UTAH TAPS RICHTER7

Salt Lake City ad/PR firm Richter7 beat five competitors to steer a “healthy marriage” public information campaign for the Beehive State.

Utah issued an RFP in December to award a five-year contract worth $335K/year to bolster marriages as its divorce rate has hovered above the national average.

Excend Consulting Group, Penna Powers Brian Haynes, Zara Media Design, W Communications, and Vanguard Group, all of which have Salt Lake City operations, pitched. Richter7 will handle marketing, press outreach, advertising, events and focus groups with a particular focus on young adults and low-income couples. The firm has handled PR work for Southwest Airlines and the Utah Transit Agency.

OGILVY GETS HEININGER

Jim Heininger, a veteran Chicago consumer PR pro, has joined Ogilvy PR Worldwide as executive VP.

For more than 25 years, Heininger has handled consumer blue-chips such as Procter & Gamble, Miller Brewing, General Mills, Anheuser-Busch and Kraft.

He also has done work for professional services firms (Hewitt Assocs. and A.T. Kearney), electronics/telecom companies (Motorola and Nextel) and healthcare institutions (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital).

Most recently, Heininger was a consultant at McDonald’s on nutrition-related brand issues.

He was president at Kemper Lesnick, general manager of Porter Novelli/Chicago and senior VP at Ketchum.

At Ogilvy, Heininger is to counsel clients across all practice groups and head business development activities. WPP owns Ogilvy.

COHEN TAKES B-M’S HEALTH HELM

Gail Cohen moves to Burson-Marsteller May 5 as global chair of the WPP Group’s unit healthcare practice.

She assumes the slot held by Ame Wadler, who joined Interpublic’s MWW Group in November as executive VP, chief management officer and global health chair.

Cohen is leaving healthcare specialist Chandler Chicco Agency, where she sat on that firm’s leadership council. She was in charge of new business, affiliate relationships and helped build branding platforms such as Buzz Matrix and Viractive. CCA is part of InVentive Health.

Cohen reports to Mark Penn, B-M’s CEO, who praised her “outstanding leadership skills and tremendous spirit.”

OMC’S 1Q NET JUMPS 14%

Omnicom Group reported that first quarter net income rose 14 percent to $208.7M on a 12.5 percent jump in revenues to $3.2B.

The Fleishman-Hillard, Porter Novelli, Brodeur and Ketchum-led PR group showed a 7.1 percent increase in revenues to $315M. That hike paled in comparison to the 14.8 percent jump in CRM group revenues to $1.2B and the 13.5 percent growth rate of advertising to $1.4B.

CEO John Wren spent $83M for acquisitions so far this year. Earn-outs account for $27M of that outlay.

OMC first quarter pick-ups include A Vista Events (special events), The Kern Organization (direct marketing), Brazil’s Lew’ Lara (ad shop) and New Zealand’s Shift (web-based communications).

WS REPS MERRILL’S SINGAPORE SAVIOR

Weber Shandwick has a $15K per-month contract to provide PR duties for Singapore’s Temasek Holdings investment company.

Temasek has invested $5B in Merrill Lynch, a major casualty in the subprime contract.

The Financial Times reported that Temasek has a $540M “paper loss” since it launched the bail-out of Merrill late last year.

Weber Shandwick is to facilitate a dialog between Temasek and U.S. companies, think tanks and influencers. The PR firm may approach federal officials regarding any legislative action that may impact its client. Laura Kline, senior VP, handles the Temasek account. Temasek has more than $100B in its investment portfolio, and a staff of 300-plus.

Weber Shandwick’s contract runs for 13 months.

MDS MERGES INTO LOG-ON MAIL HOUSE.

Media Distribution Services, for many years a major press release distributor and PR printer in New York, has combined with Log-On, a 90-person printing and mailing house. Facilities total 80,000 square feet.

Joining Log-On, which at 520 Eighth ave. is about a block from MDS at 307 W. 36th st., are 20 MDS employees. The MDS name will not be used.

MDS included the former PR Aids, founded in 1957 and a pioneer in building a multi-category editorial database. MDS acquired PRA in 1988.

Hy Wagner, the first salesperson at PR Aids, and Dan Cantelmo Sr., production head, broke away in 1964 to start their own business and were sued by PR Aids.

The legal battle went on for seven years until a judge ruled that MDS had the right to pitch clients of PR Aids.

(Continued on page 7)

S&H DIVES INTO LEBANON’S POLITICAL MESS

Smith & Harroff is planning a May tour for members of the Lebanese Gathering Option, which describes itself as a Shiite-dominated moderate political voice for freedom and democracy in that troubled country.

The group wants to demolish the notion that pro-Syria Hezbollah speaks for all members of the Shia community.

LGO seeks to rid Lebanon of religious rivalries and feudal allegiances that have prevented the development of a modern state. (Lebanon’s parliament on April 22 failed for the 18th consecutive time to elect a president. The country has been without a president since Nov. 24.)

S&H is organizing LGO stops in New York, Washington, Houston, Detroit and Los Angeles.

Targeted media include Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Associated Press and McClatchy papers. The firm is getting paid $25K for work in April and May.

Phase Two of the program runs from June through February. S&H hopes to develop ongoing relationships with reporters, providing them with newsworthy information while tackling misinformation. S&H plans aggressive Internet outreach.

The retainer for Phase Two has not yet been determined.

CAPLAN HANDLES FH BLOCKBUSTER

Caplan Communications is promoting the May 5 National Press Club press conference/panel event that will discuss a much-anticipated report from Freedom House, the non-profit D.C. entity that annually measures the state of freedom throughout the world.

For the first time in its 67-year history, FH will measure the condition of freedom here in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the ensuing White House “war on global terror.”

FH’s report, “Today’s American: How Free?” is expected to generate much press as it examines whether this country is “sacrificing its essential values” in the anti-terrorism campaign.

Speakers at the CC-handled event include Stu Eizenstat, FH vice chairman and former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton White House; Helen Thomas, the queen of the D.C. press corps, and Bob Edwards, who hosted National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” for almost a quarter of a century and now has his own show on XM Public Radio.

Aric Caplan’s firm is based in Rockville, Md.

SITRICK REPS STRUGGLING HOMEBUILDER

Sitrick and Company is handling communications for Kimball Hill, a top homebuilder struggling amid the housing slump and credit crisis.

The company and certain business units filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 23. KH recently decided to exit the Florida market by the end of the year and will withdraw from four other states.

The 39-year-old company has set up a toll-free information line and a “reorganization” section on its website.

Anita-Marie Laurie, who head’s Sitrick’s West Coast restructuring unit, heads the work.

5W REPS CONTROVERSIAL PASTOR

5W Public Relations represents controversial San Antonio evangelical Pastor John Hagee, who has caused John McCain heartache over his remarks about the Catholic Church.

CEO Ronn Torossian told O’Dwyer’s that his New York shop is agency of record for Hagee.

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked McCain on April 20 whether he condemned Hagee, who reportedly referred to the Catholic Church as the “great whore” and a “false cult system.”

5W released a statement from Hagee in which he denies the “great whore” reference:

“In my writings, I have never stated that the great whore is the Catholic Church. Quite to the contrary, the Book of Revelation teaches clearly that the great whore will be an apostate church made up of all Christians from all denominations that stray from the path of God and embrace a godless lifestyle including the sin of anti-Semitism.”

McCain told Stephanopoulos he has already condemned Hagee’s anti-Catholic remarks, but it was probably a “mistake to solicit and accept his endorsement.”

However, the Republican is keeping Hagee’s endorsement because he respects his leadership of his church and his strong support of Israel.  

JACKSON TAKES VP/COMMS. ROLE AT WU

Eric Jackson, former VP of global communications for FedEx, has moved on to Western Union in a senior post.

Jackson, 41, oversees corporate-wide employee, executive and web comms., media relations, and issues/crisis management as senior VP, global corporate comms. for the Englewood, Colo.-based company.

Prior to his five years at FedEx, he was managing director of corporate comms. for Siemens, chief marketing officer at Corporategear.com and director of global media strategy at Accenture, when it was Andersen Consulting.

Earlier, he directed public affairs and comms. at Novartis and was a campaign manager, advisor and field director in the political arena.

Jackson served in the first Bush White House and was special assistant at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1990-92.

M BOOTH BACKS BACKLESS BRA LAUNCH

M Booth & Associates is working with client Maidenform on the consumer launch of the backless bra, according to Norah Alberto, director of publicity for the N.J.-based company.

The brassiere, which was invented by a Tennessee single mother who won second place in the TV competition “American Inventor,” was licensed by Maidenform as the “Breakthrough Backless” bra and has been an initial media hit as it launched this month in the consumer market.

The bra has been featured in USA Today, Fashion Wire Daily and Marie Claire U.K., which lauded it as a “miracle.”

Maidenform launched a national ad push with The Via Group for the bra earlier this month.

QORVIS BACKS UNIV. COPYRIGHT SUIT

Qorvis Communications is working with the Association of American Publishers as the group backs a copyright infringement lawsuit by three publishers against Georgia State University.

Oxford University Press, Cambridge Univ. Press and Sage Publications have charged that GSU officials have engaged in “pervasive, flagrant, and ongoing” violation of copyright laws by enabling professors to disseminate digital copies of course readings without publishers’ authorization.

A GSU spokeswoman said last week that the university had not yet been served with the lawsuit and couldn’t comment.

AAP, the national trade group for book publishers, said the suit seeks an injunction and not monetary damages. The group says that while other institutions work with publishers to adhere to copyright laws, GSU has “flatly rebuffed efforts to reach similar agreements.”

Kathryn Phelps, a senior associate at Qorvis, is working on the AAP account.

ABC DETAILS LATEST PAPER DECLINES

Total paid daily circulation fell at nearly all of the top 25 U.S. newspapers in the six month period ended March 31, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, the top two papers by weekly circulation with about 2.3M and 2M daily subscribers, respectively, posted modest gains of .27% and .35%.

Rounding out the top five, the New York Times fell 3.85% to 1.12M, the Los Angeles Times slipped more than 5% to 816K, and the N.Y. Daily News was down just over 2% to 718K.

The Dallas Morning News (down 10.6% to 412K), Atlanta Journal-Constitution (-8.5% to 357K) and Boston Globe (-8.3% to 383K) were among the largest weekday circulation drops.

Sunday papers fared worse as 24 of the top 25 posted losses which averaged 4.6%. The N.Y. Times and N.Y. Daily News fell more than 9%, while the Newark Star-Ledger lost more than 12%, slipping to just over 500K. The St. Petersburg Times was the lone gainer at .44%, for Sunday circulation of 433K.

BRAUCHLI TO EXIT WSJ

Marcus Brauchli has resigned as managing editor of the Wall Street Journal after an 11-month stint, according to his joint statement with Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton.

He is to serve as a consultant to the paper and explore expansion of STAR-TV in Asia.

DJ has launched a search for Brauchli’s successor.

Publisher Robert Thomson, the Australia native who was installed in that slot after Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. bought the WSJ, is expected to assume ME duties on an interim basis. Thomson has been heavily involved in editorial matters at WSJ, Barron’s and WSJ newswires.

Brauchli, 46, took over the WSJ’s top editorial position from Paul Steiger. He had been deputy managing editor and global news editor based in New York. The 24-year veteran of DJ also reported from Europe and Asia. News Corp., in its agreement to acquire DJ, agreed to the creation of a special committee to oversee editorial independence of the DJ publications. Members of the special committee met on Brauchli’s exit. They must approve his replacement.

