PR builds a brand, advertising nurtures it

“The Fall of Advertising
& the Rise of PR”
By Al Ries and Laura Ries
Harper Business, 2003


The debate is endless. Which has the pre-eminent role: public relations or advertising?

But, this debate is fairly recent. In the not so distant past, the advertising function – here and worldwide – has had pre-eminence over public relations. The budget for advertising was usually much bigger, while public relations would settle for the crumbs.

In the organizational chart, the advertising manager draws a higher salary, rides a company car with a larger engine displacement, and is blessed with a bigger manpower complement. The subordinate role of public relations is even more pronounced in a marketing communications company itself (translated: advertising agency), where the public relations director runs a small department doing “product publicity support”.

In presenting an advertising plan, publicity (not even public relations) means putting little captions on photos, courtesy of the advertising (or hired) photographer, or writing stories that are a rehash of “great advertising copy”. The budgets say it all: PR is in the league of another item: “below-the-line advertising.”

Advertising is supposed to be well-entrenched as the undisputed king of communications that builds brands (whether products or institutions). But here comes this book with a shocking title: “The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR.”

You ask: Is this one of those outrageous, unfounded claims of a clearly biased PR man or a disillusioned advertising executive? No. It is written by Al Ries, co-author of the bestselling “Positioning” book, generously illustrated by great advertising visuals and copy. Authors do change their minds. In the same way, author Tom Peters changed his mind about companies whom he earlier identified as “models of excellence” only to collapse from their own bureaucratic weight.

Now, Al Ries dishes out something subversive: “Advertising is not brand building. That’s the role and function of PR.” So, what’s left for Advertising? “Advertising is brand maintenance,” he adds. Ever in the mood to argue his case, Ries asks: “Supposed you were offered a choice: You can run an advertisement in our newspaper or magazine or we’ll run your story as an article. How many companies would prefer an ad to an article?”

The 295-page book is a well-reasoned point that public relations (Ries interchanges it with publicity) “is the argument, while advertising is the reminder.” The Ries book is made up of five parts – but the tension is in the first two parts: “The Fall of Advertising” where he traced the decline of the ad function as a credibility vehicle, and “The Rise of PR,” where he underscores the “power of the third party” endorsement.

The book provides, not only contrast but perspective about the functions of PR and advertising – which should be complementary, not mutually exclusive. Using a fable by Aesop, he points out: “Advertising is the wind, PR is the sun.” Part of the fable runs thus:

The sun and the wind wanted to find out who was stronger of the two. Seeing a traveler down the road, they decided to settle the issue – Who can make the traveler take off his coat. The wind blew, and the traveler wrapped his coat around him. The harder the wind blew, the tighter the traveler held on to his coat. It was the sun’s turn. It began to shine. Soon the traveler felt the sun’s warmth – and took off his coat.

Ries’s object lesson: “You can’t force your way into the prospect’s mind … the harder the sell, the harder the wind blows, the harder the prospect resists.”

In this book, Ries recounts several sad stories of multi-million dollar advertising campaigns that did not result in increased sales for companies—in the United States mostly. He also has a list of success stories on account of good public relations – Microsoft, Starbucks, Viagra, Amazon.com, etc. It is interesting to find out some local stories in the Philippines.

Near the book’s concluding part, Ries argues a new role for advertising – maintaining the brand, keeping on course, and firing on all cylinders. There are engaging stories on products that had gone off course – including Coke’s abandonment of a winning slogan: “The Real Thing.” For these accounts alone, this book is a treasure.

Meanwhile, back to a question asked earlier: If you are given a choice between free advertisement or a full length story in a broadsheet or magazine, what’s your choice? If you go for that story, you have just affirmed the big role of PR. Does that end all debates? No. The passionate debate has just begun.