Ever since Rachael Ray first hit the culinary scene as Food Network’s pint-sized, quick-cooking aficionado, women have been tuning in by the millions and clamoring to whip up their own 30-minute meals. Now Ray is a certified brand, with a slew of extensions, including cookbooks, a daytime talk show, a line of premium dog food and, of course, her lifestyle magazine, Every Day With Rachael Ray.

The mag accepts publicist pitches, a good thing for PR pros looking to reach its 1.7 million-plus circulation. Just make sure you familiarize yourself with the pub first — everything from products to celebrities featured in the mag must fit a certain mold.

For pitching etiquette and editors’ contact info, read How To Pitch: Every Day With Rachael Ray.
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Chicago Tribune: Twitter Bolsters Security after Hacking Sprees Spread Fear

The New York Times: U.S. Retail Brands Face Moral Dilemma after Bangladesh Tragedy

The Washington Post: Abercrombie & Fitch’s PR Mistake Continues to Live Online

Los Angeles Times: Jennifer Lopez Joins Verizon in Effort to Reach Latino Demographic

Advertising Age: Nutella Confronts PR Debacle by Reversing Course

You can almost feel the money changing hands.

For decades your obnoxious uncle with the gold tooth, the arrogant office IT guy who streams illegal movies, and the cheeky neighbor whose dog pees on your lawn have all shoved out their hands and said, “How much you wanna bet? Huh? It’s pronounced ‘gif’– you know, like ‘gift’ but without the ‘t’.” Each and every time you declined the invitation. You refused to shake hands, even though you were 80% confident that they were wrong. Well, now we all know for sure.

Steve Wilhite, who unveiled the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) in 1987 while working for CompuServe, has ended the debate. GIF is pronounced “Jif”—yes, like the peanut butter. Mr. Wilhite made the announcement while accepting a lifetime achievement award for his controversial creation this week at the Webby Awards.

And congratulaions Jif Peanut Butter on a public relations coup.

New Yorkers have often heard about Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveling domestically and overseas to meet with city leaders to compare notes on urban innovation projects. On Monday during the first day of Internet Week, representatives from a dozen cities around the globe, including New York, convened on the Mayor’s home turf.

The officials appeared at the symposium to describe their initiatives for improving their residents’ lives using digital technology. These represent quality of life and business issues rather than the most pressing urban problems. Each speaker was allotted only ninety seconds, so here’s a brief snapshot:

New York City: Last year the Big Apple launched its Made in NY website to promote local entrepreneurship. Since then they’ve expanded the effort with increased access to workspaces, partnerships with academic institutions as well as other programs and competitions to assist startups.

Boston: launched its Street Bump app, a citizen enabled sensing device for potholes. This project was introduced following extensive road construction, including the Big Dig tunnel project that lasted several years and took its toll on locals’ automobiles.

Philadelphia: The PHL program is a social enterprise partnership with funding from Michael Bloomberg. The civic challenge asks entrepreneurs to identify, select and pilot new programs that solve a host of local issues.

Chicago: Mayor Emmanuel’s ‘Broadband Challenge’ is aimed at improving the city’s fiber network by offering free wi-fi and low cost connectivity. The process even involved updating the sewer network infrastructure.

Quebec City: The Canadian city has its own social network and also has the capability for residents to send personal text messages to help with snow removal. That way they don’t ended up stranded in their cars during snowstorms.

Ottawa: The Canadian city encourages citizen engagement and government transparency. Through an open source website, the public has access to all data. The Apps4 Ottawa open data contest rewards developers who create the most valuable uses and visualizations of the open source data.

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Telemundo Media announced the appointment of veteran marketing and communications executive David Alvarado as vice president of entertainment publicity. Alvarado is based in Miami will now be responsible for leading the publicity efforts for Telemundo’s alternative and prime time programming and productions, as well as working closely with Telemundo’s talent department to strategically position Telemundo’s prime time stars across electronic, print and online media platforms. He is in charge of developing cross-functional efforts in partnership with Telemundo Studios and the non-scripted production teams, as well as the execution of internal cross promotions efforts among Telemundo Media’s network shows, stations, affiliates, digital media, and the NBCUniversal properties. Alvarado will oversee publicity strategies for all network program launches including press events and tours aimed at maximizing exposure and visibility for the Telemundo properties across multiple media outlets. (Release)

Widmeyer Communications announced the promotion of Marina Stenos to vice president and director of Widmeyer’s PreK-12 team in its New York City office. In addition Tracey Bryan joins the PreK-12 team as vice president. Stenos has been a communications professional for nearly 20 years, working with varied clients. At Widmeyer, Stenos oversees NYC-based non-profit clients focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and various arts and philanthropy issues. Before joining Widmeyer, Bryan was President/CEO of The Bridge of Southern New Mexico, a cross-sector partnership designed to bring leaders in business, economic development and education together to solve the problem of elevated high school dropout rates. (Release)

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Coke has been doing some creative things with vending machines of late; the Diet Coke Slender Vender can fit in places no hefty drink-dispensing device has gone before, while a Coke-sponsored flag dispenser in a Denmark airport helped welcome people to the “happiest country on earth”. Now, it seems Coke has bestowed an even loftier task upon its vending machines: world peace.

