life:
Happy birthday, Brooklyn Bridge!
Today we celebrate the remarkable Brooklyn landmark turning 130.
(Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)
The Boy Scouts of America has lifted its ban on gay scouts, but the group maintained its ban on openly gay troop leaders. While the decision is considered a breakthrough, it drew criticism from gay rights advocates, who vowed to continue pressing the BSA to allow gay members of all ages.
FleishmanHillard threw an event last night at the Strand Hotel in New York to celebrate its rebranding. Last month, the agency rebranded to position itself as a fully integrated communications firm.
Top left: FleishmanHillard CEO Dave Senay; top right: Eastern region president Robert Dowling
Procter & Gamble replaced CEO Robert McDonald (left) with predecessor AG Lafley (right) on Thursday evening in what The Wall Street Journal called “a signal of the urgency the company feels to get sales growing faster and fire up its pipeline of new products.”
Hedge fund manager William Ackman, who owns nearly 28 million shares of P&G, had recently criticized McDonald over the company’s performance. Ackman said McDonald was distracted by other responsibilities outside the company.
P&G reorganized its communications function last May when longtime global external relations officer Chris Hassall retired after nearly three decades at the company. It placed Marc Pritchard, P&G’s global marketing and brand building officer, in charge of the revamped communications practice at that time.
Edelman senior content producer and strategist Marisa Biaggi appeared on the May 14 episode of Food Network cooking competition show Chopped. The show, which challenges chefs to cook an entire meal from appetizer to dessert using mystery ingredients, invited amateur cooks to compete. Spoiler alert: Marisa took home the big prize of $10,000. Congrats!
"It’s less about who you know, because who you know keeps changing."
— Bo Park, MD at ICR, in this week’s analysis on how today’s media landscape has changed the way PR pros build relationships with journalists.
PRWeek editor-in-chief Steve Barrett sits down with Ketchum CEO Rob Flaherty to discuss the agency’s 90-year heritage and plans for the future.
Golfer Sergio Garica apologized to Tiger Woods for commenting that he would serve fried chicken if they were to have dinner, which was construed as a racial joke. Garcia’s sponsor TaylorMade-adidas said in a statement, “Sergio Garcia’s recent comment was offensive and in no way aligns with TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s values and corporate culture.”
On this week’s podcast, the PRWeek team discusses Walmart, Hershey’s, Oklahoma tornado, HomeGoods, and Yahoo’s Tumblr acquisition.
Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries, who issued an apology statement on May 17 for offensive comments made in a 2006 interview where he said the brand only markets to “cool, good-looking people,” has apologized again after a flood of criticism from consumers and celebrities.
On Wednesday, teen activists who started a Change.org petition for Abercrombie to expand its clothing sizes traveled to Columbus, OH, to protest at the company’s headquarters. Since the petition started on May 8, more than 70,000 people have signed it. Abercrombie has responded by saying it looks forward to “continuing this dialogue and taking concrete steps to demonstrate our commitment to anti-bullying, in addition to our ongoing support of diversity and inclusion.”
