WREN, OTHERS REWARDED WITH OPTIONS

Omnicom’s board on Dec. 29 granted CEO John Wren and other top executives a package of stock options pegged at the $25.48 price.

OMC shares are currently trading at $26.66. That’s off a 52-week high of $50.16 and a stock split adjusted closing of $47.47 on Jan. 21, 2000.

Thirty percent of Wren’s options are exercisable on Dec. 29, according to OMC’s “Form 4” registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 30.
Another 30 percent are exercisable on the second anniversary of the grant and the remaining options become exercisable at yearend `11.

According to the ad/PR conglom’s `08 proxy, Wren owns options on 500K shares triggered 2/25/09 at the price of $32.75. He has 2.5M options set at $45.61 on 12/6/09 and 4M at $39.75 on 4/4/11.

The board provided 500K option grants on the same terms as Wren to chief financial officer Randy Weisenburger, Diversified Agency Services CEO Thomas Harrison, BBDO Worldwide CEO Andrew Robertson, TBWA CEO Thomas Carroll and DDB Worldwide CEO Charles Brymer.

OMC, which is slashing staff by 3,000 people, tightened the screws on its restructuring Porter Novelli unit by appointing Anthony Viceroy, 40, as president of global business operations, a new title, and CFO at that PR operation.

Viceroy replaces PN’s CFO Mike Gehb, who took that post in `00. Gehb had been at PN Convergence Group, which was formed following the Copithorne & Bellows acquisition, the high-tech shop.

Viceroy, a certified accountant, joins PN from OMC’s diversified agency services group, where he was senior VP-financial management and client partnership. He also was chief liaison to PN.

Viceroy was finance director/treasurer of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk North America prior to joining PN. He also held posts at the Big Four accounting firms.

B-M CREATES ‘PRODUCT INTEGRITY’ UNIT

Burson-Marsteller has hired Julie Vallese to head its newly created product integrity practice.

She handled communications for the Consumer Product Safety Commission and reported for CNN on consumer affairs.

The new PIP is housed in B-M’s Washington office’s issues and crisis group, which is spearheaded by Ford Motor veteran Josh Gottheimer, who expects product safety and regulation to be high on the radar of the Obama Administration.

C4 IMPLODES AS AUTO MARKET COLLAPSES

C4 Explosive Communications, the former Clear!Blue that was noted for its attention-grabbing events, is “winding down” after it completes administrative duties within 60 days.

C!B, which counted Chrysler as a key client, had already revamped as C4 Explosive Communications after a federal court ruled a Michigan company already had the right to use the C!B name. The firm reported fees of $13.4M in 2005, which was up 31 percent. It had 66 employees in that last year that it provided financials for the O’Dwyer rankings. It shuts down with 32 staffers.

The shop, which has offices in Birmingham (Mich.) and Chicago, is an advocate of “experiential marketing.” It gained national exposure by launching a Dodge Charger inside the shell of a racing car and “driving” a Jeep Grand Cherokee up the side of a New York skyscraper. Chrysler’s last hurrah happened in `08 when a herd of 120 Texas longhorns rampaged by Detroit’s Cobo Center to mark the introduction of a new Dodge Ram at the North American International Auto Show. It dropped C!B after the show.

C!B was founded by Chrysler marketing alum Todd Smith and BBDO Detroit execs Larry Parrott and Bill Abele. Mike Rosenau, a Chrysler PR exec, soon joined the firm that was founded in 2000.

EDELMAN GETS LITTLE

Jennifer Little has joined Edelman in Dallas as senior VP-consumer brands. She will also handle consumer clients in Austin and business development work.

Little was at Pizza Hut, directing PR for that Yum Brands unit. She also worked on PH’s “Book It” program that rewards young readers with a free one-topping personal pan pizza and backpack clip for reading a number of books.

APR, GOVERNANCE QUESTIONS PARRIED

Jeff Julin, 2008 PR Society chair who was given control of an Assembly delegate teleconference Jan. 15, said one of his goals for the 2008 Assembly was to see “what else besides talk about bylaws” could be accomplished.

This prompted a delegate to ask whether Julin and the board “want to remove governance responsibilities from the Assembly?”

