Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

Join the Pierce Mattie team as they launch Fire Island the new fragrance by Bond No. 9

The party is from 3pm to 6pm this Saturday August 5th.
Located at: 458 Ocean Walk.
The cross street is Fisherman's Way.
DJ Lina will be spinning. Absolute Vodka will be our sponsor.

Please email Kristen@PierceMattie.com to RSVP or call 212-243-1431 for more information.

It’s been almost a week of unbearable, triple-digit temperatures here in the city (and almost everywhere else in the country) and I can’t take it anymore! The brutal heat wave has left New York with record-breaking temperatures in different parts of the city, train slow downs, and thousands of Con Edison customers without power.

It has been so hard to do anything in the city for the last week since you can barely breathe walking down the street because of the thick air. So, to keep cool for the last few days I’'ve been trying to keep myself hydrated in different ways: drinking plenty of water, spritzing my face with jane iredale’'s D20 spray and of course, applying sunscreen –- even the short walk to the office can harm your skin without the right protection!

Fellow Pierce Mattians and I already started to feel a little cooler yesterday, even though it was temporary, with a nice afternoon treat - free iced café con leches that Starbucks was handing out. Despite the long lines going around the block, the efficient baristas kept the coffee coming and the lines moving quickly.

Hopefully, the cool down will continue this weekend - just in time for this Saturday’s launch party for Bond No. 9'’s newest summer scent, Fire Island. I’m excited about it...are you?

With the popular show Weeds now a nationwide hit, we have seen the return of Hemp to retail in more ways than one. I have actually been seeing more and more products pop up again. I remember a couple of years ago when Hemp was big in accessories-remember those chokers that caused massive “ichiness” and left your neck red and disturbed? I don’t know what was worse, the trend over all or the fact that once it was tied on, it was almost impossible to remove without cutting it!

Anyway, I have actually been working with a line called Hemp—it is a hair care line, a not to toot my own clients horn, it is actually pretty fabulous. The packaging is great and it smells pretty good. I ended up sending the sets to the cast of Weeds to celebrate season 2—don’t miss it! Not only does beauty have Hemp lines, but I saw on MTV.com today that interior designer Jessica Helgerson has opted to use hemp, in her designs (along with other environmentally friendly materials.) She says she has been inspired by all of the scary environmental truths that have come about lately (i.e. Al Gore’s book) I think this concept is great—not only is hemp a pop culture favorite but it can also help save the Earth! What do you think about that Mr. President?

Can you believe that recent studies have shown that a toilet seat or the bottom of a shoe is cleaner than your cell phone? Our can’t-leave-the-house-without-one cell phones are absolutely FILTHY!

News broke this morning of research conducted in the United Kingdom finding that mobile phones are a “technological Petri dish for tens of thousands of germs.” – ABC News . But how you say? It’s just your face, right?! One thing about our face is that we clean it religiously (I won’t be caught dead without cleansing day and night with my Natura) but when’s the last time you took a cleanser-drenched cloth to your cellphone? And since our phones heat up after excessive text messaging, data services and phone use, it’s a breeding zone for that icky bacteria. Our filthy fingers dial digits, our mouths eject saliva and our phones heat it up for us, making it the DIRTIEST item we possess. UM, GROSS!

Actress/model Pamela Anderson is teaming up with hair care giant Bed Head to launch a line of ethical hair products for people and their pets. Anderson, a staunch animal rights activist, is thrilled about the new deal, which she describes as her "first wedding present" since she married Kid Rock over the weekend. She says, "I received my first wedding present! From my friends at Bed Head. "I got the call that it is confirmed. I'm absolutely doing a whole line of hair care for people and animals. "Only tested on humans of course. Hair care and body care including hot rollers, and sunscreens. It will all be out soon."

Dear Beauty & Fashion Bloggers,

Pierce Mattie PR has worked hard over the last five years to develop unique expertise in beauty, fashion and jewelry communications. We have long recognized the importance and potential of new media, and in 2002 we were one of the first PR firms in our media beat category to launch a blog and begin blogging. We have the highest respect for bloggers and their work, and we treat bloggers with the same attention and respect we have for editors from top print publications.

