GA RECYCLING RFP DRAWS 15 FIRMS

Fifteen firms are vying to develop Georgia’s first statewide recycling communications campaign.

The Peach State issued an RFP in March and is currently considering the resulting proposals. Budget is expected to be in the $750K range, according to a procurement official.

Among the firms in the running for the work are Hill & Knowlton (Tampa), Red Dot PR (Virginia), and the Atlanta operations of GolinHarris, Cookerly PR, Booz Allen Hamilton, Hayslett Group and GCI Group.

The state’s Dept. of Community Affairs Office of Environmental Management will oversee the work. That entity says Georgians annually dispose of 2.6M tons of common recyclable materials valued at about $300 million. The number of local governments in the state offering recycling services declined by 12 percent from 1998-03. The state wants to launch the campaign during the first quarter of its 2009 fiscal year. The resulting pact will carry four option years.

Funding for the six-figure PR campaign comes from the state’s Solid Waste Trust Fund, which is funded by a $1 fee collected on each new tire sold in the state.

PE FIRM MOVES TO ACQUIRE CISION

European private equity firm Triton has made a $252M cash for stock offer to acquire Cision, the global media monitoring giant.

Cision’s board said in a statement that it considers Triton to be a “dedicated acquirer” capable of “taking on full responsibility as an active shareholder” of the company and has opened up its books to the suitor.

The Sweden-based company, formerly known as Observer Group, has made several acquisitions in the U.S. PR arena over the last few years. In 2001, it acquired Bacon’s Information. That move was followed by the acquisitions of PR data company MediaMap, PR measurement firm Delahaye, and broadcast monitoring company Multivision.

Cision predicts revenue of 1.9 billion kroner (about $316M) for 2008, including 773M kroner in North America, or $129M.

Anders Boos, chairman of Cision’s board, is also a member of Triton’s “industry board” and has accepted Triton’s offer to remain chairman if the offer is completed. He has stepped down from participating in Cision’s handling of the PE firm’s offer. Said Boos: “The pace of transformation within Cision has been unsatisfactory. As a privately held company, Cision will have a better basis for transforming and developing its business in order to achieve stable profitable growth.”

PR SPECIALTY RANKINGS UP 30% TO 618

The 190 PR firms ranked in the 2008 O’Dwyer’s Directory of PR Firms (up from 140 in 2007) provided 618 fee totals in 12 specialized categories, a 30% jump from the previous total of 479.

The overall rankings, geographical rankings and rankings in the categories, including a new one for “professional services,” will be in the new Directory which is now being printed.

Fifty-three firms reported fees for professional services, a broad category that includes PR for doctors, lawyers, accountants, architects, financial and tax advisors, management consultants, real estate advisors, academic institutions and other activities.

Biggest category is technology, with 114 rankings, up from 79. Healthcare is second with 89, up from 81, and third is financial with 65, up from 63.

For the first time, the 440-page Directory will have color ads on the inside front cover, back cover and inside back cover. There will also be five color dividers for the rankings, geographical and specialized categories. Price is $175. Order at odwyerpr.com or 866/395-7710.

IPG PAYS $12M TO SETTLE SEC CASE

Interpublic will pay a $12M civil fine as the Securities and Exchange Commission has wrapped up its six-year probe into financial reporting at the ad/PR combine. Neither side admits nor denies any wrongdoing.

IPG and its McCann-Erickson ad unit have agreed to an injunction against violating applicable provisions of federal securities law.

IPG CEO Michael Roth noted the charges of securities fraud related to intercompany accounting practices at McCann and did not include client funds.

The individuals probed by the SEC have not been at IPG since `03, according to Roth’s statement.

He said current management has “devoted considerable resources to replacing and expanding staff in the relevant areas and our efforts to remediate material financial control weaknesses and improve financial reporting have been a top corporate priority for all of our agencies.” Roth is pleased the “matter is behind us.”

IPG reported a $62M first-quarter net loss, down from the $126M deficit suffered in `07.

Roth called the performance “strong” and a “solid start to the year.” He is happy with the “competitive” 5.1 percent in “organic growth” that came from a broad-section of IPG’s advertising, PR and marketing businesses. Overall revenues rose 9.3 percent to $1.5B.

Roth believes his firm has the “financial talent, tools and discipline” needed to make effective cost controls.

HASTINGS GUIDES BATTLING ROCKEFELLERS

Hastings Group handled the April 30 New York press conference at which members of the Rockefeller family criticized ExxonMobil Chairman & CEO Rex Tillerson for failing to explore development of alternative energies that they believe are needed for a changing environment.

Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, great-granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil—the forerunner of ExxonMobil—said Rockefeller had the genius to recognize that kerosene would replace whale oil.

Noting that kerosene was the alternative energy of its day, Goodwin wants ExxonMobil to “reconnect with the forward-looking and entrepreneurial vision of my great-grandfather.”

The Rockefellers praised current management, but they are concerned that it lacks any vision beyond the oil and gas business.

That’s why the family supports a shareholder resolution calling for an independent chairman of the board who would explore emerging technologies.
The Rockefellers credited Shell, Chevron, BP, Total and Petrobas for pushing into renewables and alternative fuels.

The family also supports a resolution to establish a task force to study the consequences of global warming on poor economies and one to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at ExxonMobil’s operations.

The Rockefellers say they have been working “behind the scenes for a number of years with ExxonMobil” and wanted to avoid going public with their qualms about alternative energies.

ExxonMobil opposes the shareholder resolutions.

The energy giant posted a 17 percent rise in first quarter earnings to $10.9 billion, up from $9.3 billion for the same period of 2007.

LIVINGSTON DEFENDS TANKER DEAL

France’s European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. has hired the Livingston Group to fend off Boeing’s challenge to the decision of the Air Force to award it a $40B aerial tanker deal.

Former House Speaker-designate Bob Livingston (R-La.) is spearheading the drive with his former chief of staff Martin Allen.

Richard Rodgers joins that duo. He was the Navy’s liaison to the Senate and House Appropriations Committees for funding and procurement. Rogers held that post while Livingston chaired the HAC.

Northrop Grumman, EAD&SC’s partner in the bid, hired Breaux-Lott Leadership Group in March to lobby on its behalf.

That’s the firm of former Louisiana Sen. John Breaux (D) and Mississippi Sen. Trett Lott (R).

Hill & Knowlton is also working the EAD&SC business. Its team is headed by former Marine Corps officer John Ullyot.

He was communications director for the Senate Armed Services Committee that handled the tanker lease review in `03/`04, the time when the panel declined to approve a Boeing lease deal.

PRS PLANS ‘MAJOR’ SURVEY OF MEMBERS

The PR Society will conduct “major membership research” to measure member satisfaction via e-mails sent to a random sample of its 22,000 members “later this spring.”

PRS said Ketchum and Echo Research were retained for the project after it conducted a “formal request for proposal process.”

The last major such survey, whose contents were publicized, was conducted in 1997 under president Debra Miller. A random telephone poll of 618 of 18,000 members was made by Kerr & Downs.

“Satisfaction” with the services provided by PRS was expressed by 84% of those polled.

Seven out of ten opposed a $25-$50 dues hike but a $50 hike spread over three years was later voted by the Assembly.

Asked if services received were worth the dues, 55% said they are “about right” and 41% said they are “too high for services/benefits received.” Seven in ten say their employers pay the PRS dues.

Only 2% “strongly agreed” that PRS is “in touch with members’ day-to-day news while 5% “strongly agreed” that PRS is “open to ideas from all members.” Six percent “strongly agreed” that “PRS is a proactive organization.”

A recent survey by odwyerpr.com, in which PRS members were asked to choose between having a printed directory of members and having the annual conference, resulted in 85% of participants voting to bring back the directory and cancel the conference.

Jack O’Dwyer Barred as PRS Member

PRS, without giving a reason, has rejected attempts by Jack O’Dwyer and the PR director of the O’Dwyer Co. to join PRS. Also rejected was an attempt to place an ad for the 2008 O’Dwyer’s Directory of PR Firms in PR Tactics of PRS.

John Robinson, VP at PRS, said an ad for the O’Dwyer directory would be in competition with what some of the members are doing.

ELLER WINS SEATTLE JAIL PR PACT

The Keller Group has defeated Porter Novelli and Cocker Fennessy to help Seattle make the public case that new jail space is needed.

Surrounding King’s County said last year that it will no longer house misdemeanor criminals by 2012, leaving Seattle and other cities with little time to decide whether to build facilities jointly or on their own.

PA veteran Lee Keller, a former director for APCO Worldwide in Seattle, runs The Keller Group. She held PR posts at Paul Allen’s Vulcan NW and Weyerhaeuser after serving as a political press secretary.

An RFP issued in January called for pitches to guide a two-phased effort to inform the public as to why a new facility is needed and to address “myths” about jails. A second phase will explain the project when the city decides on a course of action.

The city expects the public to be skeptical about the issue, especially if it decides to build its own facility.

More than 20 firms had the RFP, including APCO, Waggener Edstrom and Communique PR.

AL JAZEERA'S LEVINE JOINS QORVIS

Sol Levine, who was executive producer at Al Jazeera’s English broadcast unit, has joined Qorvis Communications as senior director. He will media train clients and devise overall press strategies.

Levine was a member of the Al Jazeera team that established policies, procedures and editorial standards for Qatar-based Arab satellite TV network.

[Al Jazeera made news in March when its American face, Dave Marash, quit over what he viewed as creeping anti-Americanism in the network’s coverage. He had also lost his anchor slot.]

Levine also did programming for ABC News, NBC Nightly News and CNN’s WorldView.

Qorvis CEO Michael Petruzzello praised Levine as the best in his field. Levine has “incomparable knowledge, instinct and experience” said Petruzzello in a statement.

Qorvis, which counts Saudi Arabia on its client roster, is O’Dwyer’s No. 6 ranked firm. It registered a 27.6 percent gain in `07 fees to $30.5M.

MEDIA PUSH BACK ON TERROR MEASURES

The impact of the Bush Administration’s policies on the civil liberties of Americans remains unclear more than six years after 9/11, according to Freedom House’s “Today’s American: How Free.”

That’s largely due to the White House’s penchant for secrecy and overall attempts to deny the public knowledge of its actions on national security grounds.

FH praises the press and judiciary for offering the most “significant pushback” to the Administration’s “counterterrorism agenda.”

The media continue to ask probing questions, publicize acts of injustice against individual or group and critique overall policies. The courts have forced the Administration to reverse course on some measures, while Congress has been “reluctant to challenge the President on national security issues,” according to FH.

The human rights group notes: “Despite a high degree of political polarization, critics of Administration policies have been free to express their views in the media, on the Internet and through many public protests.” Civil libertarians “have not been subject to prosecution, surveillance or witch hunts.”

The organization chides those who charge the Bush Administration with massive violations of civil rights for overstating the case.

FH stresses the importance of context. E.g., John Adams jailed editors under the Alien and Sedition Act, while Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War.

The group says there is a need to understand the dramatic new threat posed by the rise of Islamist terrorists who are committed to mass murder of civilians.

That threat has forced democracies throughout the world to “consider adjustments in both the law and the techniques of national security.”

While it will take time to establish “the proper relationship between security and liberty in the age of terrorism, current trends suggest that the U.S. and other democracies will successfully meet the challenges,” according to FH in its first scoreboard of freedom in the U.S.

MSLO MUSCLES MORE INTO WEDDING BIZ

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has purchased a 40 percent stake in Wedding Wire, a platform that includes an online marketplace, planning tools and social networking.

WW’s “SmartMatch” technology allows brides and grooms to receive price quotes, manage guest lists, arrange budgets and select songs for the big event.

Susan Lyne, CEO of MSLO, said brides who rely on MSLO “content for wedding-related inspiration and ideas” can now “plan, manage and share every step of the process.”

GOOGLE, YOUTUBE GIVE ‘BIG EASY’ BOOST

Google and its YouTube unit plan a post-convention presidential forum in New Orleans at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on Sept. 18.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin will host the affair.

The forum will tap Google’s technology and YouTube’s video platform to encourage citizen engagement in the race for the White House.

In a statement, Jindal invited both candidates and the nation to see the progress that has been made in the comeback of New Orleans.

New Orleans’ bid to host the Presidential debates was rejected by the Commission on Presidential Debates. Debates are slated for Oxford, Miss.; Hempstead, N.Y. and Nashville. No candidate has publicly committed to show up in New Orleans for the forum.

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER HONORED IN L.A.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared April 28 “The Hollywood Reporter Day” to honor the re-launch of the 78-year publication owned by Nielsen Business Media.

The Mayor cited THR as the “first Hollywood-based daily trade newspaper covering the entertainment industry.”

The daily has “left an indelible imprint on Los Angeles with its quality news teams and network of media outlets.”

Elizabeth Guider, editor of THR, says the re-launch will provide a “more dynamic flow to the paper.” There will be “fewer jumps, easier navigation and no dead areas.” Increased collaboration is in store for print and online.

In a note to readers, Guider promises more pithy news stories, data, edgier opinionated columns and “party pages with more panache.”

NEW MEXICO BIZ MAG RE-STARTS

Vertical Ascent said it will launch the New Mexico Business Magazine to fill the gap left by the shuttering of the New Mexico Business Journal earlier this year.

NMBM will be published by Doug Stine, ex-editor-in-chief for the N.M. Business Journal.

Info: www.nmbizonline.com.

(Media news continued on next page)

PUBLISHING, TV REVENUES DROP AT POST

The Washington Post Company reported first quarter evenue of just over $1B, an eight percent increase from Q1 of 2007.

The company said its education and cable television divisions offset loses in its newspaper publishing and publishing and television broadcasting divisions.

Operating income for the quarter declined 27 percent to $66.9M, from $92M in 2007.

CAPITAL TIMES KILLS PRINT EDITON

The Capital Times, the 90-year-old afternoon daily that covered Madison, Wis., has ended its print edition to focus on content online.

The paper’s circulation was in the 18,000 range, down from the 40K readers it had during the `60s.

The loss of readership threatened TCT with the danger of not becoming relevant, publisher Clayton Frink, told the New York Times.

More than 20 staffers have lost their jobs with the switch to the Internet. The plan is to operate as a continuous web newsroom, and also post cultural/entertainment content.

BROWN RETURNS FROM HIATUS

Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown, who left that Time-Warner unit in a restructuring that resulting in the emergence of Anderson Cooper, is joining Public Broadcasting Service’s “Wide Angle” public affairs series.

He will anchor the weekly and is happy to return to a place where people think about making “good TV and good journalism.” WA’s new season begins July 1.

PENN UNITES TEAM CLINTON

"Everyone hates Mark Penn" is the common thread that is shared by Hillary Clinton’s campaign team described by Michelle Cottle in the May 7 New Republic as an “unruly rock band plagued by dysfunction and public infighting.”

The Burson-Marsteller CEO who was officially relieved of his chief strategist post last month is still advising Clinton.

“His sharp elbows, turf invasions, and control-freak tendencies are legendary and unlikely to be held in check,” Clinton supporters told Cottle.

Penn is constantly on the look out for any advisors who are “ripe for knee-capping” so he can take over that part of the campaign.

Cottle questions the move to bring in WPP Group executive VP Howard Paster, a former aide to President Clinton, into the campaign to handle operations and budgets since B-M’s Penn Schoen & Berland is a major vendor to Team Clinton.

AAF ELECTS DATRI AS CHIEF

Jim Datri has been named president of the American Advertising Federation, succeeding Wally Snyder who is stepping down on Nov. 1.

The partner in McDermott Will & Emery's government strategies practice served as executive director of the Democratic Caucus in the House from `03 to `05.

He worked on Capitol Hill for more than a decade, and also was partner at AAF member Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

AAF launched the search for a new chief last September. Snyder has known Datri from his Capitol Hill days.

The D.C. trade association says it has 130 blue-chip corporate members that are advertisers, ad agencies and media companies. They employ more than 50,000 people. Datril is AAF's third president. Snyder was elected in `92. Howard Bell served from `68 to `91.

FTI SHARES ARE HAMMERED

Shares of FTI Consulting, parent of the former Financial Dynamics, were down nearly seven percent to $63.08 following a Wall Street Journal report on April 28 about the “earn-out” responsibility of the acquisitive Baltimore-based company.

FTI, so far this year, has purchased eight companies that added 445 employees to its payroll, according to “Heard of the Street” columnist Karen Richardson.

The story headlined, “Is FTI Consulting as Good as It Looks,” noted that FTI “handsomely plays the hundreds of professionals that it has been adding to the ranks through a series of acquisitions.”

FTI’s “sizable and growing compensation-type payouts and loans go largely unnoticed by investors.” The company, which reported $150M pretax in `07 profit, paid nearly $43M in first-quarter “earnouts.”

Richardson wrote that there is nothing wrong with earnouts, but noted they are no “small change” for FTI.

FTI acquired Financial Dynamics, which is now FD, on Sept. 11, 2006, for $260M. That broke down to $215M in cash, $20M in notes and deferred purchase obligations and $25M in restricted FTI stock.

FD executives had the “opportunity to participate in future contingent consideration of up to $80 million based on exceeding certain financial objectives over the next five years, which would further align the interests of FD professionals and FTI and its shareholders,” according to its release.

FTI’s stock had been up 9.8 percent in this year prior to the story.

FTI declined to comment to the WSJ.

MCMANUS OF CBS AT PREP SCHOOL EVENT

Sean McManus, president of CBS News and CBS Sports and an alumnus of Fairfield College Preparatory School, Fairfield, Conn., spoke to about 80 alumni at a breakfast May 1 at the Union League Club, New York.

The event is part of a series of annual breakfasts aimed at building the school’s $9.1M endowment fund.

McManus, a 1973 graduate, helped kick off the New York program by describing his work at both CBS News and CBS Sports.

The son of ABC broadcaster James McManus (who is known by his professional name of “Jim McKay”), Sean McManus led the efforts of CBS in obtaining the broadcast rights to the National Football League in 1998 and in helping to renew them in 2004 to 2011.

