The chattering classes were all abuzz yesterday about a sponsored post on everyone’s favorite site to visit for kitty pic listicles and condescending literary rants. (Wait, what?)

Here’s the story: In an amusingly blatant attempt to push its talking points to those young folks who will determine the future of politics in this country, conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation illustrated its distaste for the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, with BuzzFeed‘s trademark combination of one-liners and GIFs.

OMG CUTE LOL! But will it work?

We say meh. :-/

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We’ve all heard enough about this weekend’s Publicis/Omnicom merger to know that it’s too big for our limited minds to even fathom, much less evaluate.

So many questions followed: will it lead to mass layoffs or protracted battles over antitrust laws? Will it doom boutique agencies that don’t get picked up by major “holding company” conglomerates? Will it change our jobs in profound and permanent ways?

These are all valid, fascinating issues that must be considered—and for now we’ll let other people do the thinking for us, starting with those smartasses at The Onion.

Surprisingly accurate! That headline stings a bit, though we finally understand why they didn’t hire us for the grad school internship we wanted so badly (should’ve learned to code in high school, dammit). On a more serious note, Richard Edelman is skeptical of this supposed sea change, writing:

Bigger does not mean better. My 84-year-old mother’s first reaction yesterday was that this reminds her of AOL’s* merger with Time Warner. “They were all screwed up for years,” she said.

In other words, don’t freak out…at least not yet. But there will be blood.

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PGOA Media has appointed Andrew Becks to the newly-created position of vice president of audience development. Becks, who begins his position immediately, brings a wealth of digitally-centric experience to the table. Prior to joining PGOA Media, Becks was director of audience development at Scripps Network, where he was responsible for developing customer acquisition and engagement strategies for Food.com, CookingChannelTV.com as well as FoodNetwork.com. He also co-founded 84 & 85, a digital marketing and technology consulting firm. (Minonline)

Hearst Magazines announced the appointment of Todd R. Haskell to the new role of senior vice president, chief revenue officer, Hearst Magazines Digital Media, effective September 3. Haskell, 44, will be responsible for driving the sales and marketing revenue for Hearst Magazines Digital Media’s 24 sites, including magazine brand sites Cosmopolitan.com, Esquire.com, Elle.com and GoodHousekeeping.com and pure-play digital brands including RealBeauty.com. Since 2007, Haskell was group vice president, advertising for NYTimes.com, the leading news site on the Web, reaching 50 million unique global readers each month (ComScore), responsible for all advertising revenue as well as cross-platform sales for American and international fashion, retail, travel, culture and sales offices in Europe and Asia. From 2004 to 2007, he managed advertising business development at The New York Times. (Release)

Justin Smith, president of Atlantic Media, will be joining Bloomberg Media Group as CEO. Smith succeeds Andy Lack, who will be taking on the new role of chairman of the Media Group. At Atlantic Media, Justin spearheaded The Atlantic’s dramatic transformation from a largely print-centric magazine to a digitally-led multi-platform franchise. (Bloomberg.com) Read more

The Washington Post: Apple’s Next iPhone May Offer Fingerprint Recognition

CNN: PR Controversy: NPR Host Tweets Mother’s Dying Moments

PR Daily: What the Publicis/Omnicom Merger May Mean to Public Relations

Los Angeles Times: Google Reveals New Site for Panoramic Photo Sharing

Chicago Tribune: Southwest Airlines Fined $200,000 over Fare Advertising Violations

Because nothing about Anthony Weiner’s campaign for mayor is sane, of course his communications director went on a profanity-laced tirade with a Talking Points Memo reporter about a former intern.

ICYMI, here’s a link to that story, in which the comms director Barbara Morgan completely loses it over a New York Daily News tell-all cover story written by a college student and former intern for the campaign, Olivia Nuzzi. According to the Nuzzi, a number of people joined Weiner’s campaign to get closer to his wife Huma Abedin and, by extension, Hillary Rodham Clinton. And she goes on to say that Weiner had trouble getting high-level people to work on his campaign. She dismisses comms director Morgan’s prior experience, saying she “last worked as the press secretary for the New Jersey state education commissioner.”

She adds, “There were a lot of short résumés around the office.”

On the NSFWCORP blog, Nuzzi also says that Weiner’s campaign manager Jeremy Kedem resigned because Weiner wasn’t honest about the “timing” of his sexting scandal.

“It’s all bullshit,” Morgan tells TPM. “I mean, it’s such bullsh*t. She could f**king — f**king tw*t.” Oh.

