Industry News - PRNEWS

On the Radar Screen

Seahawks Owner Funds Web Site; Does Seagram Need To Stem Employee Concerns?

We've come across well-entrenched and successful companies that don't even foster this kind of constituent dialogue with the simplest of online PR, much less diagrams. But Paul G. Allen, owner of the Seattle Seahawks, is privately funding a new Web site, http://www.firstandgoal.com, launched last week to build a following for Seattle's yet-to-be-completed stadium and exhibition center.

The site includes video renderings on the new facilities, architectural plans and community-based news.

The Web venture is among the efforts of a 12-person team at Allen's management firm, First & Goal, Inc., Bellevue, Wash., to promote the $400 million football/soccer stadium.

We're giving firstandgoal.com an atta boy for having the ingenuity to attract a troupe of fans long before the ticket sales office is up and running for the season. (First & Goal, 425/990-7000)

Edgar Bronfman Jr., president and CEO of entertainment/beverage company Seagram Co. in Montreal must have been a bit chagrined by the March 9 issue of The Delaney Report which quoted an unnamed Seagram source saying: "[SC] is closing floors left and right at headquarters. Everyone is distraught, waiting to see who gets fired."

But Seagram's Director of Internal Communications Ron Martin told PR NEWS last week that this isn't "an accurate report" and that the company's employee communications is thriving - in fact, it's in the final stages of an intranet that it worked on for 36 months. Even if this isn't the scenario at Seagram, the PR lesson remains: When your company is being restructured, make sure you communicate why - not just what - changes are being made. And don't let comments lobbed by employees stand alone: set up a hotline to gauge what rumors exist. (Seagram, 212/572-7288)

Chicken of the Sea Wants To Be Cyber Ruler Too

Up to 7,500 people per day are visiting http://www.chickenofthesea.com, a 200-page Web site that's one of the PR catches of the moment. Yahoo named it a daily pick Feb 25., says Brian Kent, CEO of Inspired Arts Digital Media Group, San Diego, which developed the "six-figure" site whose URL is on more than 400 million cans of seafood. True to its brand marketing, visitors are greeted with the familiar "Ask any mermaid" jingle. (Inspired, 619/623-3525)

Corporate Community Relations Includes Internal CR Structure

The implementation of an internal community relations structure and the development of a program that meshes corporate concerns with community issues must be part of a community relations plan, according to the Boston College Center for Corporate Community Relations. The center is asking company CEOs to adopt such standards based on its analysis of 11 community relations plans by companies like Eli Lilly and The Pillsbury Co. (Boston College Center for Corp. Comm. Relations, 617/552-8668)

Business Moves

CCBN, a provider of Internet-based shareholder communication services, has joined with BusinessWire. It's furnishing Corporate News on the Net clients with stock quotes, an interactive stock chart and enhanced SEC filings. (BusinessWire, 212/752-9600)

Michael Wong, formerly executive director of corporate communications at Forrest International, a financial communications firm, joins Edelman Financial Worldwide as managing director of its Asian business, a newly created position. He will be based in Hong Kong. (Edelman, 212/704-8140)

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