Washingtonian Media will launch a new magazine aimed at chic, educated, modern mothers in the DC area. The first issue will appear on newsstands on August 27. Washingtonian Bride & Groom editor Kate Bennett and the award-winning creative team at Design Army will produce the new magazine.

Join us for a breakfast seminar on June 12 that will help you make the most of your marketing with strategic partnerships.  From initial strategy to campaign execution (and everything in between), Great Marketers Don’t Work Alone will show you how to keep your marketing on track to achieve your goals when creating dynamic marketing and advertising campaigns.  Organized by Capitol Communicator, the event will be moderated by Wendy Connell, VP of Marketing for CustomInk, and will feature:
•Greg Kihlström, founder & VP Strategy, Carousel30;
•Bryan Elsom, creative director, MRB Films; and,
•Donna Spurrier, president, Spurrier Media Group.

Veteran DC TV weatherman Bob Ryan's last day on Channel 7/WJLA will be tonight, May 22, states dcrtv.com. WJLA General Manager Bill Lord said Ryan’s career accomplishments are “unmatched in the television industry and we have been greatly honored to have him on our team." Among the tributes to Ryan, stated dcrtv.com, is a song sung by Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski and DC Mayor Vincent Gray naming May 22nd as "Bob Ryan Day."

The Natural Products Association hired Environics Communications to provide PR services ... DDC Advocacy adds Steve Danon as VP/PR. Prior to joining DDC Advocacy, he served as Chief of Staff and in a senior role to three different Members of Congress ... and, Widmeyer’s PreK-12 education team adds Tracey Bryan as VP.

Snyder’s of Hanover is launching a television and digital campaign to show Americans how flavorful its pretzels can be. The goal of the campaign is to highlight Snyder’s assortment of pretzels, with a focus on increasing awareness of its nine varieties of Flavored Pretzel Pieces.

The release of Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ "Man of Steel" action adventure still is a month away, but "Soldier of Steel", LM&O’s new recruitment campaign for the National Guard, already is bringing Superman to screens across the country. Interweaving clips of the movie with footage of Guard members in action, two "Soldier of Steel" spots, directed by "Man of Steel" director Zack Snyder, are showing in movie theaters nationwide

Williams Whittle added American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and Virginia Hospital Center ... Racepoint Group hired Bobby Zafarnia ... and, ECU Communications is moving.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler urged advertisers to stop advertising on Ask.fm, an ad-supported website.  According to an item in Legal Newsline, the website is becoming a forum for anonymous attacks on children. In a letter to advertisers, continued the Legal Newsline story, Gansler said the Latvia-based website allows for the anonymous publication of Read More »

Richard T. “Dick” Robertson’s time as an advertising student at VCU in Richmond was transformational for him, leading to a successful career as a senior executive at Warner Bros. Television. Now, 46 years after his own graduation, WTVR reports that Robertson is hoping to impact future students in a similar way with an $11 million gift, which is comprised of a planned gift and an in-kind donation, that renames VCU’s School of Mass Communications to the School of Media and Culture.

IABC/DC Metro's Call for Entries for the 2013 Silver Inkwell Awards is open. All greater Washington- and Baltimore-area communicators are eligible and encouraged to participate. IABC membership is not required. A panel of judges will evaluate the entries to determine the Award of Excellence (first place) and the Award of Merit for each category. In addition, one overall winner may be given the Best of the Best Award, their equivalent of best in show.

R2integrated added Walter Starr as vice president/finance in its Baltimore headquarters ...Spectrum promoted Liz Bryan and Luke Dickinson to vice president ... and, The DC Office of Motion Picture and Television Development named Gemal Woods, founder of Park Triangle Productions, as the May 2013 Filmmaker of the Month.

Eighteen entrants who won Gold and Silver ADDY Awards at the DC Ad Club’s 2013 American Advertising Awards added additional awards at the District level. The DC Ad Club is represented with 15 Gold ADDYs and 18 Silver ADDYs in the District Two competition, which includes entries from local competitions in Delaware, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and D.C.. This showing is a record for the DC Ad Club, both in the number of entrants and number of awards. Local entrants included agencies, freelancers and clients.

The news websites WTOP.com and FederalNewsRadio.com are accessible to all Internet users following resolution of a cyber attack against the websites. Users accessing the websites from all web browsers, including Internet Explorer, have full access to both websites.

Stanley E. Cohen, Washington editor of Advertising Age for 42 years before retiring in 1987, has died. Approximately 175 people attended Cohen's funeral and another 100-plus attended a memorial service the next evening. His contributions to Ad Age and the larger community were remembered by Rance Crain. Crain’s piece, in part, stated:

The Web sites of WTOP and Federal News Radio were hacked this week, potentially infecting the computers of people who visited their Web site within the past two days, reports Hayley Tsukayama in today's Washington Post.  A statement posted on WTOP’s Web site Tuesday said that users who visited its page using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser may have been affected by the attack.