Last night, Jackie Danicki posted on her blog, Jack & Hill, a piece about Pierce Mattie PR “spamming” other blogs. Please be assured that it is not the policy of Pierce Mattie PR to “spam” blogs (or spam anyone else, for that matter). However, although we were taken aback by Jackie’s ill-informed post, we want to acknowledge some recent missteps on our part that may have led to a misunderstanding about the matter.

A bit of history first. From 2002 to 2004, only two people at Pierce Mattie PR – Pierce and I – were permitted to post on the Pierce Mattie PR blog. By 2005, however, we took note of the increasing importance of blogging to the public relations industry and began encouraging all of our brand advocates to submit blog posts. This eventually turned into a requirement that each brand advocate submit at least one blog entry per week. The project has been unequivocally successful: brand advocates are pushed to think creatively and they take pride in their submissions, and our increased profile has been great for the firm and our clients. Although our firm’s policy requires blog entries to be approved before they are posted, we encourage our brand advocates to push the envelope with their posts and we give them a large degree of freedom and license.

Marketers of designer goods, technology, online vendors and well anything else that can possibly be sold to consumers – pay attention! You should now be targeting me…or at least people in my demographic.

Asian Americans are now the most affluent consumer group in the U.S., according to a new report from Packaged Facts. The researchers over at Packaged Facts studied the attitudes and behavior of 13 million Asian Americans and found that they have more buying power (an excess of $400 billion!) than any other multicultural population segment.

"What we're seeing is a high-growth, high-income market that is willing to spend, yet very conscious about purchasing decisions," said Don Montuori, publisher of Packaged Facts, in a statement. "Asian Americans love to shop and will shop for the best deal. They're big on family, designer goods, technology, Internet shopping and healthy living, and are very open to all modes of promotion, making them an excellent target market." Isn’t that the truth?

Despite their “affluence,” Asian Americans have never been in the forefront of marketers of consumer products and services. When was the last time you saw an Asian American in an ad in a magazine? Maybe in a Benetton ad, or Asian magazines like Jade or iStyle, but nothing else that I can really think of. It would be nice to see more multicultural marketing and advertising in the future.

Growing up, my mom handled all the finances and business at home, all while working a full-time job. So it’s no surprise to me when I hear that major companies like LG are shifting their focus from the male market and beginning to target women.

It is estimated that women in the U.S control about $3.3 trillion in annual consumer spending and $1.5 trillion more in business outlays. And manufacturers like LG want a piece of the cash pie.

I first heard about LG’s marketing plans while reading the UberTrends Newsletter put out by Michael Tchong, a trend analyst based in Manhattan. In it, Tchong mentions the Xnote computer, but it doesn’t say much more in way of details. After doing more research, I found little on the product other than some preliminary reports on the first series of advertisements that are meant to tug at women’s heartstrings.

In one ad, a boy is seen walking up a flight of stairs with a full backpack that is obviously too heavy for him. He sees three girls blowing bubbles with gum. With a smile, the boy comes up with an idea. In the next shot you see the bag is suspended on balloons and the boy is climbing on effortlessly. The ad finishes with a shot of the ultra-light Xnote computer.

Another major company to shift gears and market to the female demographic is Buena Vista Games, a division of Disney. The company is known for producing games for the male-dominated industry. With the popularity of ABC’s hit series Desperate Housewives, BVG is now entering a realm where other gaming companies have never entered before – marketing to the female gamer.

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you missed last week’s premiere episode of Flavor of Love season 2, than you missed something extraordinary! In the first 20 minutes there were cat fights, wardrobe malfunctions and women bravely kissing the man himself. But bigger than any of that, Sunsilk put the advertising smack down! Flavor of Love is VH1’s jewel in the crown that they call “Celebreality” and has been its most watched show to date. Sunsilk created an entire 90 second spot with one of the girls from the house that aired smack in the middle of the 90 minute show. It was very Movie and a Makeover and very impressive.

I am a true believer in the notion that advertising and PR go hand in hand. Sunsilk doesn’t seem to live that mantra, though. One day, out of nowhere the brand was everywhere! It’s pretty amazing, if you ask me. They have inundated the weeklies with two and a half page ads every week in almost every book, every other commercial on television belongs to them and who could miss the voice of Mario Cantone screaming “YELLOWWWW” and not be consumed by glorious memories of his days as Anthony on SATC?

As for PR, Elke, one of my favorite beauty bloggers made it very clear that their idea of sharing the product with the media is all about smoke and mirrors. I’m looking very forward to seeing how Sunsilk trumps last week’s advertising genius but even more interested in seeing when and where the editorial placements will start dropping. I’ve got to say that it is much easier to confirm hits when the product spends money in the book. Haven’t really seen any editorial yet, though.

But, for all of you great brands out there without the dollars to spend, don’t give up hope. A great product and an amazing publicist works just as well. Just ask Joico.

Last week I was having dinner with a friend and we were discussing advertising and pr. He has previously worked at a pr firm and has recently moved into the marketing/advertising side of it. He insists pr has lost its value. He argues that this is due to advertising dollars plummeting—meaning, companies are no longer interested in spending their money for ads—he says that publishers are beginning to negotiate and not only allot them ad space, but will promise so many editorial placements a year. I have been told time and time again that the editor is swayed at times to feature an advertiser—sort of a “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.” Now while I’d like to think this is not true I am constantly reminded of paid sponsorship and deliberate placements that were definitely paid for. I remember a time when I would watch a movie and the brand name would be changed to some “generic” name or would simply be flashed or not shown at all. Now-watching a movie is almost as bad as thumbing through the September issue of a fashion book with ads galore. I was watching “The Island” last week—I know, I know, it was on Cinemax or something, okay! I remember noticing several deliberate placements—from Puma shoes to several food brands. I have written before about the deliberate and I must say annoying interference of product placement on my favorite show Project Runway. Now Best Week Ever, another fave of mine is working with Old Navy and it is ALL OVER THE PLACE.

I mean seriously, can we make it any harder for us to do our jobs. What about the days when an editor actually featured a product because they liked it or because it was actually a great product. Or what about when we could flip through the television without being bombarded with shameless paid sponsorships? Let’s leave product placements to the professionals—the pr professionals—not advertising professionals who charge rediculous amounts of $$$.

The New York Times printed an article titled "Would You Like a Gas Guzzler With That?" about McDonald's featuring toy Hummers in their Happy Meals and environmental groups going crazy. Heck, there's even a Hummer/McDonald's online game for kids to play at www.happymeal.com. In the wake of rising gas prices that just seem to get higher and higher, environmental groups are becoming more and more outspoken. While I agree with the environmental groups that Hummers are in fact gas guzzlers, these toy Hummers that McDonald's has are just that, TOYS! I had a toy race car when I was a kid and a semi-truck and a tractor, some probably from a McDonald's Happy Meal, but I didn't become a race car driver, a trucker or a construction worker. They were just toys I played with.

There is no need to waste time and money trying to get into the Tropicana Bar or Hyde this summer. The party has changed locations. Hollywood hipsters are making the hike up the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu. The costal town in California is the place where all the cool kids hang out. It is the geographical equivalent to the back of the school bus. Malibu is the coolest new club, making the Polaroid Beach House the VIP section.

View image

Sometimes I find myself in dire need of some mindless television to take the edge off. This last Sunday I took the time to watch the first episode of Flavor Flav’s show The Flavor of Love 2. Yes, I was expecting to be entertained, but I never thought I would anticipate the next episode. This was until “Somethin’,” Flav appointed all the contestants nick names, pushed one out on the mansion’s marble staircase. And to boot, after punching around “H-Town” around for messing up her $800 weave, “Saaphyri” was on her knees begging the lord for forgiveness for “whoopin’ this white girl’s ass.” After this, I was hooked.

