Qwest’s union workers have rejected the contract offer made by the telecom company in August. Back to the negotiating table.
Month: September 2008
Denver PR Jobs
Among those hiring this week are Blackhills Corp., CaridianBCT, GoDaddy.com, Metropolitan State College, MWH, Teletech, TIAA-CREF, Trimble and Water for People. Out of market opportunities include Health Equity (Draper, Utah), InfoPros (Colorado Springs), New Mexico Wildlife Federation, Swanso Rusell (Omaha, Neb.) and the University of Utah.
Wildlife Experience Selects GroundFloor
The Wildlife Experience has selected GroundFloor Media to help promote its Animal Grossology exhibit, which “offers hands-on interactive exhibits for all ages and includes the themes of slime makers, vomit munchers, blood suckers, dookie lovers and other gross stuff.”
Level 3 Appoints SVP of Corporate Communications
Level 3 has appointed Jeff Battcher as senior vice president of Corporate Communications. Battcher’s former positions include vice president of Corporate Communications at Delta Airlines and chief company spokesman at BellSouth.
Dow Closes Day Down 777 Points
Might be time for a few of those “we’re here for you” calls to your clients.
Changes at KMGH/Channel 7
Michael Roberts at Westword has the details on the shake-up at KMGH/Channel 7.
A Newspaper Question …
San Francisco State University estimates that 1/3 of employed Americans are in “marketing or marketing-related” jobs. And the Metro Denver Economic Development Council’s calculates that there are 1.46 million employees in the Denver metro area. Combine the two, and it means that metro Denver has nearly 500,000 people who are in marketing or marketing-related positions. A half-million. So why are the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News so indifferent about covering the business of marketing?
Post Finds Many Innovative NPR Shows Missing in Colorado
Joanne Ostrow at the Denver Post looks behind the curtain at Colorado Public Radio and finds all the innovative, edgy programming that Coloradans don’t hear because CPR staffers are as bad as music radio executives when it comes to formula-driven programming.
China’s Space Publicists Now Advising McCain Campaign
If you were planning to watch tonight’s debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, don’t bother. It turns out McCain already won it.
‘Beijing … We Have a Problem’
China’s Ministry of Propaganda is alive and well. We feared things would slow down in Asia after the Olympic Games, but the same person responsible for promoting the Olympics (see buck-teeth little girls and CGI-aided opening ceremonies) is helping out on China’s space efforts. No need to worry, however. We expect that PRSA will soon send a registered letter to Premier Jiabao asking China to abide by the PRSA Code of Ethics in its space communications.
‘Get Smart Schools’ Selects GroundFloor
Get Smart Schools, a new nonprofit education reform organization in Colorado, has selected GroundFloor Media as its agency of record.
Pro Bono Opportunity: PRSA Award Winners
Is there anything sadder than having to submit your own YourHub article about an award you won?
DBJ: JohnstonWells, Xstatic Top PR Awards
We gave you our assessment of last week’s PRSA Gold Pick awards earlier. Here is the Denver Business Journal’s take.
Andrew Hudson Resigns Position to Focus on Jobs Site
Those of us who have been in Denver for a while have watched with amazement as Andrew Hudson built what started as a small email distribution list into the full-blown marketing jobs machine we now know as Andrew Hudson’s Job List. During that run, we have seen Andrew move from the Wellington Webb administration to Frontier Airlines to ARCADIS. But Andrew has now resigned his position at ARCADIS to devote himself full-time to his jobs site. Penny Parker at the Rocky has the details. We’re big fans of Andrew and his site, obviously, and we wish him the best of luck.
Pro Bono Opportunity: Denver Police Department
The Denver Police Department is getting raked over the coals nationally for the officers’ DNC commemorative T-shirt.
Qwest Layoffs Imminent?
The Qwest layoff rumors are reaching a fevered pitch. Anyone have the details?
PRSA ‘Code of Ethics’ Followup
Apparently we aren’t the only ones following PRSA’s McCain-Obama pledge request. While we viewed the request as a grandstand, Steven Silvers at GBSM views it simply as hypocrisy.
Interesting Journalism Stat of the Week
From PRNewser:
“Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin could buy every newspaper in America and still have $12 billion left over. The entire U.S. newspaper business is valued at $20 billion. Brin and Page are worth about $16 billion each.”
Colorado’s Pinnacol Named a “Best Employer”
Congratulations to Pinnacol Assurance, the only Colorado-based company to make AARP’s annual list of the “Best Employers for Workers Over 50.”
PRSA’s Julin: Grandstander or a Pollyanna?