Approximately 300 people attended the Richmond Ad Club's biggest event of the year last Friday evening. The Richmond Show celebrated the region’s creative community by honoring exceptional work that has been produced over the past year. Agencies and individuals were encouraged to submit their best work for a chance to win a Cannonball award, the Richmond Ad Club's most prestigious award. For a list of winners,

Three veterans of President Obama’s 2012 campaign have launched a new consulting firm, Precision Strategies, reports The Washington Post.  Obama deputy campaign managers Stephanie Cutter and Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, and digital director Teddy Goff, are behind the firm, which aims to take the winning formula of the Obama reelection and apply it not just to other campaigns and advocacy groups but to consumer brands, financial firms, and media and technology companies, continues the Post piece.

The DC Ad Club is accepting nominations for the 2013 Silver Medal Award.  The award honors a member of the ad community who has made outstanding contributions to advertising and who has been active in furthering the industry’s standards, creative excellence and responsibility in areas of social concern.

The Advertising Club of Richmond presented the Commonwealth’s top advertising awards during its annual Richmond Show last Friday evening.  During the event, Donna Spurrier, shown above, was named Ad Person of the Year and Amanda Younger was awarded the Harry Jacobs Scholarship. Read More »

Vocus announced its second primary keynote for the Demand Success 2013 conference, actress Elisabeth Moss. Ms. Moss plays Peggy Olson, a successful copywriter on the AMC television show Mad Men®.  Demand Success 2013 is a two-day marketing conference, hosted by Vocus. The event will be held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD, June 20-21. 

Ogilvy Public Relations has cut its DC staff as federal purse-strings tighten, reported PRWeek. Between 10 and 20 staffers have been laid off, affecting employees from the SVP level to account executives at the office, stated the PRWeek report.

Jones Public Affairs has become JPA Health Communications. According to the agency, the rebrand occurs in response to changing market dynamics, as the lines between public affairs, advocacy, traditional public relations and digital marketing continue to blur.  “It’s not unusual for brands to evolve over time,” said Carrie Jones, principal and managing director of JPA, which has offices in D.C. and Boston, and now has opened a London office.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association selected ASGK Public Strategies as a communications partner for the cable industry’s annual trade event, The Cable Show ... Global communications agency Waggener Edstrom Worldwide announced that the firm’s Public Affairs Practice has formed a collaborative partnership with Democratic consultant and MSNBC commentator Jimmy Williams  ... and, ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid) worked with OmniStudio to develop a new website that better connects website visitors with the impact their donations have on ANERA's work.

Allbritton Communications, owner of seven ABC affiliates including WJLA-TV in Washington, said it's considering selling the group, among other "strategic alternatives,"  TVNewsCheck reported.  "There can be no assurance that the exploration of strategic alternates will result in the consummation of any transaction," the family-owned company said in a statement, noting that there is no timetable for action, continued the TVNewsCheck report.

Vocus’s Demand Success 2013 conference line up is rapidly solidifying. Vocus already announced Wendy Harman‘s Lessons Learned from the Social Media Command Center and Ike Pigott‘s Brand Journalism sessions. Now, Vocus has added the following to Demand Success 2013, which is set for June 20th and 21st at National Harbor’s Gaylord Hotel:

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer is the latest victim of a prank called "swatting," reported WJLA.  SWAT was called to Blitzer's Montgomery County home last weekend after someone texted emergency crews saying there was a shooting inside his home.  More than a dozen officers were dispatched to the house with their guns drawn. But it was a prank, continued the WJLA report, part of something called “swatting,” when people alert crews of a fake emergency at a home in hopes the SWAT team would show up.

The Public Relations Society of America's National Capital Chapter (PRSA-NCC) announced its call for entries for its 45th Annual Thoth Awards. The Thoth Awards finalists who demonstrate the true value of public relations will be honored at the Thoth Awards Gala, Sept. 18, at The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

WebbMason has been selected by Major League Baseball (MLB) as a preferred vendor for printing and promotional services to MLB franchise teams. This relationship expands WebbMason’s MLB presence. The integrated marketing solutions and services company headquartered in suburban Baltimore has provided printing services and promotional items for the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals since 2009.

Two DC-area broadcasting operations - WTOP FM and ABC7/WJLA-TV - announced a new joint traffic partnership to reach even more DC-area commuters with real-time traffic information. Under the arrangement, WTOP will become the exclusive morning traffic home to ABC7 in yet another example of how news operations are becoming intertwined with each other.

Fleishman-Hillard is becoming FleishmanHillard, but the removal of the dash will bring a significant change to the international agency with a large DC office.  According to the New York Times, the move - which includes a new slogan, “the power of true” - is meant to signal how it is striving to become an integrated marketing communications agency that offers services such as advertising and social media marketing, in addition to public relations.

The April 28 report by Stuart Elliott continued: