PhillyInc

Some shuffling at Digitas Health, formerly called Medical Broadcasting Inc., whose founder, David Kramer, sold to Digitas last year. See press release here.

David Brown, president of BrownPartners, a minority-owned advertising firm specializing in marketing to people of color, will be inducted in the Philadelphia Public Relations Association’s Hall of Fame today. Speaking at the event will be U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah and cartoonist Robb Armstrong. Brown grew up in West Philadelphia, where he survived a drive-by shooting. As proof that even people with journalism degrees can get religion, Brown has a master’s degree in theology and has been commissioned as a Methodist minister. An assistant professor at the University of the Arts, Brown is the first African-American to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 25 years. - Jane M. Von Bergen

"What if the color of your teeth affected whether or not you were hired? What if it influenced your salary? What if your white smile made people trust you more?

"Well, it does. A new study conducted by Kelton Research and overseen by Smile Psychologist Dr. Dacher Keltner was recently released, proving that people are more likely to get the job offer and even earn more money just because their teeth are whiter. The study found that 58% of participants were more likely to be hired and 53% of participants were given higher starting salary offers after whitening their teeth."

Ok, give the marketers at P&G an C for cleverness. But what we'd really love to see is an ad-campaign-dressed-up-as-research on something that actually increases our knowledge about business and contributes to world peace. How about, "Do whiter teeth lead to greater labor productivity?" Or "What is the correlation between corporate back-stabbing and really big incisors?" Or, "How many people know what :) means and can we sell them some toothpaste?" Really. - Thomas Ginsberg

Last week, we asked PhillyInc readers whether this year's Philly tourism-promotion commercial, with its cool theme and hip-looking actors, is better than last year's comic musical-theme commercial. This year's campaign reportedly cost a little less and we wondered whether the city got its money's worth. Well, by a significant margin, the favorite was this year's spot:

A list of all Philly locations shown is the film is here, courtesy of GPTMC.

We also would emphasize that the No. 2 choice was "neither so good." (See last year's spot here on YouTube.) Not sure what that means. There were relatively few total votes (just 95). Here's the full results:

In any case, we used the opportunity to ask the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp., a nonprofit city-chartered agency, about the way it makes commercials and how it chooses themes. The Q&A is below.

At this level, Gus could be costing the state more than outfielder Pat Burrell costs the Phillies ($13.2 million) and quarterback Donovan McNabb costs the Eagles ($4 million) combined, according to ESPN.com and Fox Sports.com. Gus, though, seems to earn his keep. During the last fiscal year, lottery sales hit a record $3.07 billion, up more than $1 billion in the four years since Gus first entered the minds and maybe the hearts of Pennsylvanians. Sales of the instant tickets that Gus pitches hit a record $1.7 billion.

Advertising Week says Marc USA beat two other ad agencies for the contract. No names given. Perhaps one of them was Philadelphia-based Tierney Communications? Marc USA had taken over the contract in 2003 from Tierney Communications (founded by Brian P. Tierney, now CEO and publisher of the Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns this blog.) Tierney Communications had challenged the 2003 decision, to no avail. The Post-Gazette reports that the firm says it's not going challenge the decision this time.

- Jonathan Berr

Imagine the confusion. Driving home late at night, bleary-eyed from too much time at the office, too much time looking at the computer. There's a billboard up ahead, and if anything, it's something to notice, something, at best, to relieve the highway monotony during a boring commute.

You blink. The same billboard is different -- different colors, different message, maybe even a different product. Yikes, you think. Too many late nights. Time for a vacation and it couldn't come soon enough.

OK, worry about working too hard, but don't worry about the billboard. You may be seeing the latest wrinkle in outdoor advertising technology -- the electronic digital billboard. It uses LED technology. The images shift every eight seconds, but there is no movement or flashing. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. (NYSE:COO) will soon install eight of them in the Philadelphia area. On a drive-by, these billboards look like any other. But advertisers can remotely and instantaneously change messages -- no need to wait for a crew to scrape off one sign and install another. Blink.

That capacity can be useful in an emergency, the Phoenix-based company said. In Minneapolis, after the bridge collapsed, billboards quickly carried messages warning the traveling public about the danger.

The company has installed 76 of these billboards around the country in 14 markets and was supposed to put some of them up around here today. The rain put the kabosh on that plan.

Here are three questions:

1. Why delay so long in bringing this technology to Philadelphia? Maybe Akron, Ohio was an easier sell.
2. What will happen to all the employees -- and businesses -- that make their livelihoods by changing the signs on billboards?
3. Will these signs distract drivers?

