NEW YORK, NY June 18, 2003 — Mayor Bloomberg is setting new records - for low approval ratings. Polls show most New Yorkers wouldn't even want to have dinner with him. And even many sympathetic observers think he could do better at getting out the message that things will be okay. WNYC's Fred Mogul reports on some different approaches for improving the mayor's image.

Mayor Bloomberg is at the point in the spin cycle when many politicians would bring in the big guns: a Dick Morris, a David Gergen - a veteran image-maker to craft a new message. But this is the city of Madison Avenue, so I thought some other types of marketing whizzes might want to weigh in on what the mayor really needs

Salmansohn: New Yorkers, I feel, are depressed right now, and because of their depression, they're sort of projecting. And so we're putting some of our gloom onto his Bloom(berg), so to speak

Karen Salmansohn is a packager - she designs products, like Mr. Pit Stop body wash, and writes sassy self-help books, like The Seven Lively Sins.

Salmansohn2: How do we cheer up depressed NYers? You know how right now they're considering replacing, reducing token booth clerks? I thought what we could do is replace them with pro bono therapists so when you go to buy tokens, you get a little token advice. Or just have them sort of randomly, pro bono therapists, wandering around on the benches of subway stations or on the cars, and so as you're sitting there, you're waiting, you get a little therapy, you cheer up a little bit.

Many people agree. The mayor can, and needs to, play a pivotal role in improving the city's collective mood. Sam Firer, a restauranteur and promoter of all things culinary, thinks the mayor actually is a funny guy - but it doesn't come across. Over breakfast at the W Hotel, where Times Square tourists wait in vain for super-models to flit by, Firer tells me the mayor needs to open himself up to the people, in the most au courant way possible.

Firer1: A reality show for a week at Gracie Mansion would do wonders for him. -You know, he doesn't live in Gracie Mansion That's why I said he would have to spend at least a week there. I wouldn't want to invade his house, but I'd like him to be openThere should be cams, and people should be able to tune in to whatever room they want to, whatever going-ons. You don't really see how he works, how hard it is or what's going on. We just get pronouncements. It's a little regal. And I don't think we deal well with royalty here. We love celebrities, but not royalty

Of course, even royalty need to dress down occasionally, and mingle with the masses. Minerva Hutchinson works with many fashion designers for Project Solvers, and she thinks the emperor needs some new clothes, care of hip-hop impresario Sean Puffy Combs.

Hutchinson: His look is just so dated. I would suggest for work, a nice tailored suit from Sean John. They're very trendy - very urban, rather, but quite stylish --What's Puffy gonna do for the mayor? What kind of signal's it gonna send out? What do you think people would look at and see? They'd say, Wow! Our mayor is hip! I think it would just give him a little more relaxed look about him, because he definitely needs that. He's a little uptight. -You think a short, white Jewish guy in his sixties can pull off Sean John? Absolutely. It doesn't have anything to do with race or color or anything of that sort. It just has to do with fashion and style. --What else you got on tap for him? I would say some cargo pants from Echo, maybe a nice pullover hooded fleece sweatshirt from Triple-5 Soul would be nice, some Uptown Whities, as well, if hes going to the game, or if he's just going to take a walk on a Saturday to the corner store or on Sunday to get the paper. -Even to get the paper, he should put some thought into a Absolutely. He's the mayor, and he represents us.

It might not be so easy for Mayor Bloomberg to defect from Barney's and Brooks Brothers. Executive image consultant Leslie Gaines-Ross, of Burson-Marstellar, says he's not just any CEO - he's one who founded his own privately-held empire and never needed to answer to shareholders. Now, his investors are the citizens and voters of New York. And to move us, she says, Bloomberg will need to get closer to us to get into our heads.

Gaines-Ross: Some CEO's do this: a day in the life of an employee. How about a day in the life of a NYer, and have Mayor Bloomberg follow someone, shadow someone - sit next to a taxi driver, go behind a pharmacy counter up in Brooklyn. Do some things that regular NYers do every day. -When Prince Abdullah, King Hussein's son, first took over the monarchy, they said he was going around incognito, to find out what was on the mind of Jordanians. You think this is one of the things he could do? Well, I think a lot of people might recognize him, but maybe if he had a hat on.

or a new fleece pullover. With that and his reality TV show, writer and packager Karen Salmansohn, thinks Bloomberg should take a cue from her ideal communicator, a squeeze doll she invented named Mr. Right :

Salmansohn: Mr. Right, actually, he knows to keep it simple: Did you lose weight? You look thin. That could do well with the female voters. Can I take you shoe shopping? And of course that could do very well with the female voters, and also help our economy by getting them out there and maybe shopping with a few women and maybe getting them to buy things and tell them how good they look and things like that. --Instead of a dinner with the mayor, maybe a shopping date?A shopping date with the mayor, actually, I think would be very good for the economy, especially if we're using his credit card.

For WNYC, I'm Fred Mogul.