This week, BrightRoll is hiring a marketing manager, while Weber Shandwick needs a vice president of digital health. SpaFinder Wellness is seeking a lead generation coordinator, and Financial Times is on the hunt for a marketing acquisition manager. Get the scoop on these openings and more below, and find additional just-posted gigs on Mediabistro.

• Marketing Manager BrightRoll (San Francisco, CA)
• Vice President, Digital Health Weber Shandwick (Boston, MA)
• Lead Generation Coordinator SpaFinder Wellness (New York, NY)
• Marketing Acquisition Manager Financial Times (New York, NY)
• Public Relations Account Supervisor Murphy O’Brien Public Relations (Los Angeles, CA)

Find more great PR jobs on the PRNewser job board. Looking to hire? Tap into our network of talented PRNewser pros and post a risk-free job listing. For real-time openings and employment news, follow @MBJobPost.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Not only are 1 million guests personally attending the lowering of the Times Square Ball down One Times Square building, but 1 billion more people are expected to tune in via TV and digital devices as the world rings in 2013. It doesn’t get any more public than that.

ABC’s annual “New Year’s Rockin Eve” has helped make Times Square the most expensive billboard advertising real estate on the planet, with companies such as Dunkin’ Donuts
paying $3.6 million a year for its signage and Anheuser-Bush shelling out $3.1 million for its space on One Times Square building.

This year, of course, the world will miss the iconic personality of Dick Clark. Yet the tradition will continue as this year’s Times Square Ball, made of Waterford Crystal (so keep the kids out of the Times Square dining room), heralds the theme “Let There Be Peace.” Indeed. That is one sentiment we can all agree on.

Happy New Year to all of our wonderful readers and thank you for supporting PRNewser. We’re looking forward to a healthy, safe, and productive 2013 with all of you!

For a live stream of the celebration visit the Times Square New Year’s Eve 2013 Live Webcast.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We debated whether to put our heads together, conduct a survey, consult the Twittersphere and create the definitive list of 2012′s most important/influential PR stories. But then we just decided to put all that reasoned analysis aside and go completely subjective—so we compiled our 12 favorite stories that appeared on PRNewser in 2012.

Some are serious, some are silly and some are nearly unbelievable. Do they all reveal some larger truth about the PR industry? No. Are they the most important stories of the year? Definitely not. Then why did we choose them? Because we really enjoyed reading and writing them. That’s pretty much it.

Here are the first six, in no particular order:

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The New York Times: Maxim Courts Military to Increase Readership

The Washington Post: Dave Barry’s 2012 Year in Review

The Chicago Tribune: Apple Abandons Patent Claims Against New Samsung Phone

The Los Angeles Times: Evidence Reveals Boy Scouts Did Not Report Abuse to Police

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Amazon is hiring! The company is looking for a new senior marketing manager for its fast-growing pets team.

In this role, you’ll be responsible for conceptualizing, building and executing the full life cycle of merchandising for the Pets Products store, using creative development, targeting segmentation, and performance analysis. You’ll work to grow traffic via free and paid search, email marketing, affiliate marketing, social networking, mobile and on-site placements. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It is an odd fact about life that we spend our younger years wanting to fit in and be like everyone else, then grow up and yearn to be different than everyone else.

Dr. Pepper’s new marketing strategy targets the demographic that fits the latter part of that sentence. The beverage brand is rolling out a series of TV commercials featuring compelling individuals such as Mikaela Mayer, a former model turned boxer, and Justin “Nordic Thunder” Howard, air guitar champion.

Dr. Pepper’s campaign makes sense from a PR perspective. Instead of featuring larger-than-life entertainers and athletes with looks and talents few average Americans can relate to, Dr. Pepper has chosen to focus on people more like us—people with notable dreams and accomplishments but also idiosyncrasies and quirks. (Seriously, how can you not like someone who has mastered the air guitar?) Quirk is PR gold because it is sincere.

But will that sincerity translate into customer loyalty? Can a bottle of soda really make us feel unique and special? Dr. Pepper thinks it can. For a brand that views itself as a singular presence in the uber-competitive soda category, Dr. Pepper believes partnering with the exceptional people featured in its marketing campaign is a natural and apt brand alignment.

In PR theory this appears to be a logical association, but ultimately the public will decide if Dr. Pepper’s ad campaign lives or dies.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The spot, which features such familiar names and faces as Jon Hamm, Beyoncé, Chris Rock and many others, made it to number 6 on the Ad Age Viral Video Chart this week. Like all of the campaign’s content, the video’s simple, straight-forward, no-frills style serves to promote its overall message: less rhetoric, more action.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Andrea Levy has been named director, advertiser/agency business development at Alliance for Audited Media. In her new role, Andrea will develop new services and foster relationships with current and new advertisers and ad agency members. Before joining AAM, Andrea served as interactive director for Packet Media Group, a community newspaper publishing company, where she was responsible for a variety of tasks including communication, product development, revenue generation, marketing, events and sales training. (Release)

Emanate, an Omnicom DAS company with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, London and Munich, named Catherine Douglas as vice president. Ms. Douglas formerly served as group manager, corporate affairs; as VP, she will help manage the company’s Bank of America account. (Crain’s)

Charleston, SC-based BOLD Communications Group announced plans to merge with Pearson DeBoer Creative Solutions (PDCS) of Salisbury, NC effective January 1st. The newly expanded BOLD will offer strategic marketing and communications services to businesses, nonprofits, entrepreneurs and experts in a variety of industries. Patrick Pearson, a PDCS partner and Salisbury resident, will serve as vice president and general manager of the newly combined company while Jonathan Weaver, creative director for PDCS, will retain his title. (Homepage)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Chicago Tribune: Almost 17.5 Million Apple, Android Devices Activated Christmas Day