- Jane M. Von Bergen

Not a good news day for Robert M. Jelenic, chair and chief executive of the Journal Register company (NYSE:JRC). The Yardley publisher of newspapers in the Mid-Atlantic states, including the Daily Local Times, Pottstown Mercury, Trentonian and the Main Line Times, learned that Moody's Investors Service has placed all ratings of the company under review for possible downgrades. Approximately $950 million in rated debt securities are affected. Net income in the company's most recent quarter dropped to 5.5 million from 9.8 million a year ago. Revenues also declined from $131.8 million to $120.7 million in that same period, due to a drop in advertising sales. Moody's will calculate the likelihood that Journal Register will be able to reverse two years' worth of quarterly sales declines.
- Jane M. Von Bergen

Nothing angers the bloglodites more than "astroturf." (Our theory is that the reason blogs are so popular is that everyone likes using the lingo -- it's more fun than the actual content, as often as not.) And, then again, Comcast Corp. (NASD:CMCSA) has an ability to anger cable TV subscribers just on general principle. Combine astroturf and Comcast and it really gets to be juicily nasty.

Astroturf is a blog term for what appears to be an online grassroots movement by the people, but is instead a phony version of a grassroots movement created by the publicist. That's a no-no on the Web. In this case, it appeared to bloggers that Comcast was laying down some astroturf to defend its bargaining position with the Big Ten Network.

The Big Ten Network, which will officially launch on Thursday, promises to broadcast nearly three dozen Big Ten college football games along with dozens of college basketball matches and other sports. Comcast says that's a network for a niche audience of sports junkies and should be part of a sports package that costs extra for cable subscribers. Big Ten says that not only should its network be part of the basic tier package, but Comcast should pay it $1.10 per subscriber. Comcast said that's too high.

Big Ten fans have been howling -- in the blogosphere as well as everywhere else -- that Comcast is pricing them out of their passion. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney has been on their side. But last week, an online commenter, labeled Victory4MSU20, trashed Delaney in comments posted on Big Ten fan Web sites. After referring to the "BigTen greedmongers," Victory4MSU20 urged posters to check out puttingfansfirst.com for the real story. That site is financed by Comcast.

A site administrator pinged (another great blog word!!!) Victory4MSU20 and found it came from Martin Waymire Advocacy Communications, a Lansing, Michigan public relations agency working for Comcast. Its job is to help Comcast to steer web crawlers to the PuttingFansFirst Web site. Yikes, astroturf! Major no-no, and Spartan Tailgate.com, the fan Web site for Michigan State, was not pleased.

Agency partner Dan Waymire told Multichannel News, an industry Web site, that the posting didn't come from the agency itself, but from an employee -- a Big Ten fan -- who was not aware of the agency's online policies. Waymire said Comcast was definitely not in the astroturf business and had nothing to do with the posting.

Hmmmm.

- Jane M. Von Bergen

What's the price of a good name?

About 6 and a half cents.

That's the new lower price per name that Mothers Work (NASDAQ:MWRK) is touting to companies that want to use its customer list to send junk mail (or as they put it. "partner messages") to pregnant women and new moms.

In a press release, Mothers Work, the Philadelphia-based designer, manufacturer and retailer of maternity clothes proudly announces a new lower base price of $65 per thousand names on its ‘Families Masterfile’ and ‘Children’s Birthdays’ mailing lists.

Here's how the press release quotes Rebecca Matthias, president of Mothers Work, talking about the list: (For best effect, read out loud breathlessly, but sincerely, trying to avoid an ironic tone for prenatal channels -- is that some kind of reverse delivery?)

“Dressing over 2.8 million pregnant women each year, A Pea in the Pod, Mimi Maternity, Motherhood Maternity and Destination Maternity are the experts when it comes to reaching both the expectant mom and the new mom. Our partners continually find success in acquiring new customers through the premier prenatal and new parent channels. We have an extensive database ideal for direct marketers of all kinds, especially now for those marketing to new parents and families with children who are hungry for information at this critical life-stage!”

The release makes the point that all the people opted in to be on the list, which is being managed by Adrea Rubin Management, Inc. Particularly enticing is the prenatal hotline list (Mothers Work Families Masterfile) monthly of over 100,000 Mothers Work customers that can be sliced and diced by age and income and mail order data - even by Hispanic name.

If the "partners" don't want to send junk mail, they can also talk to MothersWork about its customer gift bag program or gift card, delivered to the 2.8 million "newly forming households" shopping at Mothers Work stores annually.

- Jane M. Von Bergen

Two powerful brands with strong ties to the Philadelphia region have been front and center in the news last week: The Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) and Commerce Bank (NYSE: CPH). Both events have important marketing implications.

Last Monday it was announced that Hershey’s CEO Richard H. Lenny would be retiring at the end of this year. That story was eclipsed when TD Bank Financial Group the following day announced it was acquiring South Jersey-based Commerce Bancorp. The first story was a mild surprise; the second was not, given the departure of founder Vernon Hill this summer, although the identity of the acquirer was somewhat of a surprise.

