PRNewser Gets New Digs!

That’s right folks, “mama bistro” as our sister blog AgencySpy likes to call her, has decided to move us on over to the main site. Starting today, catch us at www.prnewser.com. Let us know what you think of the new feel.

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Ben Affleck, John Mayer, Non-profits and the Media Hit the Sunshine and Sachs Holiday Bash

Top shelf booze and tuna tartar flowed freely last night at the annual movable media feast that is the Ken Sunshine holiday party, or, the Ken Sunshine & Shawn Sachs party as this is the first year Ken is hosting with a partner.

With a last-minute change (jokingly pawned off as a smokescreen to keep Rudy Giuliani from crashing) the party landed at Meatpacking hotspot One Little West 12th.

I spoke to the gregarious Sachs about the ‘plan’ for a party that put Ben Affleck, Pat O’Brien, John Mayer, media elite including Page6’s Paula Froelich & Bill Hoffman, the News’ George Rush, and GMA’s Monica Escobedo in the same mix as clients 1199SEIU, America’s Second Harvest, New York Organ Donor Network, Do Something and the Transit Workers Union.

(Hoffman, incidentally was overheard talking about the great items publicists could be pitching from books and such but don’t, and that “a lot of flacks should be sent to flack school.”)

According to Sachs, “It’s simple really, we let the staff invite whoever they want from the different parts of the business. Some agency holiday parties are staff only, we open it up to everyone, including other PR people we know. Other agencies have staff-only parties. Who needs to spend more time with people from the office?”

The other benefit beyond plying the media with posh nightclub surroundings is putting like-minded clients together, Sachs continued. “The Second Harvest people talked to Do Something about the current food shortage. They’re meeting today to see how they can raise awareness together.”

Others confirmed on the scene were Access Hollywood producer Jennifer Zweben, Pete Shapiro, former owner of the Wetlands, and new owner of Brooklyn Bowl, GMA’s publicist Bridgette Maney, and of course our boss, mediabistro.com founder Laurel Touby.

Free Webinars Next Week on Social Media

Itching to build your own Social Media News Release (SMNR) the way the Canadian Social Media Group did for the Ford Focus?

Then hurry up and click here to register for a very limited webinar on the basics of the SMNR hosted by Shannon Whitley next Wednesday. There are less than 20 spots available. We heard about this one through the New Media Release Google Group.

Shannon promises to “go over the fundamental structure of the SHIFT template, ending with a quick demo through PRX Builder.”

If you’re looking for a soup-to-nuts look at social media, check out the Horn Group’s overview webinar on Tuesday (Horn is my co-editor Joe’s employer)
The full description after the jump:

WSJ’s Kara Swisher Honored By PRSA, Video Blogs From Event

The female half of AllThingsD, Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal was recently honored PRSA’s Silicon Valley Chapter.  While she was there, she shot a video featuring Brandee Barker, head of Facebook PR, who Kara reports, had a “harrowing day handling Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes,” which is doing a piece on the social-networking site with an apparent focus on–also, of course–privacy); the impact of the possibly looming recession on tech; Apple’s iPhone (of course, of course); Google (triple of course); the resurgence of the enterprise space; and the fate of Yahoo.”

Brandee basically gave a gracious “no comment,” and we can’t say we blame her.   Kara goes on to say to Robert Scoble, “being honored by public relations officials is kinda like code word to annoy us all night with pitches, right?”  You are soooo on to us, Kara!

Show PRNewser Some Holiday Love!

 
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It’s barely 9am ET and a quick traffic check shows that you folks are up early today. On a Friday, nonetheless.  Keep at it, early birds! 

While we’ve received a few notes about PR and media related holiday parties this week, we’re looking for more.  Send us a tip about your party.  Where/when is it? How’d it go? Open bar not “open” enough? You can always email us: prnewser at mediabistro dot com, or send anonymous tips here.  Happy holidays!

PR Newser Party Crash: Kelton Research

Ok, so we didn’t crash the party, we were invited.  Kelton Research threw a party Tuesday night to celebrate being named the nation’s “fastest growing market research consultancy,” as a result of their No. 861 placement on the influential Inc. 5000 list.

The company provides research and a lot more for PR agencies and clients including Whole Foods, IBM and Ticketmaster.  We caught up with founder Gareth Schweitzer and NY office principal Nathan Richter (who is also a mediabistro instructor). Pics and more after the jump.

Johnson & Johnson VP: Integrated Marketing Needs to be Improved

mediabistro.com managing editor Rebecca Fox is down in sunny Florida covering the American Magzine Conference. She reports from the panel, “Will Marketing Ever Be Integrated? An Agency/Client Perspective,” which was moderated by Ad Age editor-in-chief Jonah Bloom, and included Deirdre Bigley, VP of worldwide advertising and interactive at IBM; Brian Perkins, corporate VP of corporate affairs at Johnson & Johnson; and Scott Neslund, CEO, Mindshare America.

What did Brian Perkins, VP of Corporate Affairs at Johnson & Johnson, say about the state of integrated marketing and whether ad and pr agencies can get along?