Based on the slanted and biased press coverage of the presidential races that we see, the public is certainly entitled to its view that many media can’t or won’t shoot straight on certain topics.

The New York Times, for instance, is head-over-heels in favor of Barack Obama, saying the incendiary remarks of his mentor, The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, are merely the ravings of “a slightly wacky uncle” seeking the limelight, and are therefore to be ignored.

We see an anti-Hillary Clinton angle in many of its stories. Since Obama is ahead in delegate count, that is what the NYT thinks is important. The Clinton side, meanwhile, thinks its ahead in the popular vote, noting that some delegates were chosen by caucuses rather than general voting and that the popular vote should also include Florida and Michigan.

CNN shows favoritism toward Obama while Fox is often heavy on coverage that favors Clinton...Burson-Marsteller is up to its ears in the race even though its CEO Mark Penn has been ousted as Clinton’s campaign architect. We rarely hear “out-of-school” stories of PR firm CEOs since security in the business world is pretty tight. But the political world is loaded with snitches and reporters to listen to them. They are having a field day with Penn. The May 7 New Republic, for instance, describes him in the most negative terms—“renowned for his lack of interpersonal skills”...”a disaster at managing his own image,” and someone who is guilty of “sharp elbows, turf invasions and control-freak tendencies.” “Most of the campaign’s top advisers have been rooting hard for his downfall for some time,” says the article by Michelle Cottle. PR firm presidents, according to most of our experience, have been the most cordial of people.

Wall Street is getting its PR ears pinned back because of the junk mortgage scandal that could or is leading to a recession and much of the blame is being put on the regulators—the SEC and the credit-rating services (Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch).

The rating services are paid by the very firms they are supposed to be policing, a “conflict of interest” said former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt (NYT Magazine article April 27 headlined “Triple-A Failure”)...Levitt and two other SEC chairs (William Donaldson and David Ruder) authored an op-ed in the April 29 NYT headlined “Muzzling the Watchdog.” They are alarmed not only at the SEC’s failure in the current crisis but a proposal by the Treasury Dept. to “turn the SEC from a market referee into an industry coach—a regulator that is heavy on forgiveness and light on punishment.”

The SEC lacks the “money, manpower and tools to do its job,” wrote the three ex-chairmen.

Forceful critics are needed by all industries and governments to help expose and root out abuses. It is the industries themselves that suffer when they abuse their powers.

It’s estimated that at least half of the 14,000 employees of Bear Stearns, a prime culprit in the junk mortgage mess, will get pink slips as a result of its takeover by JPMorgan Chase. BS, as a sidelight, was known for its ruthless, take-no-prisoners attitude towards those it dealt with. Its demise was said to have evoked few tears on Wall Street.

So, while we can only exercise moral suasion with the PR Society, we will continue to expose any abuses of power we see and urge better courses of action.

The latest abuse is the appointment of Ketchum and Echo Research to do “major” research into member satisfaction. Supposedly, there was a “formal RFP process” but we saw no ads to this effect nor was the RFP publicized in any O’Dwyer medium.

This is not a criticism of Ketchum or Echo but we do think the questions handed to both will be deficient. We doubt members will be asked to chose between a printed directory of members and the national conference.

That is the main issue facing PRS because the printed directory was its main tangible product and it was discontinued without consultation with the general membership.

A recent poll on odwyerpr.com, asking for votes by PRS members, was 6-1 in favor of bringing back the directory and ditching the conference. We can’t guarantee that non-members also voted but that’s about what we have found in random conversations with members over the past two years.

They are outraged at the loss of the directory but feel helpless against the powers of the staff and national board...PRS is also abusing its power in refusing to accept, without giving a reason, membership applications by this writer and/or the PR director of the O’Dwyer Co...The meaning of the web, according to an article on the plight of newspapers in the March 31 New Yorker, is that readers, rather than editors alone, help set the agenda. Readers form a “community” on a website such as HuffingtonPost.com where they can “chime in” on topics.

What the PRS website needs is a bulletin board where members and even non-members can post opinions and suggest topics to be covered. odwyerpr.com, which has a commentary box at the end of each article, will debut an unedited (except for offensive language) bulletin board in the near future...the New Yorker article, by Eric Alterman, fears a “chaotic” new world of web news that has lots of community chit-chat but “a decidedly diminished level of first-rate journalism” since so many reporters are losing their jobs.

Reporting is especially needed in certain countries abroad, he writes, to keep tabs on various forms of oppression and injustice which flourish “in the dark” (quoting from a line in the Tom Stoppard 1978 play “Night and Day,” which is about foreign correspondents).

--Jack O'Dwyer