Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

• The Wall Street Journal has the Times in its sights. The paper is hiring a dozen reporters to cover local news and will launch a NYC edition next year. [NYT]
• As expected, a big round of layoffs at Time Inc. is underway. [Gawker, NYT]
• Harvey and Bob Weinstein may be looking to buy back the Miramax name from Disney now that it's being disbanded. That's the rumor anyway. [Wrap]
• Bloomberg plans to make BusinessWeek "bigger, glossier, and more international." Oh, and it may start charging for access to the BW site. [MW]
• The Oscars will have two hosts: Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. [LAT]More

Bob Dylan Sells Out to Citigroup | Were you aware that Bob Dylan is releasing a Christmas album next month? The story gets even stranger today. It seems Dylan has now inked a deal with the America's most troubled financial institution to help market it: More

Do you remember Citigroup's "Live Richly" ad campaign from a few years ago? The bank spent more than $100 million plastering American cities with various cheeky sayings from 2001 to 2005. When the campaign was first introduced, it was during the mini-recession of 2001, and since Citi's existence wasn't threatened during that particular downturn, the bank managed to find some humor in the fact many Americans had lost their jobs or weren't earning as much as they had in the past. If you look back at them now, though, you'll see that they contain lots of useful advice for the 53,000 people who have been laid off by the bank over the past year ("Make ends meet. Bend down and touch your toes"), as well as the Citi employees who have managed to hang on, but who won't be collecting fat bonuses now that the federal government owns a third of the bank ("Go on a spending diet, but don't forget to sneak a little dessert"). Click here to experience the irony in all its embarrassing glory.

Melrose Place Makes It To Manhattan | No, some inventive real estate developer didn't acquire rights to the name "Melrose Place" to use for his new apartment building. (Although, come to think of it, that may not be such a bad idea.) The ads taped to lampposts—which feature tear-off strips stamped with the address MelrosePlaceApts.com—are just part of a guerrilla marketing campaign by producers of the TV show. But it is refreshing to see a "broker" touting the "hottest property on the market" holding a glass of champagne, isn't it? It's like 2006 all over again. [Public Ad Campaign] 

The Valedictory Address of the Future? | Meet Kenya Mejia, this year's valedictorian at Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. If her remarks at last month's graduation ceremony strike you as a bit forced, there's a good reason for that. Mejia may be the first high school student in history to insert a product placement into a graduation speech, a plug for the romantic comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper for which Twentieth Century Fox paid her $1,800.More

It's no secret that the situation at the Plaza has been pretty grim what with all the apartments for sale that haven't been selling, retail space that hasn't been renting, bitter lawsuits, and reports of shoddy construction work. And it definitely wasn't a great sign when the condo/hotel started offering free architecture tours to lure people into the building a couple of months ago. We're going to guess, though, that the Plaza's new marketing approach—offering Eloise-themed party packages—won't do much to improve matters: "The Live Like Eloise Slumber Party Package accommodates six guests and includes a suite, a copy of The Eloise Guide to Life, Eloise DVDs, Eloise postcards, Eloise snacks, rollaway beds, and a trophy party for elementary schoolers, or, the hotel hopes, a 'girls night' for adult women. It starts at $3,595." It's really too bad those Russian billionaires who bought condos in the building are moving out. They would have totally loved this. [NYO]

There's a new Hamptons venue you'll want to add to the list of places to stay miles away from this summer. Actually, it's not new. It Dune in Southampton, which is sporting a new name this season—"The Axe Lounge"—as part of a silly marketing scheme concocted by, yes, Axe. The stunt is the brainchild of Mike Heller, the nightlife promoter-turned-entertainment marketer whose stellar resume includes putting a smoke-free tobacco product called Ariva in the hands of Lindsay Lohan and connecting America's Next Top Model's CariDee English with Raptiva, which is apparently a psoriasis medication of some sort. (He's the one crouching down in the photo, by the way.)More