Julin responded: “Right, we’re looking at how we could blend those because they’re…” The rest of his reply could not be heard because PRS disconnected the call, saying no O’Dwyer staffer was allowed to listen in.

(Continued on page 7)

BRUNSWICK TAPS BUSH COMMUNICATOR

Jim Wilkinson, a top communications appointee during the Bush administration who has been Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s top advisor, has joined Brunswick Group as an international managing partner.

Wilkinson had been serving as chief of staff to Paulson since 2006. He will split time between New York and San Francisco for Brunswick, with some time in Washington, the firm said.

He had been a strategist and counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the National Security Council, and also was a deputy assistant and deputy national security advisor for communications to President Bush. Earlier, he was Middle East director of strategic communications for Gen. Tommy Franks at the U.S. Central Command from 2002-03 during military operations in Afghanistan and, based in Qatar, the invasion of Iraq.

The New York Observer credited him in 2003 with helping to package and promote the notion that Al Gore claimed to have “invented the Internet” in 1999, and as part of the team that set up President Bush’s defining Sept. 14, 2001 visit to the World Trade Center site. He started out in Congress as a staffer to then-House Majority Leader Rep. Dick Armey and as communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Brunswick has been bolstering its public affairs savvy in recent days. The firm said this week it hired Viacom’s senior VP of government relations, David Sutphen, as a partner based in D.C. He previously worked in a similar role at the Recording Industry Association of America, whose former chief, Hilary Rosen, heads Brunswick’s D.C. outpost. The firm also brought in Lane Hudson, a digital media strategist and former aide to Democratic Sen. Fritz Hollings and South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges. Hudson, a well-known political blogger, writes for Advocate.com and the HuffingtonPost.com.

“Actions in Washington will significantly and directly impact the interests of corporate America,” said senior U.S. partner Steve Lipin.

FD BURNISHES ‘GREEN’ CRED

FD has acquired The Element Agency, a liberal-leaning environmental and political PR firm with seven staffers split between Vancouver and New York.

Six-year-old Element has worked on sustainability and CSR programs for clients like AIG, MGM Mirage, AARP, the Ontario Liberal Party and the Rainforest Alliance.

Under its new roof, the firm will be known as FD Element.

Ed Reilly, who heads FD Americas, said the firm has worked with Element president Don Millar and partner Grant Draper for years. Millar is well-known in Canada for his political advertising and PR work for the Liberal Party and earlier efforts to help Democratic candidates in the U.S. through The Conover Millar Group in D.C.

Draper was a top aide to Eliot Spitzer’s 2006 successful campaign for governor of New York and his 2003 election as attorney general of the state.

5W PROMOTES BENEFIT FOR TERROR VICTIMS

5W Public Relations is promoting the “Stand with Israel at Ground Zero” benefit slated Jan. 21 at New York’s World Trade Center Tower 7, the first building rebuilt in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack.

CEO Ronn Torossian told O’Dwyer’s the “crème de le crème’ of New York nightlife’ will be at the Young Jewish Professional event to express solidarity with Israel and participate in a benefit for Israeli victims of terror.

They include “nightlife king” Danny A., New York Observer publisher Jared Kushner, Marquee’s Jason Strauss and Noah Tepperberg, Trump SOHO owner Alex Sapir and 1Oak/Butter’s Richie Akiva and Jeffrey Jah.

Jane Addiction front man Perry Farrell and rappers Y-Love and Diwon headline the event. Harvard University professor Alan Dershowitz will address the audience.

Tickets for the cocktail attire event go for $95.

The YJP group is not disclosing the exact location within WTC 7, a property of real estate magnate Larry Silverstein, for “security reasons.”

HORNER SHUTTERS PITTSBURGH

Jack Horner Communications, anticipating a tougher business climate in 2009, is closing down most of its Pittsburgh operations to focus on Philadelphia.

“We expect 2009 to be a very different year with very different challenges,” Jack Horner, CEO of the 17-year-old firm, told O’Dwyer’s, adding that both offices had their best years in 2008. “We’re taking action now to reduce overhead expenses, like many similar firms are doing right now.”

The Ketchum alum said he made offers to some of his 12 Steel City staffers to relocate, but few have agreed so far. The Pittsburgh office is slated to close down in late February.

Todd McDermott, who heads a promotional products division of the firm, will stay on with the firm and work from his home as the lone Pittsburgh staffer.

