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Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
17. Public Relations,
Publicity, and Corporate
Advertising
Krispy Kreme, a donut shop, started in 1934 in Winston-Salem. While the one
store slowly grew into a 34-state chain over the years, it was really not a popular,
well-known national brand. Then with a strong PR program and a subsequent IPO,
Krispy Kreme took off. When a new Krispy Kreme shop opens today, press coverage
and free publicity almost eliminate the need for advertising.
Many public relations programs require little more than the time and expenses
associated with putting the program together and getting it distributed, yet they still
accomplish their objectives.
3. Avoidance of clutter. Because they are typically perceived as news items, public
relations messages are not subject to the clutter of ads. A story regarding a new product
introduction or breakthrough is treated as a news item and is likely to receive
attention. When Steven Jobs (the founder of Apple Computer) announced his return to
Apple, after being with another firm for years, all the networks covered it, as did
major newspapers and magazines. Some (like CNN) devoted two- to three-minute
segments to the story.
4. Lead generation. Information about technological innovations, medical breakthroughs,
and the like results almost immediately in a multitude of inquiries. These
inquiries may give the firm some quality sales leads.
5. Ability to reach specific groups. Because some products appeal to only small market
segments, it is not feasible to engage in advertising and/or promotions to reach
them. If the firm does not have the financial capabilities to engage in promotional
expenditures, the best way to communicate to these groups is through public relations.
6. Image building. Effective public relations helps to develop a positive image for the
organization. A strong image is insurance against later misfortunes. For example, in
1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after taking Extra Strength Tylenol
capsules that had been laced with cyanide (after they reached the store). Within one
week of the poisonings, Tylenol’s market share fell from 35 to only 6.5 percent.
Strong public relations efforts combined with an already strong product and corporate
image helped the product rebound (despite the opinions of many experts that it had no
chance of recovering). A brand or firm with a lesser image would never have been
able to come back. The ad in Exhibit 17-12 demonstrates the power of a strong image.
The Firestone tire recall cited earlier is another example. Because of a strong image
established over 102 years of doing business, Firestone was able to weather the storm
and recover from the incident.
Perhaps the major disadvantage of public relations is the potential for not completing
the communications process. While public relations messages can break through
the clutter of commercials, the receiver may not make the connection to the source.
Many firms’ PR efforts are never associated with their sponsors in the public mind.
Public relations may also misfire through mismanagement and a lack of coordination
with the marketing department. When marketing and PR departments operate
independently, there is a danger of inconsistent communications, redundancies in
efforts, and so on.
The key to effective public relations is to establish a good program, worthy of public
interest, and manage it properly. To determine if this program is working, the firm
must measure the effectiveness of the PR effort.
Measuring the Effectiveness of PR
As with the other promotional program elements, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness
of the public relations efforts. In addition to determining the contribution of
this program element to attaining communications objectives, the evaluation offers
other advantages:
1. It tells management what has been achieved through public relations activities.
2. It provides management with a way to measure public relations achievements
quantitatively.
3. It gives management a way to judge the quality of public relations achievements
and activities.
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
577
Chapter Seventeen Public Relations, Publicity, and Corporate Advertising