We were amused when we first read that PRSA CEO (and MGA president) Jeff Julin sent registered letters to the McCain and Obama campaigns requesting that they commit to “a clean and fair campaign.” Julin’s letters read, in part, “The use of innuendo, incomplete information, surrogate messaging and character attacks, whether in political discourse or other forms of commercial free speech, raises serious concerns for our organization.”
These letters beg the question: Is Julin just grandstanding, or is he a pollyanna who is woefully ignorant of our country’s 200+ year history of brutal, negative campaigning. Think McCain and Obama are bad? Try Jefferson and Adams. Democracy has always been a blood sport.
But our amusement level went up today when we read Mark Harden’s Denver Business Journal follow-up article on Julin’s efforts. Apparently no one at either campaign is taking the letters seriously, and PRSA is now flailing about “trying to identify contacts [with the campaigns] who could run it up the flagpole.” Replace “run it up the flagpole” with “return our phone calls or emails” and that sounds about right. The lesson: Being irrelevant is bad enough, but proving it so publicly is worse.
Weise Communications Adds Four
A few months after moving into its larger office, Weise Communications has added four new staff members to help fill it up: Marne Brase, director of client services; Tim McCanna, art director; Beth Hardy, public relations account executive; and Megan Vogel, marketing coordinator.
Suspicious Journalism ‘Fact’ of the Week
New Fox31 GM Dennis Leonard tells the Denver Post’s Joanne Ostrow that, while at his previous station in Birmingham, Ala., he “broke a number of music acts who later went national: John Mayer, Maroon 5, Five for Fighting.”
GroundFloor, JW and XStatic Lead PRSA Gold Pick Awards
PRSA Colorado has posted the winners from Thursday’s Gold Pick Awards, and we have used a proprietary and highly sophisticated formula (two points for a gold, one point for a silver) to determine which agencies fared best:
1. GroundFloor Media (10 points) – Three gold, four silver
2. JohnstonWells (9 points) – Four gold, one silver
2. Xstatic (9 points) – Four gold, one silver
4. Linhart (8 points) – Two gold, four silver
5. Carmichael Lynch Spong (7 points) – Two gold, three silver
6. Schenkein (6 points) – Two gold, two silver
7. 104 West (5 points) – Two gold, one silver
8. Pete Webb (4 points) – One gold, two silver
9. Bawmann Group (3 points) – One gold, one silver
9. Philosophy (3 points) – One gold, one silver
11. CCS (2 points) – One gold
11. Metzger (2 points) – One gold
11. VisiTech (2 points) – One gold
14. Cutter (1 point) – One silver
14. Vladimir Jones (1 point) – One silver
Also, congratulations to the big award winners: Colorado State University, Colorado Springs Utilities and WhiteWave. And to Xstatic’s Amanda Clark and Scott System’s Liz Pope, both of whom won 2008 Rookie of the Year awards.
(Our apologies to Liz Pope for initially omitting her award, and our thanks to Kristy Bassuener for pointing it out).
Denver PR Jobs
Among those hiring this week: Arapahoe County, Archstone, CU Foundations, Denver International School, Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald and Steamboat Springs Ski and Resort.
MillerCoors Pulls Alcoholic Energy Drink
MillerCoors has pulled — or at least postponed — its planned alcoholic energy drink Sparks Red after 25 state Attorneys General complained.
PRSA Awards a Quiet Affair
The PRSA Colorado Gold Pick Awards were last Thursday, and still no media coverage of the event and no list of winners on its Web site.
104 West Adds News Media Practice
104 West Partners has added a dedicated new media practice and appointed Elaine Schoch as its director.
Rocky Reporter Reveals Man-Crush on ‘Dog The Bounty Hunter’
Check out today’s awkward “Dog The Bounty Hunter” lovefest by Bill Scanlon in the Rocky. Our favorite snippets:
“Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman … sports a look that is a cross between pirate and romance novel cover stud. A sparsely buttoned shiny black shirt allows glimpses of his pecs; he has platinum blond shoulder-length hair that never quits. He’s buff, tricked out and can look very menacing when he’s not smiling or laughing.”
WSJ Quotes Metzger in Online Retailing Article
John Metzger of Metzger Associates was quoted in today’s Wall Street Journal discussing wholesale companies that are setting up online shops to target retail customers. For non-subscribers, John’s contribution was
“Wholesalers new to the e-commerce world need to make a strong investment in infrastructure that supports all aspects of customer service, technical support, product support, returns,” says John Metzger, chief executive of Metzger Associates, a Boulder, Colo., communications firm that helps companies create online business strategies.
Whereas retailers wouldn’t typically fuss over one or two broken items in a large shipment, he says, “if something is broken, the consumer expects it to be fixed right away and they want someone to help” them fix it.
