Now Appearing...Crisis Insurance
In this litigious society, nothing surprises us, including this news bit: American International Group, Inc., New York, reports that the American International Companies have premiered Law FirmCrisisFund.
It provides up to $10,000 for retaining crisis management consultants to help quash the impact of certain business developments. They include: the death of a partner, group practice head or major shareholder; bankruptcy; the disability of a principal exec or the closing of an office due to a fire or natural disaster. (AIG, 212/770-3141)
New CARMA/Capitol Hill Software Venture
Media analysis company CARMA International, Washington, D.C., and software firm Capitol Hill Software, which developed PROffice, have teamed up to offer clients the opportunity to immediately access relevant trends through PROffice's software capabilities. The list management database allows PR pros to target media outlets and contacts based on automated analyses. Costs vary according to client specifications. (CARMA, 202/842-1818)
An Idea We Like: Client Wrapup
Communications management firm Wixted*Pope*Nora & Associates, Chicago, lets the press in on work it's doing for clients in one of the most concise and proficient ways we've seen.
Instead of faxing pages and pages of news, it sends a one-page summary with bulleted descriptions of its PR work during the past quarter. (WPN, 312/280-9280)
On the Radar Screen: Expert Promotes Interviews & Bashes the Media At the Same Time
Ever wonder what sources do when they're quoted in journalists' stories? Mohan Sawhney, a professor of marketing at Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management archives stories that's he's mentioned in on his Web site: http://www.129.105.198.25/myweb/press/htm. And ironically, even though he's created a virtual vault (code: promotional PR for him) through writers' words about him, his online list of articles includes the qualifier that he's "often quoted out of context."
We guess murky ink is better than no ink.
Industry Developments
- Peter Land, the NBA's director of marketing communications, has left to take a job as co-GM and executive VP of Edelman's Creative Solutions unit. He will be based in New York and replaces Jody Quinn who takes on the newly created role of director of client development for creative solutions. (Edelman, 312/240-2658)
- Churchill Group, Houston, won a new account based on a joint venture between Shell Oil Co. and Texaco Inc. Churchill will handle PR for the national rollout for Equilon Enterprise LLC., a combination of Shell's and Texaco's Western and Midwestern U.S. refining and marketing business and its nationwide trading, transportation and lubricants business. (Churchill, 713/622-3721)
- Christian Nike rejoins The Benjamin Group, Campbell, Calif., as director after serving as the account supervisor responsible for Microsoft's Developer Tools Division. She comes from Waggener-Edstrom. (TBG, 408/559-6090)
- Ambit Marketing Communications, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., has relocated. Its new address: AMC, 2455 E. Sunrise Blvd., Suite 711, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 33304; ph: 954/568-2100; fax: 954/568-2888.
Your Career: New Job Service
The Orange County, Calif., chapter of the Public Relations Society of America is revamping its job opportunities services with new technology. The service includes listings in the quarterly job bank newsletter, e-mail notification to Orange County members and listings in the chapter's monthly online newsletter, For Immediate Release. The E-mail blast is sent to PRSA members as soon as a prospective employer decides to list an opportunity in one of the newsletters. Sometimes the blast is sent with two job postings per day, says Tim Butler, an account executive with Greenlight Communications who helped develop the program. (Tim Butler, Greenlight, 714/719-6400.)