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November 22, 1999 Issue of PRWeek

Bradley web site tops Gore, Bush

NEW YORK: George W. Bush may be leading in the presidential opinion polls, but his Internet presence has been ranked second-to-last in a PRWeek report on the ...

Allstate slashes PR team by 25%

NORTHBROOK, IL: As part of a company-wide effort to slash dollars 600 million in annual operating expenses as it shifts some sales over to the Web, insurance ...

PN, C&B marry forces to create dollars 50m tech group

BOSTON: Omnicom siblings Porter Novelli and Copithorne & Bellows have made their long-rumored alliance official, with the firms announcing last week that C&B will become PN’s hi-tech ...

PR domain name for sale, rent by ’Internet landlord’

WASHINGTON, DC: How much would you pay for the web site domain name publicrelations.com?

DaimlerChrysler suffers staff blow with VP Klein exit

STUTTGART, GERMANY: DaimlerChrysler’s (DC) internal communications are once again in flux.

Weber client Citrix moves PR internal

FORT LAUDERDALE: After a four-year relationship with The Weber Group, computer supplier Citrix Systems has decided to take its PR operations in-house.

Levi Strauss adds PR tasks to global marketing VP job

SAN FRANCISCO: In a management shakeup intended to turn around the legendary jeanmaker’s slumping sales, Levi Strauss has increased the duties of global marketing VP Larry Ruff ...

Alexander Ogilvy launches NY shop

NEW YORK: Hoping to service the flood of hi-tech companies migrating eastward from Silicon Valley as well as bolster its IR capabilities, Alexander Ogilvy formally unveiled its ...

Crisis pros get ready: Y2K promises 19% more work

LOUISVILLE: If an industry projection released last week comes true, next year will be among the busiest ever for crisis communication specialists.

BSMG promotes three to VP and two execs swap roles

NEW YORK: Capping off an impressive year, BSMG Worldwide has restructured its global management team.

Silverman named head of Ogilvy US

NEW YORK: Ogilvy Public Relations last week announced the promotion of DC managing director Marcia Silverman to the new position of president of the Americas.

dollars 1m NJ and NY agencies set to merge

CHERRY HILL, NJ: A potential New York/Philadelphia stronghold was created last week when IPR and STAR/Rosen announced a strategic alliance, which will likely lead to a formal ...

Cunningham set to grab dot-coms

PALO ALTO, CA: Silicon Valley’s largest firm has finally decided to enter the dot-com race.

PN health survey reveals big appetite for medical information by consumers

ATLANTA: Porter Novelli has unveiled its annual Healthstyles survey, releasing a segment of the findings at a healthcare industry symposium held in Atlanta last Tuesday.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Rikta introduces hi-tech offshoot

STOCKHOLM: The Rikta Group, one of Sweden’s top communications agencies, has launched Rikta Spider, an affiliate designed to service the hi-tech and dot-com sectors.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: UK pros support practice of frequent job switching

LONDON: More than one-third of PR pros in the UK have no qualms about changing jobs after only two years.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: First full-time agency arrives in Bermuda

BERMUDA: The PR industry has finally found its way to the longtime insurance and tourism mecca of Bermuda.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Financial vets set up new IR venture

LONDON: A Brunswick partner and two Shandwick board directors have joined forces to set up Shared Value, a financial PR and investor relations agency.

AARP announces RFP for millennium image facelift

WASHINGTON, DC: The American Association of Retired Persons has turned to PR to reposition its image in the new millennium.

Ingram searches for pair of PR pros

SANTA ANA, CA: Ingram Micro, a dollars 25 billion wholesale distributor of hi-tech products and services, is looking to fill two PR posts in its corporate communications/IR ...

Medicare at center of senate-race spin

WASHINGTON, DC: With Medicare reform looming as a hot-button issue in several high-profile 2000 races, PR pros have already begun to spin the debate for public consumption.

In Brief

WILBRAHAM, MA: The Friendly Ice Cream Corp. has appointed Richard Couch as SVP and chief marketing officer. He will be responsible for all public affairs, research and ...

AP ends Medialink VNR exclusive deal, partners with PRN and Orbis

NEW YORK: The Associated Press and Medialink have ended their exclusive VNR distribution agreement, allowing PR Newswire and partner Orbis Broadcast Group to affiliate with the news-gathering ...