Siemens AG’s (NYSE: SI) Malvern division is getting into the online video craze. It is holding a contest to give away, free, one of its newly developed Magnetom Essenza Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems to any small U.S. hospital without its own MRI that produces the best self- promotional video, as judged by online viewers. "E.R." wannabees are welcome. Siemens told us that the device normally would fetch between $800,000 and $1 million. So figure that's the promotional cost of this innovative product launch: Siemens is inviting hospitals to stuff the ballot and promote their entries in the Siemens' MRI contest to local media and anybody who can click a mouse. So far about 15 videos have been posted at www.winanMRI.com. Watch out "Scrubs," a few are actually pretty funny.

- Thomas Ginsberg

Jim Rohr, the chief executive of PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC), and PNC's regional president, Bill Mills, today are unveiling an infusion of funds to support a pilot math curriculum at the North Philadelphia Head Start Program, part of the bank's $100 million decade-long charitable effort. That's great. But there's something else interesting here: the bank is specifically tying its action to calls to fulfill the hopes of the 1997 volunteer summit. Its spokesman Edward Kozmor attached the following note to the top of the press release to Inquirer reporters:

One business angle stems from a commentary that ran in the Inquirer last Thursday: "Ideas on easing poverty reflect a sense of its burden on Phila.," by Douglas Pike. Look at the background material below and I'll think you will find a good story that answers some of the questions posed by Mr. Pike's commentary.

It's telling that anti-poverty and community-building concerns may now constitute a hook for publicity about corporate charity efforts. PNC's donations (evidently a long time in the works and part of a broader charitable vision) happen to come as people seem to be making more noise about local businesses' role in fighting Philadelphia violence and poverty. This past week, organizers of the "Call to Action" anti-violence program, including A. Bruce Crawley, pleaded specifically for "corporate Philadelphia" to support them. And today, Lynne Korman Honickman -- the philanthropist and wife of retired bottling kingpin Harold Honickman -- has launched a new city campaign against gun violence. It's enough to make one wonder: Does the city need some kind of summit meeting again, this time to coordinate these disparate efforts of businesses and activists?

- Thomas Ginsberg

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. has jumped hard on the environmental bandwagon, and actually acquired a legal trademark for the name "Green Branch." This is a telling, though perhaps logical, result of environmentalism's new cache in corporate marketing and growth strategies. PNC announced the moniker last week to drive home its claim to have more numerous "certified environmentally friendly buildings than any other company on Earth." The bank said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted its request because, essentially, it's a term few others would commonly use about a bank. At least in environmental terms. Plenty are named for green things (Valley Green Bank in Chestnut Hill, for instance.) Some color themselves green (Citizens Bank, for instance). But PNC went further, even if it couldn't grab the ultimate prize: "Green Bank" is a name already owned by Green Bancorp Inc. of Houston, says the trademark office.

- Thomas Ginsberg

PennPIRG, the national public-interest group's Pennsylvania state chapter, whose director is James Browning, has sent out a statement asserting that a national study of state-government Web sites reveals "how far Pennsylvania lags behind the forefront of this national trend."

Not that we're huge fans of the site and haven't cursed it from time to time, but this seemed excessive. So we looked at the report by a PIRG-sympathetic group called Good Jobs First, and we see that Pennsylvania actually got a better grade than most other states. It ranks not below the national trend, but above it by a healthy margin. (See page 3-4 in this summary). Pennsylvania and New Jersey had average scores of 73 percent each, tied for 12th place among 50 states, while the national average was 60 percent. OK, all the states' may stink in their online offerings and disclosures of contracts and lobbying. But even by that standard, Pennsylvania and New Jersey stank less than most others in the group's study.

Then we wondered why PIRG dissed Pennsylvania so erroneously. We dug around and discovered that PennPIRG’s press release was actually a boilerplate document used almost word-for-word by at least two other chapters, MarylandPIRG and Massachusetts PIRG. Each press release uses the same "lag" wording. And the three we read even used the same quotation -- "Transparency is necessary to keep a watchful eye on the public purse" -- attributed to three different people: PennPIRG's Browning, MassPIRG legislative director Deirdre Cummings, and MarylandPIRG policy advocate Johanna Neumann. The PennPIRG version didn't even bother to change the Browning's pronoun from "she" to "he" in his quote.

We left a phone message for Browning today but he hasn't returned it yet.

This "boilerplating" or "cookie-cutting" of news releases seems to be getting more common. It may be cost-efficient for P.R. agencies trying to kill several birds with one stone, so to speak. But do they think reporters won't realize it? Or that it doesn't matter? We've said it before and we’ll say it again: It hurts your credibility and your message.

