Laura Ries Explains the Brand Building Advantage of PR Over Advertising

A record lunchtime audience of 89 Ad Club and PRSA-NJ members heard best-selling author and leading marketing strategist Laura Ries explore the rise of public relations as the key brand-building tool at Mayfair Farms on April 16.

Citing such well-known names as Palm, Starbucks and Wal-Mart, the co-author of The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR noted that those major brands were successfully launched through publicity, not advertising.

Her first rule is to establish the brand with PR, then advertise to reaffirm its position in the marketplace. She reminded the group that Volkswagen garnered tons of publicity and dedicated buyers to reach more than 564,000 unit U.S. sales, or 56% of all car imports, in 1968. It took 19 years for VW to peak as a brand, the first ten years through PR and the next nine with advertising, featuring the Think Small campaign, which boosted sales significantly. She further cited Botox and Viagra as other new brands established through widespread press coverage. She mentioned that such well-known brands such as Krispy Kreme, Jet Blue and The Body Shop have yet to advertise.

Times have changed
“Big advertising programs don’t work the way they used to,” Ries explained. “Who’s the biggest car advertiser today?” she asked. “It’s Chevrolet, which spends $280 million a year and can’t take marketshare away from Ford or any of the Japanese carmakers. What’s worse, consumers can’t recall a single Chevy ad.” Moreover, the advertising campaign to launch Enamelon cost $28 million to generate a paltry $10 million in sales before it was pulled off the market.

“And you surely don’t use advertising to overcome a negative in the marketplace,” she added. Firestone tried to offset bad publicity on its tires by running full-page ads stating, “We’re trying to do it right, while at the same time denying to the press it had any fault in the Ford SUV crashes.” Similar attempts were taken by United Airlines on its bankruptcy and Arthur Anderson and Merrill Lynch on their corporate auditing failures that cost stockholders untold millions of dollars.

Still, advertising has many advantages, according to Ries, along with one glaring weakness. In the mind of the prospect, advertising has little credibility. “Advertising,” she added, “is viewed as self-serving because what you say about yourself in an ad is simply not believable.”

On the other hand, PR’s greatest strength is third-party credibility. People unquestionably believe what they read in the press. Volvo used publicity to establish its brand as the hallmark of safety starting with the introduction of first auto seat belt in 1959. Volvo’s advertising reinforces that theme today. “It’s PR-oriented advertising,” Ries said. “You use PR to establish the brand and then use advertising to reinforce it.”

Find out what sets your product apart
Regrettably, most advertising is focused on the wrong question, Ries says. “It’s usually centered on how much better we are than the competition.” What is pushed are such esoteric things as “the longest flat bed and widest wheel base,” which usually translates into one inch longer and wider. Any wonder why consumers don’t believe what’s in ads anymore?

The right message, Ries says, is what the brand has instilled in the mind of the consumer. “What comes immediately to mind with Coke is “The Real Thing — the most powerful drink in the world,” while with Budweiser it’s the “King of Beers.” In other words, leadership is the strongest message.

“If you are not first, then set up a new category that you can claim leadership in,” Ries clarified. “Rolex became the first expensive watch, Piaget the first ultra-thin watch, Palm the first handheld computer, Mont Blanc the first fat fountain pen, Orville Redenbacher the first gourmet popcorn and Fresh Express the first packaged salad.” All were built through PR.

However, products don’t create publicity; people do. “The spokesperson is face and voice of the brand and in most cases that’s the CEO of the company,” Ries explains. “High-profile execs, including Bill Gates at Microsoft, Steve Jobs at Apple, Tom Siebel at Siebel Systems, Richard Branson at Virgin Atlantic Airways, Ted Turner and CNN, Donald Trump at the Trump Organization, Dave Thomas at Wendy’s and Anita Roddick at the Body Shop.”

A brand is born with the capability of creating “news,” Ries points out. When the brand grows up, it runs out of its publicity potential. “The media loved Starbucks, Viagra and PlayStation when they started out, but you seldom see stories about these brands anymore. When they’re yesterday’s news, it’s time to switch the strategy from PR to advertising,” Ries concludes. “Advertising’s role is the continuation of public relations by other means. Therefore, it should continue to reinforce PR ideas and concepts.”

During a lively Q&A session, several attendees questioned if there is a precise timetable to follow before switching over from PR to advertising. “No, there isn’t,” she responded. “Ideally you let the PR program go for as long as it’s gathering ink. That’s when you switch to advertising. The thing is not to do it too early or your PR program will founder.”

Another question posed was, “What if you have a small client who can’t afford to advertise?” She answered that the most important part then in the brand-building effort would be the executive spokesperson, such as the company CEO or president. “PR will help develop sales and attract market dollars,” she added. “But, you have no control as to what the media will say or if they will even print what you have to say,” Ries added. “It’s a slow process in the start. The upside is when it does take hold, PR will build the brand.”

Ries personally autographed copies of The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR, which the Ad Club offered to attendees at a special price.

The event was chaired by Gary Denburg of Barton Press. Sponsors were Viacom Outdoor, Tag Online Inc., U-1.Net, nj.com, RPI Multi-Media Duplication and the New Jersey Broadcasters Association.