PR vs Advertising

I've just read a piece which I've cut and pasted below ... annoys the hell out of me!!

Whilst I realise the value of PR, it literally staggers me at just how much money is spent on this side of "marketing" rather than on advertising. I cannot tell you how many PR "freebies" come across my desk each and every week ... beautifully packaged and individually addressed. All in an attempt to get me to give them space in my magazines.

Being a publisher, I can tell you now that magazines, newspapers, websites and even television LIVE AND DIE ON ADVERTISING SPEND.

Now, let's look at the situation the PR spin doctors would have larger companies believe ... they want the money spent on PR. However, without advertising, media companies will fold, and without media companies publishing and broadcasting, there would be nowhere to place their PR!! See where I'm headed here?

I believe there is a place for good PR work - I just don't believe that companies should be spending more on PR than they do on advertising!

Come on guys - you want and need us to survive! And believe me, as much as I like a freebie as much as anyone else, there comes a time in every publisher and editor's life when they've had enough ... no matter how many perfumes or lipsticks or watches a company sends me, if they aren't regularly committing to paid advertising as well, there's no way in hell their product will gain valuable space in my titles!!


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Study highlights PR's role in brand value
by David Blecken 10-Mar-09, 09:40

HONG KONG - Media exposure plays a quantifiable role in a brand's financial value, according to a study by PR consultancy Text 100.

Drawing on statistics presented in Interbrand’s top 100 Global Brands report, the research indicates that almost 30 per cent of a brand’s financial value is determined by the frequency with which it appears in the press.

It also claims that the effect of advertising investment can amount to just two per cent of the overall brand value of products with a high level of complexity, while public relations activities can make up 47 per cent of a brand’s value in industries more heavily researched by consumers prior to purchase.

“The more complex a product is, the more likely people are to trust earned, as opposed to paid, media,” said Rowan Benecke (pictured), Text’s regional consultancy director for Asia Pacific.

Benecke, along with the firm’s chief executive Aedhmar Haynes, acknowledged that the report was likely to face a degree of cynicism for highlighting the importance of public relations, having been compiled by a PR agency.

But he stated that the report’s use of the Pearson correlation coefficient added credibility to the findings, and noted that it signaled progress in the ability to calculate the impact of public relations on a brand’s share price.

The study assessed the statistical correlation between a brand’s media prominence in a composite of headline, lead paragraph and text citations in unpaid, independent media) and brand value across the world’s hundred most valuable brands.

Benecke added that the findings also reinforced the role of corporate communications in maintaining a strong brand.

“The study underscores the importance of managing and growing brand value with public relations,” Benecke said.