Attention, yogis. The Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health is looking for a new marketing director to join its team.

In this role, you’ll help develop innovative marketing strategy for the brand, and be expected to create effective, multi-channel campaigns. You’ll be a part of a data-driven digital effort, and will be deeply involved in the redesign and relaunch of the Kripalu website. Read more

Just in time for Father’s Day, Huggies and Ogilvy & Mather Argentina have made a belt for fathers-to-be that allows them to feel their unborn baby’s movements. The device was created as the focal point of a video greeting card released by the agency in celebration of Dad’s special day.

Here’s how the belt works: One belt is worn by the expectant mom, and contains electronic sensors that detect the baby’s movements in the womb. The signals picked up by mom’s belt are then then wirelessly transmitted to the band strapped around dad’s belly. LED lights and small motor vibrators create visual patterns and short, strong impulses to let the father feel and see the baby move in almost-real time.

Eric Bruner, a spokesman for Kimberly-Clark, parent company of Huggies, told TODAY Moms, “We think it’s a new and different way for dads to experience the emotions of pregnancy and it’s certainly worth highlighting in this special time of year.”

While we think this is a totally awesome concept and were very moved by the sight of men getting teary-eyed with wonder while wearing the belt, we were really bothered by the first line of the commercial, a grudging-sounding “pregnancy was always about her. That’s why at Huggies, we did something special to compensate fathers.”

It makes it sound as if women purposely stole all the glory (and discomfort and pain) of baby-making just so that we could bask in the spotlight. So Huggies, heroically leveling the playing field, decided to offer a way to let pregnancy-hogging women share the joyful and magical part of the experience. But morning sickness, ankle-swelling and labor? We can keep those. Read more

MWW announced that Angela Calzone has joined the firm as senior vice president, talent resources and organizational development. In this role, Calzone will lead the agency’s staff training and employee development efforts, as well as serve as a senior member of the firm’s Executive Committee. She will also oversee the agency’s human resources functions, including employee relations, benefit administration and the employee lifecycle process. An award-winning business and management strategist, Calzone most recently served for ten years as a co-managing member of Change & Response Strategies, LLC, a consortium of leadership, management, human resources, marketing strategists and corporate trainers. Previously she has held senior business and talent management roles at a number of top consulting firms across an array of verticals. (Release)

A week after announcing the hiring of BBDO NY alum Kevin Jordan as group creative director, Draftfcb New York has hired a second person to assume the same title. In a memo sent to staff around noon yesterday, DFCB NY CCO  Javi Campopiano revealed that the agency has brought on Renata Florio as a fellow GCD. The newest hire most recently served as CCO at Grey Group’s Hispanic agency unit, Wing. (AgencySpy)

David&Goliath announced the appointment of Mike O’Malley as Kia sports marketing/sponsorships account director and Merav Cohen as Kia dealer marketing group account director. In their new roles, O’Malley will be responsible for leading campaign development on all advertising associated with Kia sponsorships, while Cohen will oversee all dealer marketing initiatives on the Kia business including field communication and dealer assets. Previously, O’Malley was an account director at WDCW and Cohen an account supervisor at RPA. (The New York Egotist)

PR Daily: Wendy’s Learns Difficult Lesson in the PR Power of Reddit

Chicago Tribune: Lululemon to Open Men’s Stores by 2016

The New York Times: How the N.H.L. Turned a Short Season into Emotional Gold

Advertising Age: Myspace Debuts First TV Commercial

The Los Angeles Times: Rock n’ Roll PR: Joan Jett Sues over Blackheart Trademark

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. – Albert Einstein

Weejee Learning, a global provider of custom, interactive and fun e-learning solutions for corporations, non-governmental organizations, associations and nonprofits, is partnering with Bolt Public Relations as its agency of record. Bolt PR, a bi-coastal award-winning agency, will manage public relations efforts and support ongoing marketing plans from its Raleigh office as Weejee continues an aggressive growth strategy through 2014.

Weejee, which is headquartered in Downtown Durham, takes an innovative approach to learning. Leveraging its unique brand of fun – a proven method for increasing the effectiveness of training or learning initiatives – Weejee provides custom digital solutions, curriculum and learning needs analyses, program design, social learning strategy, and instructional design and development. Nearing its third anniversary, the company is looking to continue its rapid rate of growth and further establish itself as a leading global provider of e-learning content development.

You know, I’m from Boston, and in Boston, you are born with a baseball bat in your hand.—Eli Roth

LEWIS has acquired the Davies Murphy Group, a 65-person PR and marketing consultancy with offices in the US, UK and Germany. Headquartered in Boston, DMG focuses exclusively on B2B technology, and works with more than 45 top tier clients, ranging from early stage startups to the world’s largest technology companies.

The transaction deepens LEWIS’ presence on the US East Coast, and adds a broad range of marketing services to its proposition. LEWIS now has combined global revenues in excess of $45m and over 420 staff. The deal makes LEWIS one of the largest tech-focused public relations firms in the US, with US revenues of $20m.