Horner, who is 2009 president of PR Society’s Philadelphia chapter, moved to Philadelphia four years ago. JHC was named the largest independent firm in Western Pennsylvania by the Pittsburgh Business Times, which reported ’07 revenue of $2.6M for the firm.

TURKEY EXTENDS F-H’S WORK

The Government of Turkey has extended Fleishman-Hillard’s $113,683 monthly pact for seven months through March 3.

The overall goal is to craft a “better image” for Turkey via message development, proactive and reactive media strategy and revamped web sites/blogs.

In `08, F-H forwarded to Turkey’s Embassy the Congressional report on Guantanamo Bay, promoted President Gul’s trip to Armenia, created an “Obama to Europe” report, coordinated a meeting with the New York Times editorial board, monitored events in Georgia following Russia’s attack, attended meetings with U.S. Jewish leaders and forged a “U.S. Military Raid on Syria” paper.

Turkey was F-H’s second biggest foreign account in `08, trailing King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, which was officially terminated in April.

KEKST HANDLES TRIB BANKRUPTCY

Kekst and Company is handling communications related to the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Jan. 15 bankruptcy filing.

Kekst works for Avista Capital Partners, the private equity firm that brought the Trib from McClatchy Co. for $530M in late 2006.

Publisher Chris Harte said in a statement that the paper will use Chapter 11 protection to become “stronger, leaner and more efficient” by restructuring debt and lowering labor costs.

Assets were listed just under $500M while liabilities topped $661M.

The Newspaper Guild criticized Avista in a statement saying that employees had made significant concessions since the acquisition and offered to make more.

“It’s unfortunate that a New York-based private equity company has put the Twin Cities largest source of news and information at risk,” said the statement.

The paper is the tenth-largest Sunday newspaper in the U.S. with more than 550K readers and the 15th-largest daily, topping 334K.

Its website is also among the top 10 newspaper sites for traffic.

Kekst is owned by Publicis.

RIDDING SWINGS AX AT FT

John Ridding, CEO of the Financial Times, is shedding 80 staffers, according to his “Dear All” memo, in an effort to cope with the “structural change caused by audiences and advertisers moving to digital channels” combined with the global recession.

The cutbacks come as Ridding is “deepening” print and web integration, merging recent acquisitions and realigning assets.

Ridding and editor Lionel Barber updated staff on their plans Jan. 14 to reduce “uncertainty” among journalists, marketing and production people. Laid-off employees will be assisted in finding new jobs within FT Group or parent Pearson.

There are other '09 priorities other than firing people. Ridding plans further investment in FT.com and launching a China report. Better service for corporate customers is promised along with a stepped up subscription drive to bolster “content revenues.”

During this challenging business environment, FT is focused on efficiency and productivity. “Sustaining our financial strength is essential to maintaining the quality of our journalism and dynamism of our organization,” said Ridding.

SIMMONS SHIFTS TO NEWS AT WASH TIMES

Deborah Simmons, who was editorial page editor at the Washington Times, has been shifted to the newsroom after a year at the helm. She is special correspondent.

Ralph Amberg, associate publisher and GM, is interim edit page editor.

The WashTimes has asked a dozen editorial and commentary staffers to re-apply for their jobs as the paper revamps and expands its web operation.

Tara Wall, who was deputy editorial page director, has joined Simmons in the newsroom as senior editor.

WSJ’S COOPER MOVES INTO PR

Christopher Cooper, a national political reporter in a 10-year career at the Wall Street Journal, has joined Boston-based Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications’ Washington, D.C., office.

Cooper covered politics and led the Journal’s coverage of Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

He is also a former White House correspondent during President George W. Bush’s second term and reported from London for the paper.

He also co-authored a book about the federal government’s failures in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Cooper, who started on Jan. 19, began his career covering politics for 11 years at the Times-Picayune in New Orleans.

Larry Rasky, chairman of RB who is based in the firm’s four-staffer D.C. office, said the firm’s clients will benefit from Cooper’s informed perspective on how the Obama administration will operate.

ESSENCE ESTABLISHES D.C. BEAT

Essence, which is read by more than eight million African-American women, has named Cynthia Gordy its first-ever Washington correspondent to keep tabs on the Obama White House.