View image

I was over a girlfriend’s place the other night. Bored and penniless, we decided to watch a DVD from her collection. Since it was my turn to pick out the movie, I walked over to the DVD shelf. As I was skimming through the titles, I noticed something quite bizarre. Not only did she have each individual season of Sex and the City, but she also had the complete six seasons set. Her explanation was that they were different, because the latter was sold as one “special complete set.” After I told her she was ridiculous, and should get her head checked, I realized that HBO is probably making a killing off of people like her.

Gold is the new pink. Shorts are the new pants. Ankle boots are the new slouchy boots. Leggings are the new panty-hose. And 20 is the new 40; at least when it comes to fashion icons. The days of worshipping the middle age women and their daring fashion on Sex and the City have slipped away. Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall have been traded in. The media has upgraded to the newer, younger, hipper, and oh-so stylish twenty-something trendsetters. Nicole Ritchie is the new Carrie Bradshaw.

Men’s Fitness Magazine has just named “The 5 Best Supplements for Men” in their August issue.

Living in New York now going on six years, I have really struggled with eating balanced meals every day and making sure I’m taking the right vitamins and supplements to help my muscles grow and get a better looking physic. I’m proud to say I take 4 out of 5 of these supplements consistently now and I have been seeing great results.

1. A MULTIVITAMIN- I prefer taking a green multivitamin every morning with breakfast and every night with dinner. Not only are getting all the recommended vitamins but also what you’re missing when you don’t eat your green vegetables. It’s like killing two birds with a stone. Be careful though, these vitamins can be as large as “horse” pills. Make sure you find the smallest ones.
2. PROTEIN POWDER- This is my favorite part of my workout. The End. As soon as I get home I like to either MYOPLEX or MUSCLE MILK with sugar free soy milk. Both taste great and you’ll really see a difference in a couple months after consistently drinking it every day.
3. CREATINE- This synthetic energy supplement has been around for a long time. There have been many myths about this but researchers are finding out that it’s ok to take everyday and also mix it with your protein drink. I recommend taking an energy supplement called NO-EXPLODE. I drink this right before my workout and it really keeps me focused while opening my veins to let the blood run faster and also keeps water weight off which CREATINE can tend to add.
4. GREEN TEA- I have to say it’s taken me a couple years to get in the habit of drinking this but I try to have a cup before I go to bed every night. I have to say as hot as it is now in New York, I really enjoy it over ice. Green Tea fights fat. Plain and simple. Drink it!
5. FISH OIL- I haven’t been able to bring myself yet to taking this, but I hear it’s great some good stuff. Fish Oil has been proven to fight against diseases but I myself think it smells to “fishy” and way overpriced.

All five of these are the keys to getting a better looking healthier body and piece of mind and I intend to stick to it.

Fashion is always moving from one extreme to another, and it's really quite simple. The 40 year olds were tired of having fashion icons in their 20's (i.e. Jennifer Aniston in her Friends hey day). Along came Sex and the City with Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristen Davis and Cynthia Nixon becoming fashion icons that women in their 40's could embrace. The problem occurred when the 20-something women also embraced the Sex and the City look. Suddenly the 40-somethings and 20-somethings were dressing alike.

You are cordially invited to attend the beauty & fashion blogging roundtable with Julie Fredrickson & Philip Leif Bjerknes of Coutorture Media, an association of a few hundred fashion and beauty bloggers dedicated to raising the public consciousness of blogging as well as promoting independent perspectives, opinion, and experiences from around the blogosphere.