Coloradans Richer Than Us
Forbes is out with its list of the 400 Richest Americans, and the Colorado component looks like this:
- Charlie Ergen, EchoStar, $8.1 billion
- Phil Anschutz, Qwest, $8.0 billion
- James Leprino, Leprino Foods, $2.3 billion
- John Malone, Liberty Media, $2.3 billion
- Pat Stryker, Stryker Corp., $1.8 billion
- Tom Marsico, Marsico Capital Management, $1.5 billion
- Steven “Steve” Silvers, GBSM, $1.2 billion*
(*Denver PR Blog estimate based on Steve’s stylish wardrobe and frequent use of big, fancy words)
Three Hours of Sam Adams (the reporter, not the beer)
Dust off your tuxes and/or cocktail dresses — it is PRSA Colorado Gold Pick Awards night.
Bad Pitch Blog’s Top 20 Posts
Bad Pitch Blog lists its Top 20 posts:
Ready to Pitch a Blog? Take This Quiz First
PR People Suck!
An Open Letter to US Netcom Corporation
Typos Are A Big, Hairy Problem
Long Tail, Bad Pitch
Angryjournalist.com — Things Are Tough All Over
BusinessWeek Redesigns, Still Gets Bad Pitches
Times’ Hansell Turns to Bad Pitch For a WTF!
What Does The Bad Pitch Blog Look Like?
Dudes, stop your belly aching
The Secret of The Bad Pitch Blog
Fast Five Q&A with Adweek’s Digital Editor, Brian Morrissey
PRSA Drops an Anvil on The Bad Pitch Blog
Celeste Dufault is Outed in 10 Words or Less
It Takes More than Media Map
The WKRP in Cincinnati Pitch
Google’s News Release Catch 22
Down(load) New Comm Road
It’s a Boner!
Facebook Can Improve Your Media Relations
Congratulations! Your Social Media Plan Meets SMAC Standards
Sure social media is interesting and can be effective. But it has been missing something. We had trouble putting our fingers on it, and then it hit us: it has been missing a regulatory oversight body. You know, an organization that can deliver the kind of standards that will prevent the confusion that has reigned over the industry. Now we all can know that blogs are Web 2.0, podcasting is Web 2.1, Vlogs are Web 2.2, Twitter is Web 2.3, etc. And because Richard “Head” Edelman is involved, we can be assured it will be “authentic.”
MillerCoors’ Next Product Extension: Rohypnol Light
MillerCoors’ new alcoholic energy drink Sparks Red is creating red flags with attorneys general across the country. So far, 25 AGs (AsG?) have signed on to an effort to stop MillerCoors from distributing the Red-Bull-with-Vodka alternative, citing the negative health effects and the dangers of combining caffeine with alcohol.
Said New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, “By introducing Sparks Red, a higher-alcohol-content and even more dangerous version of its Sparks product, MillerCoors is demonstrating an utter disregard for the safety of young consumers.”
Studio 12 Panel to Examine Political Ads
Haven’t had enough of political ads this season? Well, there is a reason to watch a few more. Westword’s Michael Roberts — the best media reporter/critic in Denver hands down — will be part of a panel (with Eric Sondermann and Walt Klein) discussing political ads on Studio 12 at 8 p.m. tonight on KBDI/Channel 12.
104 West Sponsors M&A/IPO Luncheon
104 West Partners and the Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association are sponsoring a luncheon next Wednesday (Sept. 24) at 11:30 a.m. at the Denver Chophouse and Brewery. The luncheon will feature Kevin Tice and Ed Maguire of Merrill Lynch’s Global Technology Investment Banking Group who will discuss the current climate for technology firms in the M&A and IPO markets.
Expect Layoffs As Part of the Fox31, CW2 Deal
The consolidation continues. Fox31 and CW2 today announced a “marketing agreement” effective Oct. 1 that will have the two stations sharing news, sales, operations and engineering services. CW2 also will relocate from its Greenwood Village headquarters to the Fox31 building downtown. Fox31 GM Dennis Leonard confirmed what everyone already knew: layoffs are coming. Said Leonard: “(We are) evaluating how things will change, (including) evaluating the talent and people we have on both sides.”
Interestingly, neither Fox31 or CW2 has the news on its Web site yet, but you can see the coverage here: Denver Post, Denver Business Journal, 9News, MediaWeek, Westword.
Penny Parker Still Reliving the Glory Days
Michael Roberts at Westword beat us to the punch on Penny Parker’s inability to move on from the DNC three weeks later.
Bawmann Wins NIPM Account
The Bawmann Group has been retained by Northpointe Institute for Public Management, Inc. to help with strategic planning, rebranding, marketing and public relations services.