The New York Times: Retailers Embrace Same-Day Shipping to Compete with Amazon

The Los Angeles Times: Public Embraces eBooks as Print Continues to Fade

Advertising Age: The Biggest Advertising Stories of 2012

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Of course an idea this classy is ripe for the streets of Manhattan, especially Times Square, the epicenter of everything loud, bright and cheesy. In fact, considering all of the millions of dollars invested in crowding Times Square with corporate brands, lousy restaurants and entertainment options, by going personal Wow Body Ads—the company that purchased space on The Naked Cowboy’s chest and back—may be outsmarting the competition.

The Naked Cowboy is a walking, guitar-playing tourist destination, who single-handedly created a personal brand worthy of Times Square real estate prices. The man elevated the pay-to-photograph me business paradigm to an unprecedented level through his hard work and passion. He earned his prosperity, so good for Mr. Burck for capitalizing on his own success. But a branded body tattoo—how is the public going to react to that?

We’re guessing not very well. Part of The Naked Cowboy’s allure for tourists (and New Yorkers alike—the City loves people who can bring some freak) is that his persona provides a personal experience to something larger than themselves, namely New York City and all of its quirkiness, vitality and creativity.

Sure, you can have your photo taken with the Empire State Building in the background or ice skating at Rockefeller Center, but The Naked Cowboy is a living human being who can say your name, ask where you’re from and make you laugh. It’s an experience between you and The Naked Cowboy. Until now, that is. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In 2007, the North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD (yeah, we’re not sure how that acronym works, either), partnered with Google to make Santa Tracker the government-official means of following the man in red on his Christmas Eve quest. So when NORAD announced that they would partner with Microsoft this year instead, it was assumed that Google would would take a major marketing hit.

In actuality, the break from NORAD seems to have given Google the freedom to use its Santa Tracker as a marketing tool for its many other services. Not only could families track Santa this year, but they could interact with colorful and elaborate games and features, which the Microsoft/NORAD tracker lacked. Three different games starred Santa’s elves, and there was even a Google Voice-powered tool that allowed users to send friends and family customizable voicemails from Santa himself. The system also incorporated Google+ by allowing users to refer to the voicemail recipient as a Google+ Circle Buddy. Google even offered an extension of its Chrome browser for tracking Mr. Holly Jolly. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Washington Post: Starbucks to Write ‘Come Together’ on Cups to Pressure Politicians

The New York Times: Wine Brands Use Creative Packaging to Attract Millennials

The Chicago Tribune: Pizza Hut to Offer Gift Cards to Recipients of Bad Holiday Gifts

The Los Angeles Times: Macy’s Promotes Post Xmas Shopping during ‘Week of Wonderful’

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

So we’ll be watching with trepidation and awkward admiration as Starbucks jumps feet first into American politics on December 28, when the coffee juggernaut’s baristas will write “Come Together” on the cups of its customers throughout the Washington, D.C. area.

The goal, of course, is to connect with the public’s outrage over an inept and feckless Congress and by doing so make a very public point about the need for political compromise in light of the upcoming ‘fiscal cliff’ that will prolong our collective sense of economic intractability and general gloom about our nation’s prospects.

But will it work? From a public relations standpoint, yes. Starbucks and CEO Howard Shultz take great pride in the brand’s corporate values. Though the company has seen its up and downs, its moral compass has always kept it spiritually centered. Starbucks has directly confronted social issues such as employee health insurance and environmental sustainability efforts, so supporters of Starbucks won’t see this latest political statement as being out of character for the brand. The public believes that Starbucks actually cares.

Also, Starbucks isn’t choosing sides here. This move won’t alienate customers because it is aligning with the general sentiment of the American public. We want results, not process, from both political parties. Brands that understand public relations are never tone deaf to what the public is thinking, and the public has been vocal about what is on its mind: fiscal cliff. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

For public relations professionals, a YouTube video that garners 1 billion user views must have some level of inherent industry-related lesson, right? Our business, in part, is about determining what resonates with the public and what doesn’t.

So when PSY’s Gangnam Style became the first video to accumulate more than 1 billion views we wanted to know what, exactly, about Gangnam Style the public finds so irresistible, and how those findings could be repurposed into the business world.

The success behind Gangnam Style cannot be attributed to one single quality such as the catchiness of the tune or the horse dance or the snappy clothes or PSY himself. We love everything separately and collectively, and that’s the first lesson we can take away from this: it is imperative to have a diversified approach that connects with people on many different levels.

With PSY as the CEO of Gangnam Style, the song will forever have a charismatic spokesman and brand identity that makes us smile. Yes, PSY has had his public relations problems, but he admitted to his mistakes, owned them and was able to move on and even appear at The White House Christmas special. That’s what good business leaders do. Also, he works hard. The man is everywhere. No strategy will amount to anything without solid work ethic.

Ah, the horse dance. Even PR professionals can do the horse dance, which means anyone can. Accessibility is crucial to every public relations strategy that hopes to resonate far and wide. The best part about the horse dance is that it’s supposed to look ridiculous, and for many of us, that is exactly how we look doing any kind of dance. So kudos to PSY for inventing a global phenomenon and bringing the human race together at a time when it can appear more fractured and self-destructive than ever. Giddyup. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.