SAN FRANCISCO: Airliner Emirates promoted its new, double-decker luxury plane with two demo flights for media and others in California last week. The effort is also part of a larger strategy to increase brand awareness in the US.

SAN FRANCISCO: Social networking site hi5 recently selected the Horn Group as its AOR, following a competitive review.

Presidential campaigns take on harsher rhetoric; GM asks ad agencies to slash fees; Census shows a changing US population; and more.

SAN FRANCISCO: New search engine Cuil faced the dichotomy of the media establishment when it launched last week, with traditional media hyping the product as a Google-killer-in-waiting, while bloggers criticized the product for not being ready for prime time.

MOJAVE, CA: Virgin Galactic unveiled its WhiteKnightTwo aircraft, part of its space tourism project, in an effort to position Virgin as an innovative brand leader.

HUNTSVILLE, AL: IT products manufacturer Avocent selected Trainer Communications for a seven-figure task, with a goal of increasing its stock price.

Facebook appeases critics, Gates and Bloomberg join forces for $500 million campaign, Steve Ballmer sends internal memo to Microsoft employees, and more.

It's no secret that many newspapers are mired with staff reductions. While many expect management to replace old journalists with cheaper - and more tech-savvy - reporters, the trend is in flux as newspapers learn the economics of online publishing.

LOS ANGELES: Several top players in the video game industry set the tone for their holiday communications strategy at last week's E3 conference in LA.

As clients demand more social media expertise, some PR pros are abandoning the traditional agency model to launch new media-focused firms.