No, they are entertainers who may be telling you only what their sponsors want you to hear.
Month: January 2011
Stasko Inks Three New Clients
Denver design firm Urban Dwellers has selected The Stasko Agency as its agency of record. Additionally, Stasko has been retained to provide publicity services for Mountain States Employers Council and the Alexander Dawson Foundation. Mountain States is the region’s largest employer services organization, with 3,000 member employers, and the Alexander Dawson Foundation is a Las Vegas-based non-profit, which provides educational enrichment opportunities for high-achieving, public school students.
SOTU Bingo
Planning to watch the State of the Union tonight? Download Sarah Moss’ SOTU bingo card.
Cohn Announces Winners of its ‘Power of 10’ Pro Bono Contest
Cohn Marketing has selected three non-profit organizations from across the country to receive pro bono work as part of its “Power of 10” contest: Cancer Crusaders (New Orleans), Cat Care Society (Denver) and Empower Playgrounds (Provo, Utah).
Faction Finalist for ‘Best of Web’ Award
Congratulations to Faction Media, which has been named a finalist in the CableFAX Best of Web Awards for its website redesign work with Comcast Spotlight. In addition to being a finalist, Faction Media is the only B2B digital marketing agency on the nominations list. The winner in each category will be announced at the CableFAX Digital Awards in April.
Denver PR Jobs
Among those hiring this week are the American Humane Association, AORN, Art Students League of Denver, the City of Westminster, CoBank, Colorado Rural Electric Association, Conergy, Coram, Great-West, Newmont Mining, Policy Studies, The SolutionPR and Traction Communications.
Revolt Brewing Around Pricey CU Brand ‘Update’
If you dropped three-quarters of a million dollars on a branding project, would you expect more than a new font suggestion and a recommendation to standardize on a single, existing logo? And, if not, are you free for lunch sometime to discuss your other marketing needs?
Denver Agency Wins
- Philosophy Communication won Decorative Materials, a high-end tile company with showrooms in Denver, Aspen and Vail.
- Malen Yantis Public Relations has added two new clients – Vail Summer and Phoenix-based BlackBox Interactive.
- Gain-Stovall has been retained to provide public relations services to Denver’s Champion Window Company.
DBJ Hires Draper for Banking/Finance Beat
The Denver Business Journal has hired Heather Draper to cover the banking/finance/professional services beat. Draper, a former Rocky Mountain News and Dow Jones reporter, most recently was marketing/communications manager at the GLBT Community Center of Colorado. She replaces Renee McGaw, who left the DBJ to become the Director of Communications at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.
Singleton Relinquishes CEO Title at MediaNews Group
MediaNews Group’s William Dean Singleton announced he will step down as CEO but remain as executive chairman. MediaNews Group owns dozens of newspapers, including the Denver Post.
PR Quote of the Week
Courtesy of this morning’s Denver Post (Nation & World Briefs, Page 4A):
“Republicans immediately disparaged the analysis as ‘public relations’.”
PPG Selects Philosophy for Branding, PR Campaign
Peregrine Property Group has selected Philosophy Communication to develop a branding and public relations campaign.
Weise Wins Medical Technology Client
Weise Communications has been selected by Moog Medical to handle public relations, social media and creative design, as well as product photography, strategic research and marketing.
Denver PR Jobs
Among those hiring this week are The GLBT Community Center of Colorado, Boston Market, CoBank, Colorado AIDS Project, Colorado Association of School Boards, Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado Lottery, DISH Network, Financial Planning Association (FPA), Harrison School District Two, Kaiser Permanente, Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC), Metropolitan State College, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Outward Bound, Regional Air Quality Council and Southwest Art Magazine.
Conversation Starters Completes Two Video Projects
Conversation Starters has completed marketing video projects for clients EmbroidMe Denver-South and Catch Fire Marketing.
Fresh Ideas Group Adds Three Clients
Fresh Ideas Group has added three new clients: 34 Degrees Crispbread, Dr. Alan Greene and his new Project WhiteOut, and Blue Horizon Wild Seafood.
Dovetail Wins Law Firm Client
Denver business litigation law firm Sander Ingebretsen and Wake has selected Dovetail Solutions as its agency-of-record to lead its community outreach and marketing efforts.
SE2’s Next Goal: OpEd Pieces in the Coupons
SE2 has unceremoniously (or maybe ceremoniously – it’s hard to tell) deflowered the Denver Post’s editorial section.
CHC Sponsors Breakfast Seminar
The Colorado Healthcare Communicators are sponsoring a breakfast seminar on “The Art of Storytelling” on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 8 a.m. Led by former journalist and current PR practitioner Jerry Brown, the seminar will help attendees “find interesting hooks for the stories you want to tell.”