Hosted & Moderated by Pierce Mattie Public Relations NYC., Next Thursday August 17th at 6:30 pm, join the roundtable discussions on: spamming, astroturfing, press posted on blogs, blogging etiquette, working with publicists and guidelines for PR professionals

Who Should Attend? All publicists who pitch relevant content to bloggers and bloggers who want to be pitched by publicists. To RSVP, contact: Kristen Herburger of Pierce Mattie Public Relations at 212.243.1431, Email Your RSVP to Kristen H

Roundtable art and copy Can be found here

Location:
Pierce Mattie Public Relations, Inc. 62 West 45th Street
Third Floor Between 5th & 6th Avenues

UPDATE: See The event footage. Transcript also available. Fashion and Beauty Bloggers Meet Publicists

Last night we held our Beauty and Fashion Blogging event, and I was happy with the outcome. We will need a bigger space and configure the Q & A session differently as I felt the press conference layout didn't stimulate copious participation from the audience. Philip Leif Bjerknes and Julie Fredrickson of Coutorture were fantastic! In the next few days we will be posting all the transcripts and pod cast links. (see below for transcript of first interview) Second transcript can be found on the www.publicrelationsroundtable.com webste after August 24th. Our objectives for the event were to foster two-way communication between publicists and beauty and fashion bloggers. We wanted to listen to bloggers and get a better understanding of preferences, attitudes, opinions and desired behavior of those whom bloggers work with. We want to continue this communication and look forward to the next gathering! Check out the event photos and please post your name and the name of your blog or company so we can remember who you were! Thanks again for your input and participation.

One of Three
See the other two podcasts with complete transcript of this interview below

Man did my PR phone light up this morning about this one. Every single makeup artist from NY to LA saw WWD and Yahoo PR Wire and freaked. Several calls went into Delux but none were returned. Question is did Jillian leave Delux Beauty? One thing I noticed when reading the newsfeeds on the story today were that NONE of them mention her own brand, just her new partner Avon. That is except for Crains. This isn't the first time we have seen a prestige beauty queen hit the cash button for mass. Anyone remember Poppy King going to Prescriptives? Poppy was the Australian princess of lip gloss from down under and when her beauty brand went bust she turned to Lauder and become the new color authority of custom makeup. I will never forget one day I was on a desk side at Elle waiting in the lobby back when Cara worked in editorial when she was pitching on the sofa her own line. Then sure enough like 30 days later it was Prescriptives. I do love their Line Preventor.

Or what about Troy Surratt who formerly created Tarte Cosmetics and left it to go freelance later appearing in Maybelline commercials. They do make one great concealer; Age Rewind.

Well personally I think she will stay on for both brands. If Michael Kors can do Bergdorf Goodman and QVC why can't a makeup artist? It's all in the label I guess. But don't you think a sub-brand for Avon calling it "Just Jillian" would have been better. I wonder how Mr. Dempsey feels about this one. "Oh my wife and her makeup blah blah blah!"

Do you think you have what it takes to join the most elite group of luxury brand publicists in either our New York or Los Angeles office? If so, we would love to hear from you. Please read the detailed information below on what we look for in our publicists and follow the instructions to apply. We look forward to meeting you in a future interview.

Celebrity gifting has long been a part of award shows and new product launches in hopes of the famous using products for advertising. Every year I always hear about the gift baskets at the Oscars or the MTV awards and wondered - do they ever use any of it? I hope so! But, I've never wondered if the celebs get taxed on any of it. There's often thousands and thousands of dollars worth of products, services, and vacations in these big award show baskets and the celebrities get them for free. Now the IRS is hounding the stars down for all the taxable goodies they've received.

For all the past Oscar show gift bags, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will pay the taxes on all the giftings through 2005. But, starting at this year's Oscars, celebrities will have to report the value of any gifts received on their tax returns. Does that mean that celebrities will have to report products gifted to them from publicists?

Other celebrities have taken another route with their gift baskets. George Clooney donated last year's gift basket to United Way which helped them raise over $45,000. Guess he didn't need it after winning "Best Supporting Actor" for "Syriana."

Many new skincare and hair care products advertise the fact that they are paraben free, but the majority of the population has no clue what parabens are and why they should avoid them.

