O’Dwyer’s is currently working on its ranking of PR firms, requesting documents in order to list agencies according to net fees and other categories.

Maryland PR firm IMRE sent O’Dwyer’s its info to be included. According to emails PRNewser received from both O’Dwyer’s and the firm, IMRE was then asked to advertise with O’Dwyer’s. The firm agreed to a $600 ad package. O’Dwyer’s then told IMRE it would have to advertise at a higher rate to be on the list.

“Thanks for your entry and congratulations on your great year ($10 million) but it’s not going to be used if you’re only going to do $600 worth of business with us,” reads an email O’Dwyer’s sent to IMRE, which was then forwarded to PRNewser.

“You can’t go into an expensive restaurant with white tablecloths and just order a cup of coffee,” that same email goes on to say. “Firms that benefit from our rankings must support the $500,000 website on which the ranking reside[s].”

Instead, O’Dwyer’s wanted a $3,000 ad purchase.

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The latest in the never-ending back-and-forth between Jack O’Dwyer and the PRSA: O’Dwyer, who, if we’re not mistaken, had been talking about being barred from this week’s PRSA conference for weeks, showed up at the conference in Florida and was barred. He was sure to let everyone know. The PRSA gave him lunch anyway.

Interestingly, the National Press Club has issued a statement saying it was “disappointed” to learn that O’Dwyer had been banned. With knowledge of the longstanding “disagreements,” the organization tried to negotiate with the PRSA, but the PRSA wouldn’t budge on its position to keep O’Dwyer out.

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Critical Mention has been conducting a series of interviews from the floor of the PRSA International Conference, taking place through tomorrow. Starring the company’s new president, Dave Armon, guests cover a wide range of PR personalities including Ketchum‘s president Rob Flaherty and Jack O’Dwyer. We’ve attached a clip with MaryLee Sachs, former Hill & Knowlton head and author of the new book The Changing MO of the CMO. Other videos are available here.

Here’s video of a flash mob that, as seen here, surprised Jack O’Dwyer during this weekend’s PRSA conference happenings.

According to the caption that accompanies the video from SchoolofCommProf, “We honored/ribbed everyone’s favorite curmudgeon and muck-raker, Jack O’Dwyer by waiting until a break and ambushing him to present him with pens (inspired by a scene from the movie A Beautiful Mind).”

PRNewser was trading emails with O’Dwyer’s founder Jack O’Dwyer about Duncan Boothby, the former O’Dwyer’s staffer turned political PR consultant, who resigned from working with Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal last week after the now infamous Rolling Stone profile that brought down the general.

What did O’Dwyer have to say about Boothby?

…he’s laying low for the moment. I think they should find a nice big job for him. He’s the fall guy. Duncan, a neighbor of mine in Greenwich, worked for us several years ago when he was between jobs.

O’Dwyer also pointed to a debate about Boothby on his site, and noted, “Some think it’s his fault and others think he’s a hero.”

The updated O’Dwyer’s PR agency rankings were published today, and as expected, Waggener Edstrom is not included on the list. Wag Ed had consistently ranked as the number two largest firm.

Among the top 20 firms, Cooney/Waters Group and Allison Partners posted the biggest gains, with 18 and 12 percent revenue increases, respectively.

Jack O’Dwyer told PRNewser that Waggener Edstrom, Taylor, Padilla Speer Beardsley, Weisscomm (WSG), Peppercom, Capstrat, French/West/Vaughn, CRT/Tanaka and Imre were removed from this edition of the rankings.

We asked O’Dwyer what his criteria were for kicking firms off the rankings. “The first thing is they won’t talk to me. They’re like Tiger Woods,” he said.

“They’re cheating me. Think if an agency has 86 employees and one subscription [to O'Dwyers]. Do you think one person is reading it?”

As we previously reported, Waggener Edstrom’s Sr. Vice President of Marketing & Corporate Communications Kent Hollenbeck said the agency would not participate in the rankings this year because the list, “has not had a measurable impact on our business efforts for some time.”

