Disa Records, and Univision Music Publishing.

Artists include Latin superstars like Marco Antonio Solis, Conjunto Primavera and Gloria Trevi.

SV&C New York-based principal Stephanie Pillersdorf is handling media for Univision regarding the sale. Universal, which has distributed Univision music in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Mexico since 2001, said it will retire the Univision name but keep the Disa and Fonovisa labels.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Univision said the sale is part of a strategic plan to focus on its core TV, radio and Internet business.

Universal, part of Vivendi, owns top music labels like Interscope, Geffen and Island Def Jam.

Good PR for the PR industry would be providing some support to the journalist groups that track harassment of journalists worldwide (page one).

New York counselor Lloyd Trufelman has done a service both to journalism and PR by drawing the attention of PR people to this important area.

Lots of money is spent in PR on dinners and conferences costing hundreds and even thousands of dollars for each participant but contributions to the journalist groups from any PR organization are non-existent as far as we can tell. The website of the leading U.S. organization on this subject, the Committee to Protect Journalists, does not list any of PR's associations including the PR Society, Council of PR Firms, Arthur W. Page Society, (PR) Seminar, etc.

Jim Murphy, retired from Accenture, chief organizer of the PR Coalition of 17 PR groups, would be a natural for uniting PR groups in this cause.

Contact should be made with CPJ; International News Safety Institute, London, whose director is Rodney Pinder; Reporters Without Borders, Paris, and the International Women's Media Foundation, Washington, D.C., which hosts the annual Courage in Journalism Awards. The Overseas Press Club has an annual event that recognizes reporting under hazardous conditions.

The day-long lesson in behavior that the new board of the PR Society endured Jan. 26 (page 7) "amazed" and "appalled" veteran members who commented via odwyerpr.com.

It's hard to imagine that 17 people (plus "senior counselors" Dave Rickey and Mary Beth West) spent a day on abstract management principles while avoiding real topics like switching the PRS charter from New York to Delaware or bringing back the printed directory of the Society.

One veteran member recalled when directors themselves were "senior professionals who not only knew how to function on a board, but could have taught this 'class' themselves." Jeff Julin's report indicates the board never met by itself, but only with staff members present. There was a meeting of the executive committee and then a meeting of the board/staff.

Employment of an "expert" to give the board advice recalls the employment of "certified mediator" Janet Rechtman by Reed Byrum in 20003.

The Byrum board was one of the most press-hostile in PRS's history. When a full-day of our notes was stolen at the 2003 Assembly, the board refused to provide a tape of the Assembly. We were blocked from attending the Assembly lunch for the first time in history. Directors pleaded lack of power when we sought their help. We were finally admitted but Byrum and others at the podium spoke so loudly throughout lunch that no one could converse at any of the tables.

Mike Cherenson, chair-elect of PRS, spoke highly of accreditation during his interview with ibzresources (2/27 NL). But he is the only APR in the seven-person PR unit of Success Communications. Three others are PRS members.
Another poor APR/PRS record is at Mason Onofrio, Bethany, Conn., the firm of director Fran Onofrio, which lists 15 PR employees. Only one other is a PRS member, Danielle Swift, and she is not APR.

Eric Mower & Assocs., Albany, the firm of director Tom Eppes, with 46 employees, has five other PRS members, two of whom are APR.

Robert Falls & Co., Cleveland, the firm of Christopher Lynch, with 25 employees, has four PRS members, three of them APR.

Luquire George Andrews, of Charlotte, the ad/PR firm of Phil Tate (who was picked for the board over Ray Crockett of Coke), with 42 employees (an estimated five in PR) has one other non-APR PRS member, Eustacia Gibbs. Partner Clay Andrews left last year for his own design firm.

So, Mason Onofrio, Eric Mower, Robert Falls and Luquire George Andrews employ 91 PR pros and only 15 are members of PRS and only eight of these are APR.

The firm of Lee Duffy, who ran unsuccessfully for president-elect in 1999, had 45 employees but only two others besides Duffy were PRS members. That may have been a factor in his defeat for president-elect.

Another poor record of PRS membership is at Eastman Kodak, employer of director Christopher Veronda, which has about 50,000 employees. Only four including Veronda are in PRS. One other is APR, Barbara Pierce. Best record is Dave Imre's firm, Imre Communications. Baltimore. Fifteen of the 39 employees are members and four others are APR.

There's an odd situation at Jeff Julin's firm, MGA Comms. of Denver. The website lists 14 staffers, six joining in 2007, two in 2006 and one in 2005. Founding execs from 1987 are Julin, Mike Gaughan, (Ms.) Cricket Smith, and Doug Magee. Jim Mascolo, graphics, joined in 1999. Gaughan is in PRS but is not APR. Smith and Magee are not in PRS. Jennifer Watson and Sarah Rasmussen are APR while six other staffers are in PRS but are not APR.

What happened to PRS's 60th anniversary celebration planned for both 2007 & 2008?! The committee, including the name of co-chair Joe Trahan of McDonough, Ga., has been removed from the PRS website. We have asked Trahan for any articles on the anniversary. We haven't seen any…stonewalling continues at PRS. Members have given us power of attorney to examine the minutes of the executive committee and board at their meetings Jan. 25-26 as provided for by NYS law Section 621. So far this has been ignored by COO Bill Murray, CEO Julin and secretary Mary Barber. Members have also e-mailed these three with the same requests and requests for the 2007 Assembly transcript but they have been snubbed so far…PRS acted the same way in 1976 when the FTC asked it to remove anti-competitive articles from its code.

FTC came back the next year with a formal order and the code was promptly changed.

--Jack O'Dwyer