The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR
wits | Feb 09, 2010 | 5 comments
- ISBN13: 9780060081997
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
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 succe… More >>
The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR
Filed Under: Advertising
Al Ries and Laura Ries offer the opinion that no one believes advertising and using public relations is the way to get your product out there. The book also uses examples of companies and how spending more on advertising doesn’t guarantee more sales. The book goes in-depth in describing a lot of the public relation campaigns.
Rating: 3 / 5
This book was a winner from page 1. Having just graduated from college and landing a job as a Marketing Manager with a small software company, I think this book was very well-written. Its content was very fresh – using many examples from recent news headlines, etc. A definite read for any marketing enthusiast.
Rating: 5 / 5
Most parts of this book impressed me, however some parts did not and it often seemed to point ou the obvious. They did a good job distinguishing the different between advertising and PR but using different examples to show how PR is more modern than advertising yet we view the advertising ass classic and somewhat essential. However, sometimes they drag on with exlaining the difference, and use too many example in a row that may throw people off. The thing I liked is that when distinguishing advertising and PR, they try not to show how they are different, but how it is impossible for them to be the same. This led into how nothing can be mass produced without PR.
Rating: 3 / 5
First of all I am not an Ad guy nor a PR guy. But I must say, the authors were quit biased in the sense that they really bashed advertising, unfairly. They seem to imply that the more $$ u spend on ads, the lousier the results. Come on, let’s reason abit – if Coke or GM, top spenders in Ads are losing $$, it implies that the lost share is soaked up by the other players, ie, top Ad spender #2, #3 and so forth. These big #2, #3 spenders and so forth are spending millions too on ads for crying out loud – Which could be safely argued that they are getting the results because of their advertising. So the question is not about fall of advertising, but simply, effective or optimal spend on ad expenditure. I guess, if the authors should present and evaluate if the advertising by the #2, #3 ad spenders are gaining because of their ads or other factors, such as PR in the respective industries. It’s easy to to criticize something on hindsight, which is not very fair. Overall a fine book, except that their ad bashing went too far.
Rating: 5 / 5
First of all if you call yourself a brand marketer of any kind and have never bought an Al Ries book you should be ashamed of yourself. But I forgive you because it’s better late than never. I like this book because it has that in your face repetitive style reminiscent of the legendary “Positioning: The battle for your mind”, which he wrote with Jack Trout. Positioning made me decide to become a brand marketer. The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR makes me proud to still call myself a brand marketer. Al has this cunning ability to tell us what we already know, but somehow when he says it then it becomes Gospel. Most advertising and PR professionals know that PR is a better way to launch a product. Mr. Ries simply has the credibility and courage to say it in such a public way. Plus his jargon-free straight talking style makes it easy for anyone to understand. If you consider this book promotion for the Rieses speeches and consulting I won’t blame you. But you cannot deny the validity of most of their points. Too bad this book wasn’t around for every person who started a dot com in the late 90’s and spent millions on advertising just to see the company fail. That’s not to say that PR can save a company that has a bad product or incompetent management. But at least the burn rates wouldn’t have been so severe. I have worked in the advertising field and now I work in PR at Ming Diamond Price and some of the strategies that Al Ries addresses in this book are things I have been telling clients for years. Bravo to Al and Laura you did it again!
Rating: 4 / 5