She also will cover First Lady Michelle Obama and pen a daily “Obama Watch” online. Gordy, most recently, was news editor at Essence, where she covered the Republican and Democratic campaigns and conventions.

She continues to report to Tatsha Robertson, deputy editor.

GANNETT IMPOSES FURLOUGHS

Gannett said it would require most of its 31K employees to take week-long work furloughs in the first quarter to avoid layoffs at the newspaper giant.

Gannett owns 85 daily newspapers in the U.S, including the Detroit Free Press and USA Today, the top-circulation daily. About 12 percent of its employees are unionized and are being asked to participate voluntarily. The furloughs will include top executives, including Craig Dubow, chairman, CEO and president.

Also, USA Today has imposed a one-year pay freeze on staffers and said it will stop publishing an international edition.

HEARST PULLS PLUG ON P-I

The Hearst Corp. plans to shut the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in March if it can’t find a buyer for the newspaper.

The New York-based media combine says the P-I, which has been a Hearst property since 1921, has been in the red since 2000.

The paper lost about $14M in `08 and is expected to lose more money this year.

Since `83, the P-I has had a joint operating agreement with the Seattle Times, which is owned by McClatchy Co. and the Blethen family.

The P-I had a daily circulation of 118K in `08, while the ST had a 199K circ.

(Media news continued on next page)

EDWARDS TAKES GREEN’S SPOT AT HEARST

Duncan Edwards, CEO of Hearst’s London-based National Magazine Co., is succeeding George Green as CEO of its international magazine unit.

Green becomes chairman of Hearst Magazines International on Feb. 1 as Edwards assumes his new post. He will hold that position during a transition period that wraps up June 30. That’s when Green, who held the CEO post since `89, will become a consultant to the media combine.

At NatMag, Edwards was in charge of 19 titles in the United Kingdom that are read by 14M people.

The roster includes Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire and Men’s Health, which is published with Rodale.

NATIONAL GEO PUTS IT TOGETHER

National Geographic Society has formed a global media integrated sales and sponsorship group under Stephen Giannetti, VP and group publisher of National Geographic.

Giannetti will seek programs across the Society’s TV, print, digital, film, music, games, exhibits and mobile platforms.

Travel, entertainment and brand extensions are the three areas slated for cultivation.

John Griffin, National Geo publishing president, says the goal is to seek “effective multi-platform marketing programs for clients while promoting the Society’s mission of inspiring people to care about our planet.”

SEGAN JOINS BETTY

Francine Segan is the new food & home editor at BettyConfidential.com, the women’s website.

She will oversee the “What’s for Dinner” feature that provides readers a new recipe every day. Segan wrote four cookbooks including “Shakespeare’s Kitchen” and “Opera Lover’s Cookbook.”

She is a frequent source for food stories in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, “The Early Show,” Food Network and Martha Stewart Living radio.

MICROSOFT BACKS PBS NEWS

Microsoft has signed on as partial underwriter of “Nightly Business Report,” the respected PBS program that claims to be the most watched daily business program on TV.

Microsoft, which will receive on-air sponsor credits and identification, joins ExxonMobil as the second key corporate backer of the show to emerge in the past six months.

Franklin Templeton Investments has backed the show for 20 years and is under contract through 2011. NBR lost sponsor A.G. Edward in January 2008 after its acquisition by Wachovia.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is the first technology sponsor of the program since Digital Equipment Corp. backed NBR for 20 years through 2002. DEC was acquired by Compaq Computer in 1999.

NBR marks its 30th year on Jan. 22. It is produced by WPBT in Miami.

BONNIER, OUTDOOR CHANNEL LINK

Magazine publisher Bonnier Corp. has inked a multiyear deal with Outdoor Channel that includes development of an original TV series, integration with Field & Stream magazine on a new series, and swapping of web content including video, among other tenets.

Bonnier also publishes Outdoor Life and several other marine titles. The two companies said their combined multimedia reach will top 57 million, making the pair the top hub for outdoor content in the U.S.

'WONKETTE’ JOINS AIR AMERICA

Ana Marie Cox, founding editor of the political blog, Wonkette, has joined Air America as its first Washington, D.C.-based national correspondent.

She will continue posting twice a week on Tina Brown’s “The Beast.”

