BizWire Breakfast Blog Part I: Al Ries

Julia Hood opened the event by saying that a recent PR Week survey said more than 70% of PR pros are spending their time on integrated marketing. A show of hands revealed that most of the attendees are in PR. She then turned the stage over to marketing master, Al Ries.

Ries reiterated many of the themes in his book The Rise of PR and the Fall of Advertising and was rich with case studies. He said:
* Advertising/PR are tools. Advertising is a hammer, PR is a nail
* Most of recent brand major successes are PR successes
* Advertising has every advantage except one - credibility
* PR has the third-party effect
* PR-oriented marketing integration establishes credibility
* Advertisers want to make the ads famous, not the brand
* Creativity is a marketing paradox. PR should focus on the new and different. Advertising should focus on the old and familiar
* Advertisers don't advertise, they instead use PR to promote their awards
* Big brands are built not by advertising or PR but by being first in a category
* Finally, Ries said his key message of the day to PR pros is to do something that burns an idea in the mind of a consumer rather than simply communicate it. "The emphasis on PR should be not on press releases and press conferences but on doing something to create news," Ries said. "PR should be thinking about doing big things, not small things."
* Integrated marketing: PR first to establish credibility (set the nail), advertising reinforces the credibility as the hammer

Comments

[johnza]

awesome guy. he just endorsed a book we have written. to see more check out http://marketingplaybook.com/2004/07/03/some_advance_praise_for_the_upcoming_book.html