IT'S a week for decommissioning ancient feuds we suppose, so what could be more "tting than the Mansion House Public Relations Consultants' Association Awards dinner rapprochement between the black tie and cocktail-dressfestooned grandees of the PR world and their keynote speaker, Bertie Ahern, who in the Dail just last December described the industry as a shower of wasters.

"Personally, I think people in the private sector or in the government sector who pay any kind of big money for this . . . and particularly thinking that it's going to do something great . . . is, in my view, most of the time a waste of money. . . I think it is an industry that is far bigger than it merits, " he said then.

But all was forgotten when PRCA chairman Paul Allen (of whom Tribune Business is an avowed fan, it must be admitted) spoke about the current and, Allen predicted, future Taoiseach in terms so glowing that even hard-bitten "acks were seen to redden. Allen reportedly found common ground between client, agency and politician by standing strong against the ancient enemy, we the meeja.

While we congratulate Bewleys (MPRA Kinman), Greenstar (Drury Communications), Unilever (Weber Shandwick FCC) and the other winners, it might be time for the industry's spokesmen to "nd a different target.

BLINK OF THE EAR CLEAR

Channel, the super-sized American company that owns more than 1,200 stations, launched the world's tiniest bite-sized radio ads last week, lasting just one second, called 'blinks'. A blink would run between two songs.

US trade bible Advertising Age reported that the company has made up demo versions of the concept featuring a few notes from the McDonald's 'I'm Lovin' It' campaign, sans words. Other obvious candidates include the jarring four-note 'Intel Inside' jingle.

"It really is to "nd new uses of radio for advertisers who are continually asking us to demonstrate that our medium can successfully extend brands, can successfully reach the consumer with touchpoints that are new and surprising, " Jim Cook of Clear Channel told the magazine.

Executives on this side of the Atlantic will look to see if advertisers, and listeners, are convinced.

ALICE, WHO THE F*CK IS ALICE?

IT'S not your imagination. It's not even some Gift Grub sketch gone horribly wrong. It really is shock rocker Alice Cooper presenting a three-hour guitar music radio programme on Today FM on Saturday evenings at 6pm. It is not presented from the station's Abbey Street studios, however.

Veteran Irish DJ Dusty Rhodes, managing director of Digital Audio Productions (DAP), who brokered the deal to bring Cooper to the Irish airwaves, is already a leading player in syndication, still new to the Irish market. DAP's six-hour danceformat HotMix programme features on Dublin's 98FM, Galway Bay FM and other stations across the country.

IN-GAME ADVERTISING

THE market for ads placed within video games played on PCs is predicted to grow at a rapid pace, from $80m in 2005 to $400m in 2009, according to US-based market research "rm Parks Associates. That follows a prediction earlier this year that in-game advertising overall, including games played on consoles, would become a $2bn business by 2010.

Parks also reported that men and women gamers differed in the sort of ads they were willing to tolerate in their game. Men prefer more subtle product placement (49%) to pregame ads (22%). Women, on the other hand, who represent the fastest-growing segment of gamers, prefer pre-game ads (42%) to product placement (36%).

Fortunately, they're unlikely to be playing the same games. But not all is rosy for game developers.

Consumers expect to get a discount on games that include ads.