Cox will contribute text, video and audio to airamerica.com and do a weekly radio program on the network of 60 stations.

She exited time.com last month.

ZD SELLS 1UP, CLOSES EGM

Ziff Davis Media is selling its 1UP Digital Network (MyCheats.com, GameVideos.com, GameTab.com and 1UP.com) to UGO Entertainment.

The company also has shut down its gaming magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly.

Jason Young, ZDM CEO, called the 1UP move a “smart transaction” that puts those marketing assets and teams in the right environment. It allows ZDM to pay down debt and focus on its “core PCMag Digital Network business.”

Briefs _______________________

The Chicago Tribune started publishing a tabloid-size weekly edition on Jan. 13 targeting commuters. The commuter edition will be available Monday through Friday at newsstands, retail outlets, newspaper boxes and train and bus stations throughout Chicagoland.

The Trib said content for its “on the go” edition will be the same as broadsheet editions of the paper.

“Many news consumers have asked for a more convenient version of the paper that contains all of the same great news and information,” said Tony Hunter, president, publisher and CEO of Chicago Tribune Media Group.

News, business and sports articles appear in tabloid format, while features sections like “Play” and “Good Eating” will be inserted as broadsheets into the tabloid edition. Copies were distributed free on Jan. 13 and a marketing campaign was launched to support the new edition.

Kimberly Seals Allers, a veteran business reporter, former writer at Fortune and senior editor of Essence magazine, has launched MochaManual.com, a lifestyle portal and online magazine for “moms of color” named after her series of books. Allers said she’s kicking off the site to fill a lack of national consumer publications covering the niche.

RBB ENTERS N.Y. WITH ACQUISITION

Miami-based lifestyle and entertainment firm rbb PR has acquired boutique shop CeCe Feinberg PR, including five staffers of the firm in New York and Miami.

Feinberg focuses on fashion, art and lifestyle clients like Bolzano Handbags, Hush Puppies, TheYummiest.com, and Beauties Day Spa.

Feinberg was named VP and director of rbb’s style group. She started out in Vogue’s marketing and PR unit, later moving to New York firm KRT before heading south to Miami. She started her firm in 2001.

Christine Barney, CEO and managing partner of rbb, noted the acquisition was a “cultural fit” and also gives rbb a New York presence.

FWV GETS BOX OFFICE TAKE IN DEAL

French/West/Vaughan, Raleigh, said it has signed a three-party deal which would net it box office proceeds in exchange for marketing services with an independent studio.

FWV, aligned with its Charlotte-based product integration affiliate Black/Pinner/Barton Branded Entertainment, will serve as the marketing arm for NEHST Studios, which bankrolls independent films.

Under the deal, FWV and BPB receive a portion of the studio’s box office take from all of its films, starting with “Running the Sahara,” a documentary by Matt Damon released concurrently with Showtime in January.

NEHST, founded by producer Larry Meistrich (“Sling Blade”), has 24 films in its pipeline or slated for release this year.

PERITUS OPENS IN INDY

Peritus PR has opened a fifth office in Indianapolis with the addition of Doran Moreland, who joins as director for the firm.

Moreland was Central Indiana director for Sen. Evan Bayh (D.-Ind.) and was formerly a special assistant to the mayor of Indianapolis. He noted that the state has several policymakers and opinion leaders that “make a difference in Washington, D.C.”

Peritus also recently opened a PA office in Lexington, Ky.

Peritus CEO Tim Mulloy said Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee and leaders from those states will play a “unique role” in the national agenda.

BRIEFS: Utopia Communications, Red Bank, N.J., says its fourth anniversary proves that “ethics can fuel success.” The firm represents “organizations, ideas, people and companies that enhance the human condition and operate within a strongly principled framework.” Senior VP Elliott Subveri blogs on PR at ethicaloptimist.com. ...PR Global Network, a global group of 40 independent firms, said Sweden-based member Coast Communications was named “Best PR Agency” for 2008 by Resume magazine. It was ranked sixth in the category in 2007. ...Mayo Communications, Los Angeles, organized a “celebrity shoe throwing” event in L.A. Jan. 10 with Kim Kardashian and Cheetah Girl Adrienne Bailon to benefit the Salvation Army.