Brauchli said the change in DJ ownership made it the right time to consider new career opportunities. He “reveres” the WSJ and will “greatly miss working” with his former colleagues on a daily basis. The statement includes a quote from Murdoch, calling Brauchli a “terrific leader throughout the transition process.”

Murdoch has “great respect” for Brauchli and is “pleased” that he has agreed to take another position within News Corp.

GLASSER OUT AT WASHPO

Susan Glasser has been demoted at the Washington Post from her position as assistant managing editor for national news. Her hard-charging style reportedly irked some staffers. Glasser, 39, will now work directly with Washington Post Co. chairman Donald Graham.

She joined the Post in `98 as deputy editor for investigations after editing Roll Call, the paper of Capitol Hill.

Glasser also was co-bureau chief in Moscow with her husband, Peter Baker. She headed the Outlook section before being upped to her national news post.

BLOOMBERG NIXES TIMES BUY

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has shot down reports that he could be the savior of the troubled New York Times Co.

Newsweek reported that News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch, owner of the New York Post, Wall Street Journal and front-runner in the auction of Long Island’s Newsday, considers Bloomberg a formidable competitor.

The billionaire politico, however, said he “has no plans to go into the newspaper business.”

NYTC chairman Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger told shareholders at its April 23 annual meeting that the company is not up for sale. He dismissed the “number of recent newspaper and magazine articles that have suggested otherwise” as ill-informed

The controlling Ochs/Sulzberger family is firmly committed to retaining the editorial independence and integrity of the company, said Sulzberger.

NBC NEWS TAPS ENGEL

Richard Engel has been named chief foreign correspondent at NBC News. He will report for “NBC Nightly News,” “Today,” MSNBC and msnbc.com.

Engel is one of a handful of western journalists to cover the entire war in Iraq. He has served as NBC’s senior Middle East correspondent and Beirut Bureau chief since May 2006. He covered the initial U.S. invasion as a freelancer for ABC before shifting to NBC in May 2003.

Engel served as Middle East correspondent for “The World,” a joint production of BBC World Services, Public Radio International and WGBH-Boston before joining ABC.

(Media news continued on next page)

STUBBS TAKES OVER PRIMEDIA

Primedia has named Charles Stubbs, 35, president & CEO, replacing Bob Metz. Stubbs joins Primedia from Yellowpages.com, where he served almost four years as CEO.

Dean Nelson, chairman of Primedia, called Stubbs the “right person to lead the company forward.”

He said Primedia’s growth is “tied largely to digital media” and that Nelson has the “skill set and operational experience to execute on these initiatives.”

Primedia publishes and distributes more than 38M guides and magazines to 60K locations each year. Elliot Sloane, of Sloane & Co., does its PR.

MH TO USE ‘LIVE’ ADS

Men’s Health’s July/August summer issue will use so-called “live” advertising, which lets readers snap a photo of a print ad with a cellphone and send it to web marketing company SnapTell, which then messages the reader with promotional information about the ad.

Jack Essig, VP/publisher of the Rodale magazine, said the technology benefits both consumers and marketers as a chance for advertisers to have a direct connection with readers.

Advertisers utilizing the technology for the summer issue, which hits newsstands on June 24, include Westin, PowerAde and Samsung.

MEREDITH REVENUES DOWN SLIGHTLY

Consumer publishing and broadcasting company Meredith Corp. posted quarterly revenues of $401M for the first three months of the year, a slight (.2 percent) decline from the same quarter of ’07.

Advertising revenue fell 3.5 percent to $230M, while circulation dropped 4.7 percent to just over 87M. Meredith said circulation revenues dropped primarily because of an ongoing transition of titles like Parents, Family Circle and Fitness to a direct-to-publisher model.

Publishing revenue and operating profit were flat at $323M and $65M, respectively, while broadcasting revenue was down 1.2 percent to $77.5M, compared with ’07. The company said weakness in home, pharmaceuticals and direct response advertising was partially offset by strong growth in its largest ad category, food.