Do you know how to "flirtext"? No? Prepare to be single for the rest of your life then. Flirtexting is what women "have to learn" to keep up with the 21st century dating scene, according to Olivia Baniuszewicz and Debra Goldstein, the authors of a new book called Flirtexting: How To Text Your Way To His Heart, who describe themselves as "graduates of The Rules and He's Just Not That Into You"). Now that we live in the "A.C. world of dating"—that stands for "after cell"—it's essential that women be comfortable with flirtexting etiquette, the duo claim, although men can still send the same old boring text messages they've always sent. (Flirtexting isn't for men, since it's a little "girly," explain the authors.) But if all of this sounds a little sexist and clichéd, well, think again.More

A Not So Timely Guerrilla Marketing Campaign | What's stranger: The fact that this man was seen all over town yesterday marketing a sex toy website dressed as George Bush and holding a "Stimulating the economy" sign? (It seems no one has informed the company that Bush is no longer president and another guy is in charge of "stimulating" the economy these days.) Or that the name of the company references a TV show that went off the air half a decade ago? Hard to say! A tipster sent this in to us a little while ago, but there's footage of him acting out in Midtown, too, if you're interested.

Lindsay Lohan is having money trouble, at least according to unnamed friends of the starlet who tell the Daily News today that Lindsay is "living on credit right now" since "she has no cash," and is supporting herself thanks to Sam Ronson. Her financial predicament isn't because she's turning down cheesy commercials (as this Italian spot makes clear), or because she has any issue with slapping her name on any number of products, like leggings or spray-on tanner. Just in case that isn't clear, look no further than former nightlife promoter-turned-entertainment marketer Mike Heller, who was profiled over the weekend in amNew York and who has been working with Lohan to "exploit" her "brand."More

Shelter of Shame | Here's an unsettling ad campaign that will probably make it to NYC in the near future: A gym in the Netherlands configured a bus shelter so that the weight of the person sitting down on the bench is displayed for all to see. Painful, huh? But maybe this is the radical approach Gwyneth Paltrow should consider adopting given she's having so much trouble finding people to join her new gym in Tribeca? It's not like reminding the public at large that they're all fatter than her could do much more damage to her already battered reputation, could it? [Adfreak]

• Despite the gloomy predictions last week, this year's Oscars did better than last year's telecast: Ratings were up 13% according to Nielsen. [THR]
• Condi Rice has signed a three-book deal with Crown worth $2.5 million. [AP]
• The parent company of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday. [E&P]
• Some analysts are suggesting News Corp. shed its newspaper assets. [NYT]
• Conan's finale on Friday earned the show its best ratings in two years. [NYP]
• Ad guru Peter Arnell's rebranding work for Tropicana didn't work out as planned, and now the company says it will go back to its old packaging. [NYT]

It's no surprise that legendary author Gay Talese has yet to fulfill the three-book contract he signed with Knopf in 1991. He's spent the past few days crafting signs for homeless people so they can panhandle more effectively. Really. As he told one of the men he encountered on the street, "the big bankers and industrial leaders the government was bailing out had lobbyists and public relations companies doing their bidding," and if the men on the street had any chance, they'd have to "tap into the topicality of their plight." So he went home and made up a bunch of signs referencing President Obama and the stimulus bill, handed them out to people, and then "took down names and phone numbers," so he could follow up to see how they did. We're not sure how it is that homeless people now have phones, but perhaps that's just because Talese is already making a difference?

Let's say you just launched a new product line, or opened a small boutique. You desperately need to advertise your company, but you don't have the cash to buy ads in magazines or plaster billboards across town. What to do? The website Public Ad Campaign created an instructional video that explains how to open up break open a New York City phone booth, remove the silly poster for Verizon or Burger King or whatever, and replace it with a poster of your own. Yes, of course, it's totally illegal—and you'll need a bunch of tools to do it—but as evidenced by the video below, it's not like passerby will pay you any mind while to carry out your guerrilla ad campaign. More

Sure, this new marketing strategy for 75 Wall Street isn't quite as posh as its website (or the campaign envisioned when the project was first announced), but at least they didn't scribble "Designed by David Rockwell!" in chalk. [Flickr]