BW, NAPS IN FEATURE DEAL

Business Wire will offer 100 “guaranteed placements” for lifestyle feature articles in a deal with North American Precis Syndicate, a 50-year-old mat release service company.

Angela Mendola, manager of strategic products at BW, praised so-called camera-ready releases as a proven tool that has been around for decades in PR. She said the deal allows clients to target top community newspapers with a guarantee of placement.

Combined, the two companies say the digital and print news items will be sent to more than 11,000 outlets, including online distribution to search engines and trade publications.

CARMA MARKS 25 YEARS

Media and communications research firm CARMA International is marking its 25th year in 2009.

Founder and CEO Albert Barr says that no other company has conducted media content analysis as long as CARMA, giving the company “unrivaled knowldge and experience that comes with time.”

CARMA, based in Washington, D.C., combines technology with human analysis of articles, analyzing tone, bias, context and even sarcasm, which the company contends most automated measurement services miss.

BRIEFS: Matt Shaw was promoted to senior VP, director of communications, for the Council of PR Firms, New York. Kathy Cripps, president of the organization, said Shaw has done a great job of raising the Council’s profile and noted he’ll be leading new social media initiatives in 2009. Shaw joined in 2002 after working at Edward Howard & Co. and Publicis. ...Jackson-Dawson Marketing Solutions, Greenville, S.C., won the Ektron All Star Award for “Best Transportation Site” in Boston for its work on Blue Bird school bus’ website. Ektron, a web content management and authoring services company, gave out the awards in Boston. ...The Factory Interactive, Miami, has launched a new web site for bMobile, while provides mobile telecom services to Trinidad and Tobago. The site handles real-time pricing and product availability, promotes, a secure store and bMobile features like messaging and chat. ...The Marketing Research Association has launched an online edition of its Alert! Magazine. The site includes all content from the print edition and will archive issues from January 2008. The site is free but will become a members-only benefit in May. mra-net.org. ...Nielsen’s CLIO Awards, focused on advertising and marketing, will add a Strategic Communications/Public Relations category for 2009 judged by Richard Edelman. The award will honor “innovative and creative use of any form of unpaid publicity and messaging that drives credibility, awarness, reputation, and relationships between an organization and its consumers or constituents.” PR will be recognized across three categories -- consumer, corporate and crisis management. The CLIOs join the Cannes Lions Festival, which added PR competition for 2009 in November.

Questions Parried (Continued from 1)

Jean Frankel of Tecker Consultants, who conducted a two-hour “knowledge-based strategic dialogue” at the Assembly, had told the delegates that similar representative bodies were moving away from governance issues and instead were concentrating on promoting the group to the public and potential members.

Another delegate asked Julin whether the board would continue to require APR for the board and was told that issue would be “folded into the bylaws rewrite” that is taking place.

The PRSA board had promised at the 2007 Assembly that a complete re-write of the bylaws would be ready for the 2008 meeting but bylaws task force head Dave Rickey said in mid-year that input from the 2008 Assembly would be needed.

No specific bylaw changes were discussed by the 2008 Assembly which spent about two hours discussing licensing of PR pros, accreditation and certification of skills in areas such as healthcare, tech, financial, etc.

While Rickey said a full bylaws rewrite would be ready for the 2009 Assembly, Julin said some concepts discussed by the 2008 Assembly “may not happen until 2010.”

Call Sparsely Attended

Only about a dozen delegates spoke on the call although the 2008 Assembly delegate total was more than 300.

Only one of the non-officer directors showed up, Deborah Silverman, PR professor at Buffalo State College, who has just joined the board.

Some veterans wondered if the other board members were boycotting the call since they are also Assembly delegates.

Rickey and Mary Beth West, who were on the 2008 board as “senior counsel,” have been removed from that position, indicating a shift in governance policies.

Mike Cherenson, 2009 chair, turned the meeting over to Julin because Julin was chair for the Assembly. Julin did the most speaking and at one point Cherenson referred to himself as “chair-elect” although he is now chair. Silverman said she was dismayed that a PR firm in Buffalo “bad-mouthed” another firm and PRS was unable to do anything about it.

Julin said PRS fears it would be sued. Whenever it started to investigate a complaint under the old code, PRS would “get a letter from an attorney,” he said.