Philosophy Promotes ADCD Paper Fashion Show
Philosophy Communication is promoting the Art Directors Club of Denver’s Paper Fashion Show for the second year in a row. Last year, Philosophy’s work led to double attendance with more than 600 paper patrons, a 35 percent increase in event sponsorship dollars, and a 100 percent increase in design teams.
Designers, art directors, marketers, advertisers, communication professionals and fashion enthusiasts who are interested in participating should register by February 18, 2011.
‘Deadly Spin’ Author to Appear at Tattered Cover Jan. 20
Former CIGNA communications chief turned activist/author Wendell Potter has been called everything from a public relations hero to a traitorous villain for his decision to walk away from the corporate world and testify before the U.S. Senate panel on health care reform.
His testimony on how the health care industry uses propaganda and lobbying efforts to maintain profits at the expense of patients sparked outrage among activists and health care providers alike. And the behind-the-scenes view he provides of the role of public relations in these debates has ignited passionate discussion in the public relations community.
Potter now is a Senior Fellow on Health Care for the Center for Media and Democracy, and he has followed up his initial testimony with a recently released book, Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans. He will be at the Tattered Cover on Colfax on Thursday, Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m. to sign copies of the book.
If you are interested in an insider’s account of how public relations often is played at the highest and most sophisticated levels – and what impact that has on you, your career and your clients – you should attend.
[Disclosure: I am friends with Wendell Potter, and I worked closely with him when CIGNA was a client of mine at Weber Shandwick. However, my work (and Weber Shandwick’s work) with CIGNA did not include any of the industry policy, regulatory or lobbying efforts that he chronicles in his book.]
Evatran Selects JohnstonWells for Product Launch
JohnstonWells has been hired by Evatran to manage media relations as the company unveils its Plugless Power charging system in 2011. Plugless Power is the world’s first charging system that allows electric vehicles to refuel without a cord and plug or any driver interaction. The technology is based on inductive power transfer that has been used in electrical transformers for more than a century.
PR Quote of the Week
In honor of Penny Parker, here is the Denver PR Blog “Eavesdropping” bit of the week:
“Be prepared for a constant barrage of flip remarks and undying skepticism. We’ll all wonder why we even considered running this gauntlet. And our clients will ask – ‘What were you thinking?’ ”
– An anonymous pro-business Denver PR practitioner discussing Denver Post columnist Mike Littwin’s appointment to the paper’s editorial board.
OnTheSnow Selects Linhart
Linhart Public Relations has been selected to lead a public relations campaign for OnTheSnow, the most visited snow sports website in the world. Linhart PR will lead proactive, strategic public relations activities to help build global brand awareness of OnTheSnow as the top global site for mountain snow sports, as well as position the website as an expert news source among domestic digital, print and broadcast media.
Denver PR Jobs
PRSA Colorado Luncheon Features eBay’s Skyberg
eBay’s Rolf Skyberg is the featured speaker at this month’s PRSA Colorado luncheon, where he will discuss how to control the destiny of your campaigns – and your business – by mastering the elusive patterns of growth and decline. Some of the topics Rolf will cover include:
- How to tell the difference between a fad and a trend
- When to respond quickly and when to simply “keep calm and carry on”
- What to do when the hype dies down
- How not to get bitten in your career
- How to get the most out of your team
The details are:
Wednesday, Jan. 19, at 11:30 a.m.
The Curtis Hotel, 1405 Curtis St., Denver, CO 80202
$35 for PRSA Colorado chapter members; $49 for guests and $30 for students
Menezes Joins Research Firm
Bill Menezes has joined the research firm One Touch Intelligence. He formerly was with VisiTech PR.
Sprocket Lands Two New Clients, Hires One
Sprocket Communications has landed two new clients – Shanahan’s Steakhouse and medical marijuana center The Clinic. Sprocket also added Lauren Butts, who previously worked at Aiello Public Relations and Marketing and Donate Life Ohio.
Hernandez Joins Jackson National Life Insurance
Melissa Hernandez has joined Jackson National Life Insurance as a media relations specialist. Prior to joining Jackson, Hernandez was a senior account executive at Christopherson & Co. Communications in Greenwood Village and a contractor for Pushkin Public Relations in Denver.
Congratulations to SE2’s Kurz, Guttmann
The SE2 2029 intern class just got bigger with the births of Emerson Blanche Kurz (Sarah Kurz) and Asher James Guttmann (Amy Guttmann).
Scott McInnis Finally Wins One
The votes have been tallied and Westword’s “Shmuck of the Year” is … failed gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis. Probably not the consolation prize he was looking for, but at least he finally won something.
Linhart Celebrates 15 Years
Happy 15th anniversary to Linhart Public Relations.