United Talent Agency pegs Hollywood vet for longtime vacant post

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood talent shop United Talent Agency, which boasts a slate of clients ranging from Jim Carrey to Johnny Depp, has hired Chris Day to reinvigorate ...

Tenneco taps first global head of PR

LAKE FOREST, IL: Tenneco Automotive, a company created earlier this month when the former Tenneco Inc. separated its packaging and auto parts businesses into two companies, has ...

Healthcare group in PA taps H&K for image protection

PHILADELPHIA: The Delaware Valley Healthcare Council (DVHC) has turned to PR following the declaration of bankruptcy by the Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation (AHERF), hiring Hill ...

End of Plymouth presents PR struggle for car maker

DETROIT: Automotive giant DaimlerChrysler has begun to tackle one of its biggest post-merger PR challenges to date: dealing with the fallout from the discontinuation of its long-established ...

Two WPP siblings join resources to form new venture

PARSIPPANY, NJ: Two WPP Group healthcare companies, CommonHealth and Einson Freeman, announced last week that they have pooled their resources to form a new joint venture, EinsonHealth.

MWW/Savitt lures away Elgin Syferd pro to run Seattle daily operations

SEATTLE: MWW/Savitt has tapped Gretchen Bakamis as COO and SVP of its growing Seattle office.

Groups rev PR engines for future WTO meet

SEATTLE: Seattle is about to become the focal point for a glut of PR and media attention, as the World Trade Organization prepares to invade the city ...

COMMENT: Editorial - Next CEO of GE in no-win situation

Everyone agrees (Big Pitch, PRWeek, Nov. 15) that the retirement of Jack Welch was flawlessly introduced. First the announcement was well in advance: 18 months, we are ...

COMMENT: The Big Pitch - If you could get only two media placements, what would they be and why?

TOM GABLE

ANALYSIS: Hi-Tech PR - North Carolina - is it a Silicon sideshow?/Once touted as a center for research and development, Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina appears to have fallen off the map as a hi-tech hot spot. But those within the Triangle

The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce web site shines like a beacon of what once was. It boasts that the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill metro area, which comprises Research ...

THINKPIECE: Forget being a spin doctor: open and honest communications is a pro’s most effective tool

Has your boss ever referred to you as the company ’spin-doctor?’ In my opinion, company executives who call their PR people spin-doctors are idiots. It just proves ...

INSIDE THE BELTWAY: Oops! PRWeek pop quiz proves PR pros do not read as much as they should - and this is bad

Quizzes! First, George W. Bush ’flunks’ a pop quiz by a Boston reporter, being unable to provide the names of four leaders of obscure countries and one ...

ANALYSIS: History of PR - How one bullet felled a president and a city/President Kennedy’s visit to Dallas could have been a PR triumph for a city struggling to improve its tarnished image, but the shots that rang out that day cast a pall that rem

Dallas knew it had an image problem before President John F. Kennedy’s fateful visit on Nov. 22, 1963.

ANALYSIS: Profile - Harris: GM’s internal combustion engine/Steve Harris runs one of the largest PR departments in the world at General Motors, but he still finds time to visit his mother every week. That’s just the kind of guy he is. John

Back in the late 1960s, California native Steve Harris was a journalism student at the University of Southern California, working toward a career in newspapers. But as ...

WEEKLY WEB WATCH: How to alleviate world hunger with just one click of a button

This week’s topic is one of those things that could never have existed without the Internet. In fact, it seems so far-fetched you can be forgiven for ...

MEDIA: Pop goes the culture at Chicago’s number-one daily

The Chicago Tribune was established in 1847 by Joseph Medill, whose famous last words were, ’What’s the news?’ Claire Atkinson tells you how to pitch the arts ...

MEDIA: Media Watch - Microsoft: media torn over solution to monopoly

There was a flurry of media coverage when US District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson released his findings of fact in the Microsoft anti-trust law suit.

The Internet Election - How important is the Web to the campaigns of the presidential candidates? And how skillfully have the campaign teams designed their sites? Paul Simpson examines the likely effect of the first-ever Internet election, and PRWeek rate

Let’s get one thing straight: the Internet is not going to win this presidential election for anybody.

MARKET FOCUS NEW JERSEY - Postcards from the edge - With New York and Philadelphia just over their respective rivers, New Jersey PR firms have been overshadowed by the giants in those cities. But, as Isadore Barmash reports, that’s changing

New Jersey is a compact state with a lot of business activity. But for years, PR firms located within the state felt much like second-class citizens. Larger, ...