A delegate asked if PRS couldn’t be like the Better Business Bureaus but it was pointed out that the BBB merely announces the number of unsettled charges against a company. It tries to mediate but does not announce results.

APR Suffers Decline

Delegate Dan Keeney of DPK PR, Forth Worth, noted that APR had suffered “some decline” since the institution of the new “electronic (machine-administered multiple choice) test” in 2003.

Since July 1, 2003, 550 new APRs of PRS have been created or an average of 110 yearly. With the previous exam, which required an afternoon of writing including creating a PR campaign, between 300 and 400 new PRS APRs were regularly created each year.

The test cost PRS about $100,000 each year for an outside firm to judge the exam results. PRS had lost $2.9 million on APR from 1988 until the new exam was instituted.

Julin said one problem is that, unlike 1965, when APR was created, there are now many PR degree-granting institutions and many courses, post-graduate degrees, and certificates in PR that can be obtained from established educational institutions and that members may be opting to do that.

Julin said that APR candidates must have two years of experience but APR staffer Kathy Mulvihill corrected him, saying any of the 18,000 non-APR members is eligible for the test no matter how many years they have been in PR. Current level of participation in APR is less than two percent of eligible members yearly.

Evans Recalls Past

Sally Evans of PRS/Houston, speaking on the dearth of APR candidates, recalled that at one time PR people could not join the Society unless they had two years of experience.

Candidates were also required to have a proposer and a seconder. Neither has been required for many years. Currently, students who are five months from graduation can join.

Evans said PRS should work to re-institute the previous five-year sequence in which a PR person joined and gradually built up skills so that when five years were reached (the previous minimum requirement) the person was ready to be APR.

A delegate from North Carolina who identified herself as Catherine (last name unintelligible), said she felt “out of sync” at the Assembly because she was not APR and many of the other delegates were.

Julin said it was the fault of the chapter for not promoting APR enough but that in any case Catherine should not feel inferior to APRs. APRs must take care not to act that way with non-APRs, said Julin.

Cherenson said APR was a “badge of honor” but that it’s an individual’s choice to “do it or not.”

Evans said that “fairly senior practitioners of seven, ten, 15 or 20 years’ experience are not going to sit for the APR exam with more junior people.” They need to be approached “one by one,” she said.

Top PR Person Flunked APR Test

Cyndee Wolley, president, PRS/Gulf Coast, said that “one of the best people I know of” in Florida took the APR test and flunked it. She was “irritated” at the process and wanted her money back, said the delegate.

PRS policy is not to return any money provided for the APR process. The delegate said that PR pros with many years of experience should be able to trade that for an APR. When APR was created in 1965, it was jump-started by the induction of about 900 members with 15 or more years of experience. It was said they were “grandfathered in.”

When fewer than 20% of members became APR, Kerryn King of Texaco, who was president of PRS in 1979, suggested in the early 1970s that those with ten or more years in PR (referred to as “uncles”) also be granted APRs. This was rejected by the board. At one point in the 1970s, about 35% of members were APR. It is now less than 20%. PRS will not reveal the percentage of APR members.

The PR Society (page one) has been nibbling at changing its bylaws since 1999 with little to show for it. The APRs are still in charge although they are less than 20% of the members and a number that is shrinking since so few take this test any more.

Drastic changes are needed starting with the abolition of the Assembly, a body that is mostly APR and chapter officers and directors and which is far removed from the needs of members.

Even weak-kneed sheep have more backbone than the Assembly, which typically sits immobile by the hour while the board pounds it with pitch after pitch.

The worst was 2008 when more than 250 took part in a brainless two-hour "thought" exercise on accreditation, licensure and certification when they should have been discussing specific bylaw proposals like decoupling APR from office-holding.

For two years running the hapless delegates let themselves be cheated out of a "town hall."

Not one word came from the delegates when board/staff took PRS's No. 1 product from them-the 1,000-page annual directory. A move in 2006 to give the Assembly the same powers as similar groups in the ABA and AMA got the support of exactly one of the 110 chapters-Central Michigan, the one proposing it.

BoardSource, Washington, D.C., specialist in services to non-profits, since 2003 has marketed "E-Vote," which lets groups with up to 100,000 members cast secure e-mail votes. Cost is only $5,000.