Parabens are preservatives commonly used in cosmetics and personal care products like shampoos, skin creams, shaving gels, and deodorants, which extend the shelf life of products. Many people have allergic reactions to these preservatives and experience problems such as skin rashes and irritation. Additionally, parabens have been shown to mimic the hormone estrogen in scientific experiments.

Just weeks after Star Jones was fired from her popular daytime talk show, The View, the man with the million dollar smile, Tom Cruise, has been dropped from his 14-year production deal with Paramount Pictures.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone said: "As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," adding that, “"His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

When asked for comment, Paula Wagner, Cruises business partner in his production company, Cruise/Wagner Productions, stated that Redstone's comments were "offensive" and "undignified.”

Cruises films up to 2004 have grossed more than $2.5 billion dollars in domestic box office receipts alone, according to the-movie-times.com. In 2005, Spielberg’s War of the Worlds grossed nearly $600 million world wide in box office tickets, excluding the DVD and rental sales.

The man who now demands $31 million a picture has come a long way since earning only $850 for his work in TAPS (1981), but after Mission Impossible III opened to less that stellar reviews and box office sales, and this latest development with Paramount, the million-dollar man may need to start looking for a new job at the Scientology Center in Beverly Hills. After all, it has been alluded to in the past that the church is a leading reason for Cruises antics, and now he has lost one of the most lucrative production deals ever commanded by an A-list Hollywood star. It sounds to me list someone could use some major PR damage control. Pierce Mattie PR’s number is at the bottom.

Here is the first segment of the Fashion and Beauty Bloggers Event. Unfortunately we had to brake it up into a ten-pack, 10 min segments because of the YouTube file size requierments. If you want to automatically be notified when we post the rest of the segments just subscribe to our YouTube channel. In this segment you will find:

- Introduction to Host and guest speakers - How did the the fashion and beauty blog community of 180 industry blogs start? - Who are the bloggers in the community? - Treating bloggers with the same respect as journalists and editors and what bloggers should do to earn that respect when a blogger has no formal journalism training or experience working with publicists. - The basics, fact checking - RSS feeds make it hard to retract bad facts in posts - The value to a blogger working with a publicist

We invite you to join the discussion on the site and participate in educating bloggers and publicists on how to work together professionally, ethically and effectively in this "new" publishing platform. Get more information at on the Public Relations Roundtable website.

Other links: Flickr | Myspace | YouTube |

Last night, I went to go see my most favorite singer in concert at the Garden - Mariah Carey! Despite some so-so reviews I read today, I thought it was an amazing show. She sang almost all her #1 singles, everything from Vision of Love, which gave me goose bumps – to the longest running #1 single, One Sweet Day, and the most recent songs from her latest album, The Emancipation of Mimi.

Not only did she sing her greatest hits, but there were many surprise guests joining her on stage, including: DJ Clue in between song sets, Da Brat and Jay Z during “Heartbreaker,” while P. Diddy joined her as she sang “Honey.” Trey Lorenz did the “I’ll be There” duet with her, which sounded just like it did when they originally sang it on MTV’s Unplugged years ago.

Though there were some diva moments (Did we really need to be reminded that she has 17 number one singles?) and diva outfits (or lack of!)– Mariah’s voice still took center stage. I LOVED it!

*Since I didn't take my own pictures, images are from Mariah Daily.

While watching E! News last week, I was made aware of what some people are calling the “MTV Curse”- referring to the eventual break-up or divorce of all couples who decide to do an MTV reality show based on their romance. As we all know, Nick and Jessica, stars of Newlyweds, the first MTV show of its kind, have called it quits. So we thought, “OK… that’s sad, but at least we still have other famous-couple-reality-shows we can tune into week after week in order to see what it’s really like to be famous, wealthy, and in love.” However, our options are growing slim.