“Looking at the balance of fiscal 2008, Meredith is facing a weaker economy and related advertising demand,” the company said in a statement.

WEB OFFERS FACELIFT FOR PSAs

Marketing pros met on April 9 to discuss how the web can maximize presence for public service announcements at a WestGlen Communications event in New York’s Midtown Executive Club. The event featured speakers from Prime Visibility, an Internet marketing services firm that specializes in search engine and website on-page optimization.

Broadcasting a non-profit’s message carries a different know-how than, say, a traditional advertisement or press release. TV usually offers higher audience and media values, but a TV campaign can take between three and four months to build steam. Radio, while more affordable and more immediate, is typically limited to niche appeal.

Like everything else, PSAs are moving into cyberspace. Non-profits are targeting online outreach to bring in traffic, adopting tactics through social media like video and blogs. Understanding these tactics is vital for improving online engagement. The event gave tips on how non-profits can get web traffic and influence visitors to make donations once they’re there.

According to Annette Minkalis, senior VP of PSA Services for WestGlen, the more a non-profit positions itself as a leader, the more dollars it will bring in. Being a leader means maintaining relevance — the power of a message is more important than having a celebrity spokesperson.

Transparency is key: letting consumers know how much non-profits pay on overhead, and disclosing corporate grant partnerships is vital for steering clear of skepticism.

Lee Goldberg, a pay-for-play specialist at Prime Visibility, reminded the audience of PSAs’ emotive pull. People are motivated by emotions, not fact, he said. A non-profit’s website should be a call to action, creating immediacy for a donation. PSAs should also express how good it feels to give.

David Zeiter, VP of business development for Prime Visibility, offered a number of tips on how simple website navigation techniques can increase Web hits.

Once a target and the appropriate message have been identified, non-profits can begin the delicate process of creating a website that compliments the message. Zeiter offered a few specific enhancement tips that can influence visitors to press the ‘donate’ button:

• Online video clips should be no longer than four minutes.

• Research shows that only 25 percent of visitors look below the ‘fold’ of the screen. Put your most important information at the middle, top and top-right portions of the page, respectively.

• The fewer fields you have, the better. Requiring donors to fill out long forms creates impatience and last-minute dropouts.

• Don’t link off-site for the donation process, as it creates an anxiety of scams. People are afraid of scams. Use I-frames instead.

• A non-profit’s homepage is typically the worst place to link to off-site, simply because it offers no specificity. Link to video clips or testimony pages instead.
• Drop off-site web banner linkage. Many ignore web banners entirely and find them intrusive. Go for text-links that offer real stories instead.

• Remove Q&A sections. These areas are text-heavy and induce unwanted scrolling through mostly impertinent information. Instead, make the site more specific by answering questions in their respective areas on the site.

• Remove words like ‘buy’ or ‘purchase.’ People who donate want to feel like they’ve given; they don’t want to be treated like consumers.

• Disclose any affiliation with corporations.

There’s an interesting juxtaposition of stories on page 7—Media Distribution Services, a major player in the editorial list business in New York for many years, has merged with a large printing and mailing house, Log-On.

MDS has faced increasing competition over the years from many sources including 21-year-old New York-based PIMS, which has a 300,000-editor U.S. and international editorial database and a full range of electronic and print distribution services.

Also on page 7 is the financial report of Vocus, which also is in the editorial list business but reaches editors and other outlets electronically.

While MDS was merging, Vocus was reporting a 42% jump in revenues to $17.8M for the first quarter and analysts predict 2008 revenues of $76M.

MDS and its 1988 acquisition, PRA (formerly PR Aids) were primarily in printing and mailing although MDS developed e-mail and fax capabilities to reach its 200,000 editorial database.

Vocus is entirely electronic and has the growth characteristics of other electronic distributors such as PR Newswire, which had gross profits of nearly $100M in 2007, and Business Wire, whose co-founder, Lorry Lokey, was able to give about $435M in profits to worthy causes (4/9 NL).

