odwyers-magazine-july-2014

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SPECIAL REPORT PR group makes $1.2 million plea for Nigeria Washington, DC-based Levick is attempting to build support for Nigeria’s effort to “find and safely return” the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in April by terrorist group Boko Haram, according to its $1.2 million contract. By Kevin McCauley The kidnapping focused international media attention on the basic ability of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to control his massive, oil-rich country. Nigeria was roundly criticized for its initial reluctance to accept outside help in tracking down and recovering the children. The BBC on June 25 ran an op-ed called “Does Nigeria Have an Image Problem” The article ridiculed Nigeria for believing such a plea for foreign assistance to help its “clearly overwhelmed armed forces” might affect its image. Jonathan on June 26 broke his silence about the missing girls via an op-ed piece in the Washington Post titled “Nothing is more important than bringing home Nigeria’s missing girls.” Levick’s pact calls for “assisting the government’s efforts to mobilize international support in fighting Islamic breakaway group Boko Haram as part of the greater global war on terror.” It is charged with communicating Jonathan’s “past, present and future priority to foster transparency, democracy and the rule of law throughout Nigeria.” Levick has partnered with Jared Genser, Managing Director of Perseus Strategies, and Founder of Freedom Now, a non-profit that works to free prisoners of conscience. Meanwhile on June 25, a bomb detonated in a crowded shopping center in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. It killed at least 22 and wounded dozens of others. Boko Haram is suspected of planting this device. In November, the U.S. State Dept. designated Boko Haram a terrorist organization. £ Google content update hits newswires PR Newswire has now imposed stricter guidelines to root out “low quality content” and will crack down on releases focused more on gaming search engines than providing useful information. By Greg Hazley Google sent tremors through press release services with its Panda 4.0 update in May. The Panda update was intended to ensure that authentic, quality content makes it way to the top of Internet search results, over spam and junk results. A study by Seer Interactive on May 29 claims Google dropped the search rankings on millions of individual press releases online, particularly those published by Vocus’ PRweb.com. PR Newswire Senior VP Jason Edelboim said the recent update to Google’s algorithm amounts to a “technology-based editorial guidelines for content quality.” He said PRN editorial staff will review releases for analysis and original content, use of varied formats rather than template copy, length to cut down on short releases intended only as link-bait, and overuse of keywords. Sarah Skerik, VP of Strategic Communications for PR Newswire, said in a June 20 blog post that an audit of PRN’s site after the Google update identified spam press releases garnering substantial traffic because of “black hat” SEO tactics. Skerik said most of PR Newswire’s customers will not be affected by the beefed up content guidelines and stressed that, in addition to the millions of visitors to its website, the company’s proprietary distribution network reaches a large global audience. The Panda 4.0 update also whacked results from popular sites like eBay and ask.com. £ 8 JULY <strong>2014</strong> 4 WWW.ODWYERPR.COM
Mayor de Blasio gets louder PR bullhorn New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who rose to power largely due to his “tale of two cities” inequality theme, is now taking his message on the road. By Kevin McCauley The 53-year-old Democrat June 22 earned the Chairman post at the newly created Cities of Opportunity Task Force of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The post gives deBlasio a national platform to speak up for the 99% crowd. The panel is empowered to develop “aggressive equity agendas” around deBlasio’s campaign platform of higher minimum wage, affordable housing and universal pre-K access. In accepting the post, de Blasio said the task force “is going to organize the progressive ideas coming out of cities across the US, and put city issues back on the national agenda.” The task force penciled an August 10- 11 kick-off meetings in New York. The Conference says it’s a bipartisan entity consisting of the leaders of about 1,400 cities with populations of at least 30,000. The breadth and reach of that organization may soon be an irritant to the onepercent crowd, which deBlasio has pushed to “pay their fair share.” The Mayor has been at loggerheads with political rival/Wall Street friendly Governor of New York State Andrew Cuomo, who has his eye on the White House. Both politicos will support Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee for the 2016 presidential nomination. Post-Hillary, it’s a wide-open race between the two men. As mayor of the nation’s media capital, de Blasio enjoys a publicity Bill de Blasio. advantage over Cuomo. Queens-born Cuomo owns the Albany media market. de Blasio names PR Chief de Blasio has named Andrea Hagelgans Director of Agency Communications to handle his ties with various municipal units and his cabinet. Hagelgans was at Camino Public Relations and handled Planned Parenthood’s high-profile response to the decision of Susan G. Komen’s Foundation to pull funding. Chelsea-based Camino works for nonprofit working on progressive issues. Earlier, Hagelgans was deputy press secretary for NYC’s campaign finance board. The Mayor said in a statement that he expects the new hire “will help our cabinet and agencies clearly communicate this administration’s vision and policies to the people of NYC.” £ JULY <strong>2014</strong> 3 WWW.ODWYERPR.COM 9
Page 1: Communications & new media July 201
Page 4: Vol. 28, No. 7 July 2014 EDITORIAL
Page 10: FEATURE Industry shifts are changin
Page 13 and 14: Adjusting to tomorrow’s travelers
Page 15 and 16: Amenities abound for new generation
Page 17 and 18: Why driving revenue is all that mat
Page 19 and 20: College pals head fast-growing trav
Page 21 and 22: photo opportunities, games and food
Page 23 and 24: PROFILES OF TRAVEL & TOURISM PR FIR
Page 36 and 37: OPINION Professional Development Ob
Page 38 and 39: OPINION Renegotiating paid PR editi
Page 40 and 41: WASHINGTON REPORT Koch Industries t
Page 42: PR Buyer’s Guide To be featured i

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