It would be easy and cheap for PRS members to debate issues like decoupling APR and bringing back the printed directory and vote on them. There is no need for the Assembly any more.

PRS is still governed like it was in the 1950's. It's about time it used modern communications tools and practiced the democracy that it champions in its ethics code.

We hope the nine new board members who now constitute a majority will show some courage Friday at their first meeting.

They are involving prestigious names in PRS policies and practices-the U.S. Army, Travelers, Mayo Clinic, National Education Assn. and City College of New York (Don Kirchoffner, Gail Liebl, Kathy Nelson-Barbour, Steve Grant and Lynn Appelbaum, respectively).

PRS's h.q. practices need an overhaul. There can be no "PR for PR" program without at least ten senior PR pros at h.q. A hospital cannot operate without doctors. Staff has blocked this for decades. The board has gone along with Pat Jackson's advice that h.q. should be staffed almost exclusively by association professionals. But the ABA, AMA, AICPA, etc., do not follow such a destructive policy.

New York staffers would end the war with PRS/NY and open a midtown facility for use by PR pros and press. PRS/NY would then be much more attractive to the 20,000+ prospects in the area, the biggest PR market by far.

Senior PR pros would end the numerous anti-informational practices of h.q. such as blocking access to transcripts of the last four Assemblies; refusal to publish a list of Assembly delegates; failure to audiocast the Assembly; failure to have a searchable website; failure to allow debates of governance and other issues on the web, etc.

The rule that lets the executive committee act in place of the full board (especially when the full board is present) should be axed.

Members should be allowed to present their case for again publishing the printed directory of members.

New chair Mike Cherenson should have been running the Jan. 15 teleconference, not 2008 chair Jeff Julin.

Elected Oct. 25, the directors as of Jan. 23 will have wasted three full months in a do-nothing mode. President-elect Obama got right to work on economic plans the day he was elected in November, publicly describing them. We're wondering if the new board will subject itself to a full-day of indoctrination on how to be "directors" like the 2008 board did. That would be a bad sign indeed.

We don't know how Cherenson, who promised a "full-fledged" PR for PR drive in 2009, will live down a quote from his FIR interview (1/7/09 NL), in which he said PR operates "somewhat in the shadows" so "people may never truly understand what we do…many of my clients don't understand what we do...as our toolbox gets bigger and bigger, actually, it's going to be more and more difficult to explain what we do."

Newsweek of April 20, 1987, writing about Reed Trencher's policy of charging only for placements made, said it liked the idea of PR people being paid for what they actually produced rather than what they promised.

The mag said this might reduce the number of PR people and that "the appalling undergraduate courses in PR at universities would wither."

Why would Newsweek say such a hostile thing as that? The mag's staffers, at that time drawn heavily from Ivy League schools which have no PR courses at the undergraduate level, no doubt preferred a "classical" education.

After trading e-mails with a number of current PR grads and recent grads, we have our own doubts about PR education. Almost none of the grads have been able to get jobs and many have "huge" college loans to pay off.

None of them received any training in starting their own firms which is about the only way they'll make money now. They mostly say employers value experience (such as internships) far more than anything they studied. They were not taught about the need to be in specialties such as healthcare, financial, tech, food/nutrition, etc.

They're unaware that lobbying employs almost as many grads as "PR" (an estimated 251,000 in D.C.'s lobbying community). None of them ever heard of any of the five O'Dwyer PR products. PR textbooks are mostly far behind current PR practices.

PRS Student Societies chapters and their faculty advisers want nothing to do with us, an attitude no doubt inflamed by the full-page attack on us in the Sept. 2008 Tactics of PRS.

None of the faculty advisers at the eight colleges represented in the PRSS board will respond to e-mails nor will national student adviser Steve Iseman of Ohio Northern University.

If there's any substantive "scholarship" going on in PR academia, we haven't seen it.

If there were, a study would have been made long ago on the impact of the conglomerates on the hundreds of PR firms they purchased; enforcement of PR ethical codes worldwide, the facts about PR's No. 1 crisis story (the recall of Tylenol capsules by J&J), and other sensitive but relevant topics. Instead of the "pursuit of truth" as promised in the National Education Assn. code, we find a pursuit of politics and a flight from truth in PR academia.

--Jack O'Dwyer