As the end of summer is approaching and the intense heat is starting to fade, we all sit and wonder what we’ll be wearing once the fall season rolls around. Year after year, the end of summer always signals a change in fashion as women everywhere pack up their summer clothes and add some layers for cooler weather. Last fall, we saw an emergence of hip-slung belts, hobo bags, and rich hues of teal and purple. This fall, however, the fashion forecast is animal prints, skinny jeans, waist-cinching belts, and basic black, white, and red.

Like many women, shopping is my cardio. I feel a personal connection to every item I purchase and a pain in my heart anytime I happen to pass by a boutique or shoe store that has closed its doors forever. That said, imagine the agony I felt this morning as reports of Shop, Etc.’s closing rolled in. Apparently, an adoring readership and praise in focus groups isn’t enough. Advertisers are the lifeblood of most publications, and a circulation of 675,000 simply wasn’t impressive enough to the advertisers that would have kept them afloat.

For me, this closing is a double-pronged stab. First, as a shopper and confessed shoe-holic, the pages of Shop, Etc. provided me with eye candy even when I couldn’t leave my desk to go on a shoe binge. Secondly, as a beauty publicist who has to compete with advertisers for page space, the more mag pages out there, the better. Every time a publication shuts its doors, it lessens the opportunities for placements. I know what you’re thinking… how dare I lament the loss of placement space when there are people losing office space and very likely gaining more empty space in their bank accounts? My response: the space I occupy in my office is directly related to the amount page space I am able to acquire. Plus, the staff at Shop is so talented that I’m sure it won’t be long until I’m calling and bugging all the beauty girls at some other publication.

I have been in Los Angeles now for one week interviewing PR candidates for our beauty and fashion division. Edy Eliza, our LA director and I have pretty much seen the gamut of publicists whether lifestyle or fashion, entertainment or personality based – LA has a vast mix of media beats, uniquely different from Manhattan.

Independent writers, editors, thinkers and stylemakers, the voice of bloggers is loud and recognized by mainstream media. It's about time!

people.com, the online source for celebrity breaking news and gossip has added a blog to the StyleWatch section, complete with readers’ posts, a “Hot Finds” column and topics like “Can We Talk About Last Night’s Project Runway” to tear into. CNN launched a new blog like feature called "i report" where you can post your story, upload video and photos which then are boradcast live on CNN.

Bloggers the world over can give themselves a pat on the back, as they are in-part responsible for this leak into the mainstream. Those “in the mainstream” are finally getting the hint that the majority of the online community responds and interacts well with blogs, getting their news, fashion tips, recipes and other information from the open and honest posts of bloggers.

The people.com blog brings about an interesting complexity: unlike most blogs, this one is backed and funded by Time Inc. How honest and transparent can it be? How will readers relate? Will it be a trusted source for beauty news and fashion tips? Only Time will tell.

So go ahead, leave a comment to this post, share your favorite "obscure" blogs, or head over to one of the new mainstream blogs, we know you’re dying to let people.com know what you think of Cameron’s New Look.

I just returned from the MAGIC show in Vegas, where I was publicizing my amazing new clients from Aaron Barak, a new line of luxury leather bags and accessories for men. We had a great time meeting with all the editors, and even a few film crews, but I must say that my feet and back are killing me. I think I’m going to need a bit of magic to recover. I have nothing but respect for the ladies who were working the pumps all week.

Among the highlights at the show were the amazing booths by Perry Ellis, Sean John and Levi. The amount of money that these companies have spent is more than obvious. Their booths, along with dozens of others, were more elaborate than most houses. Some even had two levels with roofs, running water, phone lines and more. The excitement wasn’t limited to the show though.

The L.A. office for Pierce Mattie PR threw an amazing party at the Palms for one of our new clients, STAGR. This is a really cool line of custom graphic T-shirts, which customers create themselves on their home computers. Once they finalize their design, they submit it on the company’s website and in a few days they have their new shirt. The party was packed, and the D.J. was a former cast member from MTV’s Road Rules. Alyssa Milano was also in the same section of the private suites as us, as was Russell Simmons, who was there for the Phat Farm party.

With the foot and back pain aside, I had a great time and can’t wait to go back next year.