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“You keep it boring, String. You keep it dead f*cking boring.” – Joseph “Prop Joe” Stewart

Gangster’s motto or PR strategy? It’s both: the quote succinctly explains how drug kingpin Stringer Bell avoids attracting too much attention from the cops and how Bill Belichick, coach of football’s incredibly successful New England Patriots, manages to keep his team in the media’s good graces despite several recent run-ins with the Bad News Bears.

In an article titled “Nobody outworks Belichick in the game of media control,” former Patriot and current Sporting News analyst Ross Tucker explains the man’s secret: keep things nice and dull.

Sounds too simple, doesn’t it? For most pigskin squads, news of a top receiver’s indictment for murder and the arrival of Tim “Jesus Is My Homeboy” Tebow would attract more bad press than a Kardashian wedding. Yet the Patriots have so far managed to avoid the fallout from the Aaron Hernandez and Tebow sideshows. According to Tucker, it’s because the team is “uniquely suited to handle the media scrutiny,” and it all comes back to the man in charge and his diligent approach to PR.

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“Before you ask me who wrote such shrewd prose, let me just say: Speeches are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made”. Those were comments by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as reported in a recent New York Times article. Years earlier, when a West Wing episode focused on drafting a State of the Union speech, in culinary terms it was like a ten-course gourmet meal. (Photo below: scene from West Wing episode at 2006 Democratic National Convention)

Speechwriting coach and author Joan Detz certainly agrees about the challenges of creating and delivering effective speeches. But instead of keeping her speechmaking sauce secret, she demystified the process and shared some pointers during the IABC World Conference in New York last month.

Worth the effort? “Remember, it’s an invite, not a subpoena,” Detz cautioned the audience. Before covering the specifics of speech content, she emphasized that prospective speakers should weigh whether the speech is even worth the substantial amount of time involved in preparation, revisions, rehearsal and travel. “It’s ok occasionally to decline an invitation to speak”, she said.

Clearly this may run counter to the goals of many corporate presenters and those seeking high-profile, lucrative speaking engagements. Though as Detz noted, “too much value is lost by giving mediocre speeches. Huge egos go out and speak too much when they could be doing other things.”

Deciding factors: What are key variables Detz recommends considering when figuring out which speeches are warranted? Find out about the host organization, target audience, subject matter, which other speakers are slated to appear, the proposed day and time slot. That way you won’t end up delivering a talk to a controversial group or be surprised when you show up and discover you’re scheduled for the dreaded late afternoon session. (And it’s best not to take the stage behind comedian John Oliver, unless you’re Stephen Colbert.)

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Remember Dunkin’ Donuts’ breakfast sandwich that replaced a bagel with two doughnuts? Well, just in time for the hottest part of summer, Carl’s Jr. is unveiling its own frosty version of a sandwich between non-traditional bread substitutes, and is doing so in truly epic fashion. In the latest promo from the burger chain (below), the Strawberry Pop-Tart Ice Cream Sandwich (a mouthful in more ways than one!) receives a debut befitting a modern marvel of mythic proportions…which, of course, it is.

The ad, created by agency 72andSunny, pairs the immediately recognizable and unquestionably epic theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey” with rave reviews from notable sources like The Huffington Post. The viewer is then given an up-close view as the tantalizing treat is assembled by hand, and is completed (in all its glory) just as the music reaches its climax.

We must say, even though we were taken in by the intensity of it all, we were left wondering one thing: Weren’t we just given detailed instructions on how to construct such a wonder of epic deliciousness ourselves out of things we probably already have in the kitchen (a pop tart, an ice cream scoop, and some ice cream)? Read more

The Catholic Church is usually one of the last institutions we would associate with words like “progressive” and “tolerant” in reference to homosexuality, but comments made by Pope Francis on Monday may signify the beginning of a major shift in attitude.

During a press conference aboard the pope’s overnight flight home from a week-long trip to Brazil, His Holiness was asked how he would respond to learning that a cleric in his ranks was gay, though not sexually active. Pope Francis answered by saying, “Who am I to judge a gay person of goodwill who seeks the Lord?…You can’t marginalize these people.”

Considering that the Vatican has long regarded homosexuality as a disorder, and previous popes like Benedict XVI formally barred gay men from entering the priesthood, the weight of these remarks — though brief and simple as they may seem — cannot be overstated. Read more

Advertising Age: Publicis/Omnicom Megamerger Spurs Consolidation across Ad Industry

PR Daily: Six Reasons Why Public Relations Is So Stressful

The New York Times: Twitter Makes It Easier to Report Abusive Posts

The Washington Post: Fox News Creates PR Boon for Author after Awkward Interview

Chicago Tribune: ‘Simpsons’ Reruns Could Garner Up To $1 Billion