Earlier this week, the AP that TiVo is cutting its marketing and subscriber acquisition costs to stay profitable after losing subscribers. A source close to TiVo, though, told PRWeek that the company, whose AOR is Ruder Finn, has not yet cut its PR budget.

“But [TiVo] is more cost conscious,” the source said. “We realize that throwing money at a big idea or event wouldn’t be realistic in this economy.”

For instance, TiVo plans to forgo its annual fall event that showcases an A-list celebrity, the source said. The company is moving forward with more conservative PR events geared at the holiday season, and product and partnership announcements.

It’s nice to know that while you’re packing your sunblock and setting your out of office message, the government is still working hard.

The SEC voted to open up a public comment period for the eventual adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). It would be used by all companies in the US by 2014 replacing the US GAAP system currently in use. Owing to the global state of the capital markets and the fact that over 100 countries use IFRS already, Chairman Cox calls an international system “a goal worth pursuing.” Here’s the with the reaction, including investor concerns. It was a topic that came up at this year’s NIRI conference, so IROs seem to be preparing already.

In related SEC news, the commission also voted to update the disclosure requirements for international companies trading in the US. Read that release here.

The fallout begins for the LPGA, which announced via Golfweek that it would require all of its athletes to be proficient in English by 2009 or face suspension.

At least five organizations and public figures issued statements about the policy, calling on sponsors to withdraw support and the tour to end the policy, which they say is discriminatory. Forty-five tour golfers are and claims have been raised that the LPGA is targeting Asian players.

The Asian American Justice Center statement encourages current LPGA sponsors to withdraw support, stating in a news release that the “policy is tantamount to national origin discrimination.”

California State Assemblymember Mike Eng issued a statement about a letter he wrote to the LPGA expressing his disappointment about the “discriminatory policy,” as did the Japanese American Citizens League and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. The Korean American Coalition, Los Angeles chapter, says the policy targets South Korean players.

Libba Galloway, deputy commissioner of the LPGA, told the International Herald Tribune that: “We live in a sports-entertainment environment … For an athlete to be successful today in the sports entertainment world we live in, they need to be great performers on and off the course, and being able to communicate effectively with sponsors and fans is a big part of this.”

The Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) and the Wal-Mart Foundation’s “Drive Smarter Challenge,” which helps the public reduce gas usage, has expanded into the Hispanic market and partnered with NASCAR, said Rozanne Weissman, director of communications and marketing for ASE.

PRWeek’s Ted McKenna originally covered the campaign in a May 16 article called “Nonprofits team up to help public reduce gas usage.”

“When we raised more money, our first priority was to do outreach to the Hispanic community,” Weissman said. The ASE signed with the Hispanic Communications Network in June and introduced Spanish-language PSAs and a song called “Driving and Saving” (”Manejando y Ahorrando”) song, in mp3 and ringtone versions this month. HCN, who worked pro bono on the campaign, also provided Spanish-language print columns with money-saving gas tips to send to Hispanic media. Consumers can also sign up to receive weekly money-saving tips in Spanish via text message.

NASCAR, the 19th partner in the Drive Smarter Challenge, is working with the campaign by including car care tips on its reality television show NASCAR Angels, featuring PSAs during the NASCAR Performance Live weekly radio show, and offering drivers like Sam Hornish, Jr., who hosts for the campaign.

Yansi Fugel is a designer who, unlike many in the industry, has developed a digital strategy to promote her new line.

Designer Yansi Fugel has taken on the identity of a fashion editor named Ella Branford. The character is one of three fictional avatars created as a digital tactic to promote her new travel line, Travel Jersey. In September, the avatars, including the editor, a widower, and a zoologist, will provide information on the line’s different pieces and looks, as well as a travel itinerary, as inspired by the avatars’ destinations.

Fugel will introduce the fantasy avatar and travel itinerary concept first in her pre-design line sheets and then live on a new e-commerce site slated to launch in February. She hopes the site will allow for cross-marketing opportunities with the businesses listed in the avatars’ travel itineraries. Currently, Fugel’s internal PR team is conducting media outreach for the concept, participating in the trade show Expose, and showing five washable looks in the Tide-sponsored Style 360 fashion show.

When asked in a recent interview how she would define the initiative in terms of marketing or PR, Fugel said, “It’s not anything that’s driven by print media. It’s new in terms of being [part of] the digital era.”

While those dipping their toes in the new media landscape continue to debate about who owns digital - PR, advertising, social media firms, etc. - it’s especially hard for the fashion folks, even those who, like Fugel, are working in the space, to hear “PR” and not associate it with the pre-conceived duties of a publicist or traditional outreach.

Fugel never directly associated the concept with PR, but she explained, “It’s about the product and what we’re doing. I think it’s interesting from a PR perspective because it’s new and different.”

It sure sounds like PR to me, even if the designer herself, as opposed to her internal PR team, came up with the idea.

The laundry list of new guidelines and technological advances coming out of the Securities and Exchange Commission with the announcement last week that the “1980s-era EDGAR database” will be scrapped for the new Interactive Data Electronic Applications system. IDEA for short, the system is being built from scratch and will allow investors to sift through information however they choose.

EDGAR Online issued a release in support of the measure, calling it an opportunity to further support the adoption of electronic filing systems. In a statement, EDGAR Online CEO and president Philip Moyer says it’s something that the company “has advocated for years through its involvement in the development of XBRL [eXtensible Business Reporting Language] as an interactive data solution.”

In my column this week, I wrote about a recent article in the New York Times that discussed how The Daily’s Show with Jon Stewart has, over the past eight years, become an almost trusted source of news and desired pit stop for celebrities and politicians alike. Even so, it was a little bit surprising that Stewart’s criticism of the cable news media, including his spat with Fox News is something that is being reported as though it is coming from a legitimate media critic. Come on people!  Stewart is lampooning the media in the same way that Saturday Night Live has satirized TV shows, newscasts, and movies for more than 30 years. The fact that the media has devoted so much space to his criticisms, and has taken it so seriously, just proves his point further.  Thoughts?

Kami Huyse has posted an entry with her favorite blog posts from the eight blogs still in our competition.

PRWeek previously reported that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had hired Hill & Knowlton to handle outreach in Asia and the Middle East for it, and that the group intended to hire a second firm shortly. It looks like that second agency is Euro RSCG, according to a Reuters report.  AMO, a global network of strategic and financial communications consultancies, was hired as the second firm, responsible (for outreach in Africa and Latin America outreach, Reuters said.) for outreach in Africa, Latin America, and Europe.

More on this story to come. 

Read more »

Cedra Clinical Research, an overnight clinical research company based in Austin, TX, launched getyourdrugon.com earlier this summer. Users can create drugs to prescribe, and send, to friends.

While it mostly went out to friends and family then, Cedra is preparing an official kickoff on September 24 to coincide with a fall campaign.

The message is build awareness about patient recruitment for clinical trials, says Prentice Howe, creative director at Door Number 3, a branding agency also based in Austin. He notes that it’s a “very friendly way” to encourage participation.

“It softens what can be a very intimidating topic,” he told PRWeek.