In partnership with agency Leo Burnett, Coke created “Small World Machines“, vending machines that function as soda-dispensing communication portals. In an experiment aimed at promoting mutual understanding and camaraderie between citizens of India and Pakistan, two countries engaged in long-standing religious and political disputes, one machine was placed in Lahore, Pakistan and another in New Delhi, India. The machines allowed people to see and interact with each other, and, perhaps most importantly, complete shared tasks. Once the tasks were successfully completed, the machines rewarded people’s amicable teamwork by dispensing a Coke.

Jackie Jantos, global creative director at Coca Cola, said that the idea of creating stories around shared experiences goes back to the roots of Coke as a brand that started at a soda fountain, which is in itself a communal experience. Coke’s website says: “In 1971, Coca-Cola taught the world to sing through its iconic ‘Hilltop’ ad. More than 40 years later, the brand invited the people of India and Pakistan – two groups used to living with conflict – to share a simple moment of connection and joy with the help of technology.”

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The New York Times: Apple CEO Rejects Accusations Company Avoided Paying Taxes

Chicago Tribune: Tech PR: Microsoft Unveils Xbox One Home Entertainment System

Advertising Age: The Best and Worst of TV’s Upfront 2013

CNNMoney: Public Buys into Eventbrite Ticketing Startup

TechCrunch.com: Yahoo Offers Flickr Users Terabyte of Storage Space

Do you have the New York Times Best Seller list memorized? Do you have a passion for books and want to get into the publishing business?

In this episode of “Score That Job,” career expert, author and mediabistro editor Vicki Salemi sat down with Andrea Weinzimer of Hachette Book Group and got the inside dirt on what they’re looking for in a candidate.

Here a few tips — know the industry and know which authors they publish (hint: rhymes with James Patterson, Nicholas Sparks, David Sedaris…). Or just watch the video.

You can view our other MediabistroTV productions on our YouTube Channel.

We’re sorry, but let’s be candid about what is going on here: this blog post is a formality.

By now most PR industry professionals and fans of Nutella know that Ferrero, the corporate overlord of the coveted Italian chocolate-hazelnut spread, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sara Rosso, the blogger, brand advocate and source of energy behind World Nutella Day and its respective social media presences—which includes almost 40,000 likes on its Facebook page.

Ferrero claimed Ms. Russo violated the brand’s intellectual property rights and trademarks, which, from a legal perspective, we’re guessing is true. So kudos to Ferrero’s lawyers for their diligence and professionalism; only legal minds that see the world as a contentious, litigious and unlovable place could pursue such an agenda against a woman who only wants to celebrate the same product they’re hired to protect.

So this blog post can’t offer any unique insights, penetrating advice or general truisms other than what everyone else already understands: this was a colossal and unbelievable PR screw-up. It exposes a level of tone deafness and corporate barbarism that one would find in a dystopian novel about zombie-machines chasing the last handful of human beings across a torched Cinque Terre for one last taste of flesh. Yes, from a PR standpoint, it’s that crazy.

So where do Ferrero and Nutella go from here? Supplication. Ferrero must make things right with Ms. Rosso and the terrible ramifications of this inexplicable decision. And apparently the brand is doing just that. Ferrero recently reversed its decision and dropped all legal proceedings against Ms. Rosso. That’s right: World Nutella Day is back on.

But Nutella is living in a different world than it did just a few short days ago. We’ll just have to wait and see how forgiving, if at all, the public will be.

The modern American family is no longer only comprised of parents, grandparents, cousins and siblings, but pets. In fact, nearly three-quarters of all families have pets and spend money on Buster and Tigger as if they were actual children. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average American household spent $503 in 2011 on pets—which is more than it spent on alcohol or men and boy’s apparel.

This revelation comes as no surprise to those of us who currently own or grew up with pets. Pets don’t judge. Pets are dependable. Pets think we’re gods. And at a time when much of the public is struggling with an anemic economy or the more traditional vagaries of life, it’s nice to have a living entity in your home that sees you as the center of a benevolent universe. It’s a form of respect and love we can’t get from other people.

Americans spent an average of $183 on pet food and $143 on veterinary care, which means that even during a recession human beings were more inclined to make personal sacrifices than take away amenities for their pets. Watch the video below from the aftermath of the Oklahoma tornadoes and you’ll understand why.