Joining Russel Howcroft (Y&R Group) and Todd Sampson (Leo Burnett) for a rigorous Gruen spin class this week are self-described marketing bloke and occasional propagandist Toby Ralph, and a PR veteran of 15 years, Suzy Yates. On the Renovators this week, we look at the ways mining companies try to make us love them. With the watered-down mining tax legislation expected to get through parliament this week, we ask why these companies are still trying to win our hearts and minds. Is their investment in local communities just a diversion, to distract us from their mega- profits? And as ‘global warming’ became the softer sounding ‘climate change’, can the mining companies substitute ‘fracking’ with the gentler ‘seam stimulation’? Oh, and one last thing, what do you do when Alan Jones decides to attack you? On How Do You Sell...The PR cyclone Kim Kardashian and sister Khloe whipped through Sydney last week. How has this LA reality TV family managed to create an empire that turned over $70 million last year? Everyone bitches that she’s famous for absolutely nothing, but that fame just grows and grows. What is the need in us that Kim answers? On The Pitch, we ask our agencies to help an industry under threat. If you believe Clubs Australia, new poker machine laws will ruin this country. So to help the industry, we’ve asked our agencies to come up with a campaign to convince Australians to free the pokies from restrictive club environments and let them find new markets in shops, schools, waiting rooms. wherever… Jack Watts Currie Vs DraftFCB