Vocus has a database of 800,000 editors, analysts and other outlets. Its PRWeb unit e-mails releases including pictures and video at prices from $80 to $360. It has eight million websites, blogs, etc., in its Really Simple Syndication (RSS) database.

PRA was grossing under $5M when it was acquired by MDS which was also probably under $5M. The big money was in electronic distribution.

Helping to propel Vocus is a huge and costly sales force. It had110 “quota-carrying” salespeople in 2007 and plans to have 120-125 by year’s end.
Since commissions are paid when sales are made and revenues are deferred over the next year, Vocus had a loss of $403,000 on $17.8M in sales. Tax-deferred revenue was $35.7M as of March 31.

A good part of the business is in surveillance. Clients want to know what their competitors are up to and Vocus provides this electronically. Another major player in international PR distribution and surveillance is Cision, which has an 800,000 database and 13 companies in this area. In a similar vein, DNA13 tracks release use by clients and competitors and also the nature and quantity of press calls handled by PR staff at clients, providing an “early warning” of “hot spots” before anything hits print or the airwaves.

PR has become more and more of a defensive “eyes and ears” function in recent years.

Having garnered many accounts worth tens of thousands of dollars, Vocus is now also going after the “mid-market” of 300,000+ prospects in the $10-$25M category and 26 million firms under $10M. Its new $3,000 Small Business model is well suited for these smaller businesses that otherwise “couldn’t afford any form of PR,” CEO Rick Rudman told analysts April 22. PR “typically delivers a better return on investment than other forms of marketing including ads,” he said.

We have a soft spot in our heart for the former PR Aids partly because it printed this NL for our first few years. It also served as a convenient, neutral meeting place for New York PR pros, regularly hosting its own and PRS/New York workshops for 50 and more at 305 E. 45th st. The PR Society’s h.q. were also in midtown at 51st st. and Third. Its library and meeting rooms were heavily used by PR pros.

However, the office was hijacked downtown in 2004 by the staff and non-New Yorker officers who abhor the thought of locals getting any more use of h.q. than a chapter in, say, Denver. A neutral meeting place is needed in midtown New York.

PR firms don’t like sending their staff to other firms for workshops.

While researching MDS and PRA, we found material on the first PR Week. PRA provided offices, mailing lists, mailings and no doubt much advice on how to succeed in the U.S. The first PRW was part of a move by U.K. interests not only to own a major part of the U.S. PR counseling industry but also to secretly control the U.S. PR trade press.

PRW, with its announced circulation of 61,000 and its claim of being “the largest circulation PR publication in the world,” was going to obliterate what it thought were the few puny newsletters that were then covering U.S. PR. Circulation was to be mostly free (at least half requested in writing to satisfy USPS rules) with ads (at $5,350 a page) supplying the revenue.

Readers were not told that the real owners of PRW were six executives of the large U.K. financial PR firm of Dewe Rogerson and U.S. investment banker Frank Madden who had close ties to Shandwick, headed by Peter Gummer.

Gummer at that time was on an acquisition tear unequaled before or since, buying 35 firms (15 in the U.S.) from 1986-89 for an initial $90M in cash and payouts that could be as much as $280M more.

His firm was the biggest independent in1988 with $121M in fees (+86%) and1,610 employees.

Only a fraction of those payouts was made as Shandwick merged almost all of the firms with each other, dropping many famous PR names after promising not to do so. Shandwick stock, burdened by a heavy debt, fell from two pounds to as low as three pence. Still owing about $80M, it was acquired in 1999 by Interpublic.

The second PRW/U.S., brought here in 1998 by Haymarket, provides a better indication of the size of the U.S. market for PR publications.

After ten years, its total circulation averaged 9,759 in the year ended Sept. 24, 2007. This included 6,918 paid and requested and free distribution of 2,841. Rate for a full-page ad is $9,400.

--Jack O'Dwyer