- Thomas Ginsberg

Following up on our boilerplate press release post yesterday, James Browning, director of PennPIRG, got back to us yesterday evening. We told him that Pennsylvania, contrary to his statement that it "lags" the national trend, actually is ahead of the national average in the study. He paused, then said:

"PennPIRG has been calling for greater accountability by the state, to know how tax dollars are spent, and sunshine is the best antidote for [problems]."

He continued: "In making the argument for Pennsylvania to do more, and in talking about this with (PIRG chapters in) other states, the argument we're making is it's not keeping up with the latest technology in this area. Given the great possibilities of the Internet, it lags behind other states."

We responded that we completely agree that disclosure and sunshine are crucial and noted we work for a publication (The Inquirer) that has actively lobbied for strong sunshine laws. But we pointed out, again, that the study does not support his use of the term "lag" for Pennsylvania and is ranked next to New Jersey in the study at No. 12 nationwide.

He said: "The state making improvement is New Jersey. ... Jersey has made improvements recently. The argument is keeping up with the joneses."

Not getting anywhere. So we switched and asked why his press release seems to be a boilerplate statement used by several states. It uses an identical quotation attributed to several PIRG directors in different states, and even uses the pronoun "she" instead of "he" in his own case. So was that really his quotation?

Browning: "I certainly talk to other PIRG people on these trends. There were conservations about the issue. ... My thoughts and PennPIRG's statement is here. ... I stand by this statement. ... My predecessor was female, and I have a couple former press releases from her. ... That's just a typo. ... It's just my mistake -- it has nothing to do with this issue."

The issue? OK, I asked again how PIRG can advance this issue by claiming something -- Pennsylvania lagging the nation -- that its own evidence doesn't support?

Browning: "Our position on 'lagging' is there's a lot more that needs to be done that Pennsylvania is not doing."

Will let this speak for itself. We would note that the last time we wailed on somebody for boilerplating their press releases, they owned up to it quickly.)

- Thomas Ginsberg

PR Newswire, one of the primary pipelines for press releases, has been scrambling to apologize for a gaffe committed by one of its staffers yesterday.

Huge numbers of press releases from companies, governments and nonprofit organizations flow through the PR Newswire system each day. Editors and reporters often judge a press release by its name, or "slug" in journalism-ese. Most barely warrant a raised eyebrow.

However, on Monday, the service sent out a press release about a rally at Broad and Snyder in the city today at noon by a coalition of homeless advocacy organizations.

The slug? "loony-bin-rally."

At 10 this morning, PR Newswire issued the following:

PR Newswire deeply regrets an error that occurred yesterday in a news release, re-sent below. A PR Newswire staff member incorrectly slugged the release "loony bin rally." PR Newswire understands that such terminology feeds the prejudice and discrimination associated with mental illnesses and will take steps to ensure that nothing like this occurs in the future.

Dan Gross, of the Philadelphia Daily News, says the female staffer was fired.

All of which brings up the question: Have you seen similar instances of lack of judgment in your workplaces? Career-ending lack of judgment? If so, send a comment.

- Mike Armstrong

Susan Rogers, of the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, wants to make sure everyone understands that PR Newswire was immediately responsive after being made aware of the use of "loony-bin-rally" in a slug line.

In an e-mail, Rogers says:

Besides issuing the apology and re-running the press release, they are not charging us the $295 that the press release would normally have cost to send out. They also said they would consider our recommendation that they develop policies spelling out acceptable language and to possibly institute staff sensitivity training and education around mental health issues, which I said we would be happy to help with. So they have done everything they could to make up for the actions of the fired staffer.

Rogers said PR Newswire told Mental Health Association officials that the business provides "extensive training on appropriate workplace standards." She said that they circulate an in-house newsletter that deals with "a wide range of health issues, including mental health."

The association has worked with the press release delivery service for "many years, and this is the first time anything like this has happened," Rogers said.

- Mike Armstrong

Another "vote" for Arbitron's electronic ratings service.

Entercom Communications Corp. , the Bala Cynwyd-based owner of 64 radio stations around the United States, has signed a contract to use the New York company Portable People Meter service that measures listenership.

While advertisers favor the electronic system over the traditional paper diaries, the system has been controversial. Radio station operators, especially those in large markets, have complained about both the size of the sample audiences being measured and their diversity.

People meters have been used in the Philadelphia market for more than a year. Entercom does not own any stations locally.

- Mike Armstrong

Ever wonder how much you are worth to marketers?

An unsolicited email from a database company provides some answers. The company, from California, sent along its price list.

Judging by the list, names of Canadian certified financial planners, architects, librarians and "property management decision makers" are worth more than the names of chief executives and presidents.

A database of 4,000 "property management decision makers," is available for $2,000. That's 50 cents a name. By contrast, databases with 30,000 chief executives and presidents, or 30,000 finance executives can be bought for $3,000 each, or 10 cents a CEO.
- Jane M. Von Bergen