Bestselling authors and world-renowned marketing strategists Al and Laura Ries usher in the new era of public relations.

Today's major brands are born with publicity, not advertising. A closer look at the history of the most successful modern brands shows this to be true. In fact, an astonishing number of brands, including Palm, Starbucks, the Body Shop, Wal-Mart, Red Bull and Zara have been built with virtually no advertising.

Using in-depth case histories of successful PR campaigns coupled with those of unsuccessful advertising campaigns, The Fall of Advertising provides valuable ideas for marketers -- all the while demonstrating why

* Advertising lacks credibility, the crucial ingredient in brand building, and how only PR can supply that credibility;

* The big bang approach advocated by advertising people should be abandoned in favor of a slow build-up by PR;

* Advertising should only be used to maintain brands once they have been established through publicity.

Bold and accessible, The Fall of Advertising is bound to turn the world of marketing upside down.

 

Not long ago, four New York City nurses were killed when they drove off the top of a motel's five-story parking garage. The story made all of the New York papers, including the front page of the New York Post. Sixteen hundred mourners attended the funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral, and one of the speakers was Mayor Giuliani. Typical newspaper headline: "Angels Take Wing As 1,600 Say Goodbye."

Nurses are nurses. Advertising executives are advertising executives and are not likely to get the same reception -- in life or in death. If four advertising executives had died driving off the Brooklyn Bridge after a three-martini lunch, the media would have treated the story quite differently. "Hucksters Go to Hell in a Honda."

Face reality. In a recent Gallup poll on the honesty and ethics of people in thirty-two different professions, advertising and advertising practitioners ranked near the bottom, right between insurance salesmen and car salesmen. (Shown at left is an abbreviated list with the percentage of respondents who felt people of each profession were honest.)

If you don't believe what an insurance or a car salesman tells you, why would you believe what you read in an advertisement? Both sources have the same degree of credibility.

Not only does advertising have an external problem with the public, but it also has an internal problem.

Advertising's Problem Inside the Corporation

"What strategy does your advertising agency suggest?" we recently asked the CEO of a large client.

"We never ask our agency what to do," he replied. "We tell them."

The advertising era is over. Today clients seldom trust their ad agencies to help them make all-important strategic decisions. What used to be a marketing partnership has degenerated into a client/vendor relationship. (A Patrick Marketing Group study of senior marketing executives found that only 3 percent of those interviewed claimed to have delegated the responsibility for establishing their brand identities to their advertising agencies.)

A recent survey of eighteen hundred business executives by the American Advertising Federation (AAF) shows that public relations is more highly regarded than advertising. The executives were asked which departments were most important to their company's success. Here are the results:

• Product development -- 29 percent
• Strategic planning -- 27 percent
• Public relations -- 16 percent
• Research & development -- 14 percent
• Financial strategies -- 14 percent
• Advertising -- 10 percent
• Legal -- 3 percent

Only the legal department ranked lower than advertising in the AAF survey. Advertising might account for a substantial share of a company's budget, but in the eyes of management its stature has been seriously eroded.

So what did the AAF do to counter the low score the advertising department received? They did what many companies do when they find themselves in trouble. They launched an advertising campaign to improve advertising's perception in the business community. Theme: "Advertising. The way great brands get to be great brands."

The foregoing is excerpted from Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, The by Al Ries and Laura Ries. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022

 

"Al and Laura Ries offer powerful arguments as to why companies need to use more PR in the launch stage of products and save their advertising dollars to do maintenance work in the later stages. Whether or not you agree, you will find their arguments and illustrations stimulating and deserving of serious discussion in your company"

 

" The book makes a plausible case in an engaging, example-rich style.... The Rieses don't expect brand advertising to go away, but argue that it should be reserved for promoting mature brands."

 

Al Ries is one of the world's best-known marketing strategists. He is also the bestselling coauthor of Positioning and along with his partner and daughter, Laura Ries, of The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. Their Atlanta consulting firm, Ries & Ries, works with many Fortune 500 companies. For more information, visit www.ries.com.

The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR by Al Ries
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