Other agencies we’ve spoken with share that sentiment.

On the other hand, O’Dwyer told us that approximately 30 agencies so far have agreed to take group web subscriptions to O’Dwyerpr.com and receive ads to the value of those site licenses. “Large firms that insist on taking only one or two subs will not be in our rankings,” said O’Dwyer.

The subscription budgets are as follows: $2,000 for agencies with $2M in fees, $3,000 for those with $5M-$10M in fees, and $5,000 for those with $10M and more.

The total fees on O’Dwyer’s 132 agency list total more than $1.2 billion.

O’Dwyer’s Public Relations News, a longstanding PR industry publication led by Jack O’Dwyer has published rankings of independent PR agencies for quite some time.

This year, the publication is asking agencies to pay to be included in the rankings, and it seems so far that agencies aren’t too pleased with the decision. Writes O’Dwyer:

Waggener Edstrom, with $119 million in revenues in 2008, 843 employees, and No. 2 on our rankings, has only one web/NL sub at $295. It refuses to pony up a nickel more. We just don’t fit into their “marketing plan,” a marketing executive told us. Several other large ranked firms have the same attitude. So we’re booting Wagged and the others off the rankings. They’re not “PR” firms.

Waggener Edstrom’s Sr. Vice President of Marketing & Corporate Communications Kent Hollenbeck responded:

While we have participated in prior years, O’Dwyer’s list has not had a measurable impact on our business efforts for some time.

We are, however, taking part in other industry rankings that do not require payment, and which have proven to deliver as good, or better, results for our business. But because of our decision, O’Dwyer has singled us out for declining to advertise.

Here is what O’Dwyer is asking for: $2,000 for agencies with $2M in fees, $3,000 for those with $5M-$10M in fees, and $5,000 for those with $10M and more.

In speaking with a number of agencies about this, none we’ve spoken to are willing to pony up the fees. O’Dwyer defends the decision in a long post on the publication’s blog, after being accused by at least one agency owner of acting “highly unethical.”

If O’Dwyer’s goal is to get more advertisers – which it seems to be – we can’t imagine this stance helps his cause.

The above video of dna13 vice chairman Dave Armon interviewing Jack O’Dwyer, founder of the O’Dwyer PR newsletter has been making the rounds. In the interview, shot at this week’s PRSA International Conference, O’Dwyer argues that PR professionals should only deal with press and not the “public.”

O’Dwyer cites a speech from John Iwata, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications, IBM, and stated that the web will eventually “filter down to experts, people who know what they’re talking about. And all these people on Twitter, who are saying they just brushed their teeth, they’re not the experts.”

It seems, ironically, that some of the communications were mixed up in this reporting. Iwata didn’t advise PR professionals to only deal with the press. He did say, “If you show up on the web…You need to be recognized as an expert…both knowledgeable and persuasive,” according to O’Dwyer’s reporting.

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) launched its re-designed website earlier this week, and in conjunction with the re-design also announced today a new advocacy campaign for the PR industry, “The Business Case for Public Relations.” PRNewser caught up with PRSA Chair and CEO Michael Cherenson via phone today. He said the campaign is about “recognizing that people are facing a challenging economy and helping PR pros fight the fight, get budget they need, get staff they need and prove their worth.”

He also agrees with many in the industry that PR “should be getting more of the pie” when it comes to new opportunities in digital and social media. The industry has to change the way they think about measurement, he said, because “simple metrics of a clip don’t cut it anymore. We have to look at how we’re changing behavior.”

The campaign will include research, practical tools, influencer and media outreach and targeted career development opportunities, according to the PRSA. Some of these services will only be available for free to PRSA members.

Meanwhile, Jack O’Dwyer reports (sub. required), “Registration fees, mostly for PR Society’s conference in San Diego Nov. 7-10, were 60% lower than fees for the same nine months in 2008 – $1.1M vs. $2.7M. PRS had a loss from operations of $708,024 vs. a profit of $727,265 in 2008.”