My grandmother is over eighty and still doesn’t need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle.—Henney Youngman

Randolph Engineering, Inc., an eyewear company based in Randolph, Mass., known for its American made sunglass collection as well as optical frames and high performance shooting glasses announced today it has hired Regan Communications Group as its agency of record for public relations services. The firm has been hired to elevate Randolph’s brand awareness locally and nationally through business and lifestyle media placements.

“We are very excited to enter into business with Regan Communications Group,” said Peter Waszkiewicz, President and CEO of Randolph. “Randolph has been in business for over 40 years and many people are still unaware of our history and products. We know that working with Regan they will increase our awareness locally and nationally.” Read more

Riding high on the groundswell of pride and honor felt among most members of the black community during President Obama‘s 2008 election, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Donald Graham, chairman of The Washington Post, partnered to launch The Root, an online publication covering the nation’s biggest news stories — with an African-American angle.

“The idea was to bring smart, thoughtful pieces that bring a black perspective to the news of the day and reflect the conversations that black people are having,” explained Lauren Williams,  deputy editor.

The online pub has over 1.5 million unique monthly visitors, a good thing for PR pros who are looking to land coverage for their clients. For pitching etiquette and editors’ contact info, read How To Pitch: The Root.

– Sherry Yuan

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“It was a moment of elation. I’d been waiting for six and a half years. I’d worked hard, waited so long and rehearsed it in my head, so I was impatient.” That’s how tightrope performer Philippe Petit described his experience when he first ventured out onto the wire that extended between the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center (WTC) in August 1974. He traversed the span between the towers for 45 minutes, making spellbinding history that’s never been repeated.

Petit was speaking outside at the Bryant Park Reading Series in New York on Wednesday about his latest book, Why Knot?: How to Make More Than Sixty Ingenious, Useful, Beautiful, Lifesaving and Secure Knots. True to form, he turned the session into a lively performance, complete with magic tricks. He imparted his knotting knowledge to audience members and enlisted their help with demonstrations.

Petit has personified his brand since the age of five when he taught himself the art of tightrope walking. He said it was “a way to escape authority”. Starting in the 1970s, the Frenchman set his sights on world renowned landmarks, including the towers of Notre Dame in Paris, and the pylons of Australia’s Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Petit’s gravity-defying promenade across the World Trade Center towers was his biggest “coup”. In order to gain access to the site, he pretended to be a journalist at an architectural magazine. After his widely publicized risky stunt and subsequent arrest, (charges were later dropped), he gained worldwide fame. He was even feted at WTC’s Windows on the World restaurant, (on the same evening as this PRNewser contributor was celebrating a birthday!)

Read more

In case you weren’t aware that Myspace does actually exist outside the nostalgic realm of late 90′s pre-teendom (because we weren’t), the reinvented social media site has launched a $20 million campaign to enlighten you.

The reincarnated Myspace, owned in part by Mr. Suit and Tie himself — Justin Timberlake, is now a fully operational social discovery service for musicians, artists, and other creatives, and is celebrating its relaunch with a new iPhone app, radio and digital advertising, and its first-ever TV commercials.

You can watch the full 90-second spot below, shortened versions of which began airing on channels like Comedy Central, MTV and ESPN last night. Myspace owner Specific Media, which developed the commercial, is also having the celebrities who appear in the ad distribute the video via their social feeds. Though Timberlake does not appear in the ad, the spot features plenty of fresh-faced and excited young artists to grab your attention, including Pharrell, Ciara, Mac Miller, Riff Raff, Erin Wasson and Chance The Rapper.

Relaunching a long-out-of-favor brand is always complicated and risky, and while it is far too soon to tell whether the new Myspace will succeed, we think having J.T. at the helm is at the very least a good omen — if anyone can lead the transition from 90′s relic to current success, we’d put our money on Timberlake.

The Washington Post: Google Explains How It Hands Over Information to Government Officials

Chicago Tribune: After Three Years ESPN to Pull Plug on 3-D TV

The New York Times: Random House Targets Niche Audiences for Audiobooks

Los Angeles Times: Tech PR: Myspace Launches Mobile Music App

Advertising Age: Gay-Themed Advertising Poised for American Mainstream

When it comes to the tremendously competitive world of higher education, reputation is virtually everything; if students are going to incur years of debt in exchange for a diploma, they want that piece of paper to carry as much clout as possible. So when The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill found itself embroiled in academic scandal, it’s no surprise they called in some big PR guns — with big price tags to match.

For the past two years, UNC has been dealing with an academic-fraud issue involving the department of African and Afro-American studies. Inquiries have revealed 216 courses dating all the way back to 1997 with “proven or potential” problems including no-show professors, “paper” classes that did not require attendance, and 454 potentially unauthorized grade changes.

For help managing the resulting PR crisis — it seems the public generally expects professors to attend their own classes and assign the grades that students actually earn — the university reached out to three big-name industry professionals to the tune of $500,000. Read more