Denver PR Jobs
There are lots of jobs this week, even if the salaries are skewing a bit low. Among those hiring are CaridianBCT, Colorado Outward Bound, EnCana, Kiewit, Memorial Health Center, MWH, Naropa University and the Seniors Resource Center. If you are in Colorado Springs, or you enjoy driving Monument Hill, there are a few jobs open down south: Pikes Peak Behavioral Health Group, Memorial Health Center and ITT. And if you are a feeling lucky (and are a contrarian at heart), you can buck the journalism-to-PR trend and consider positions at the Colorado Springs Gazette and the La Junta Tribune Democrat.
Denver PR Moves
- JohnstonWells hired Blake Jackson as senior associate, and promoted Sarah Cullen to senior associate. Jackson formerly was a sports reporter at The (Oklahoma CIty) Oklahoman.
- Guttau Public Relations hired Teresa Tuschhoff as account manager and Sarah Plath as account coordinator. Tuschhoff formerly was development director at the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and Plath is a former intern with Guttau.
Fox31 Names New VP/GM
Fox31 has named Dennis Leonard vice president and general manager, replacing Bill Schneider who left in June to take over the Fox affiliate in Tampa Bay. Leonard joins Fox31 from WBRC-FOX in Birmingham, Ala., so expect an increase in news stories on pickup trucks and chewing tobacco (that was for Pete Webb, who was concerned we had lost some of our snarkiness).
Rocky Slammed for Twittering Three-Year-Old’s Funeral
From the You-Can’t-Make-This-Stuff-Up file: The Rocky Mountain News is taking a lot of heat in the journalism community for providing real-time Twitter updates from the funeral of the three-year-old who was killed last week at the Aurora Baskin Robbins. Twitter updates. From a funeral. For a three-year-old. Apparently the Twitter fever Rocky editors and reporters got during the DNC hasn’t yet faded.
Department of Interior Gets its Freak On
Screw private-sector agency life. We want to work for the Department of Interior in Lakewood. No wonder former USA Today reporter Patrick O’Driscoll took the job with the National Park Service.
PRSA Chapter Retreat Set for November
GroundFloor’s Laura Love reminds us that PRSA Colorado is hosting its inaugural chapter member retreat on Friday, Nov. 14. Details are here. Register by the end of this month to get the best deal.
Webb PR Unveils New Web Site
Pete Webb PR’s new Web site has gone live.
More Denver PR Wins (and a Couple of Hires)
- 104 West Partners has added three new technology clients: HiveLive, Global Technology Resources Inc. and Transverse.
- Xstatic PR has added two new healthcare clients: Oncure Medical Corp. and Quantix. Xstatic also added Sasha Tinkham to its staff. Tinkham formerly was with Schenkein and Lois Paul & Partners in Boston.
- Voca Public Relations has added Julie Bielenberg and Riegel “Reggie” Brasseux as senior account executives. Bielenberg formerly was managing editor of Colorado Homes & Lifestyles and Brasseux formerly was at Fletcher Group.
Integer Group Launches New ‘Digitail’ Practice
Integer Group is restructuring to reposition itself as “a one-stop-shop by combining an expertise in retail promotions and digital solutions that will focus on retail/packaging e-promotions, digital commerce consulting and digital communications.”
Denver PR Wins
- Schenkein has added the international mega law firm Greenberg Traurig to its client roster.
- Absolutely PR has been named agency of record for Albany, Ind.-based Bell Aquaculture.
LoDo? LoDon’t.
JohnstonWells is looking pretty foolish these days. Sure, it it was able to secure a really cool building for less money than it was paying for its Writer Square digs, and, sure, the building is in a great location tucked between Larimer and Market on 15th Street. But did Gwin really perform her due diligence? If she had, she might have realized that LoDo is so over, and that this is the next real-estate hot spot.
Denver PR Jobs
Among those hiring this week are the Colorado Health Foundation, Agrium, Bella Energy, Horizon Bay Community Senior Community, IBM, NREL, Safeway, Siemens and USA Climbing.
Despite the Rumors, the Rocky is Still Around
Well, it’s a week after the DNC and the Rocky Mountain News is still publishing. So much for the rumors.
Morton’s Selects GroundFloor
Morton’s The Steakhouse has selected GroundFloor The PR Agency to promote its 30th anniversary celebration in Colorado.
NREL Hires Project Leader/Web Manager
NREL has hired Gabe Boeckman as Communications Project Leader/Web Content Manager. Boeckman formerly was with VisiTech PR.
Changes at Several Denver Agencies
There are some changes going on at several Denver agencies. PR agencies ProConnect and Altitude announced they have merged, and Xylem CCI has named Scott Snyder acting chairman and CEO. Xylem CCI will conduct an executive search to fill the roles permanently.
Denver PR Jobs
Among those hiring this week are the American Cancer Society, AORN, City of Golden, Denver Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and Mercer Human Resource Consulting,
Denver Public Relations Blog 