Selecciones - Webs

Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
17. Public Relations,
Publicity, and Corporate
Advertising
The Sunday employment section of most major metropolitan
newspapers is an excellent place to see this form of corporate
image advertising at work. Notice the ads in these papers
and consider the images the firms are presenting.
4. Generating financial support. Some corporate advertising
is designed to generate investments in the corporation. By creating
a more favorable image, the firm makes itself attractive
to potential stock purchasers and investors. More investments
mean more working capital, more monies for research and
development, and so on. In this instance, corporate image
advertising is almost attempting to make a sale; the product is
the firm.
While there is no concrete evidence that corporate image
advertising leads directly to increased investment, at least
one study shows a correlation between the price of stock and
the amount of corporate advertising done. 33 Firms that spend
more on corporate advertising also tend to have higherpriced
stocks (though a direct relationship is very difficult to
substantiate).
This thing called image is not unidimensional. Many factors
affect it. Figure 17-7 shows the results of a survey conducted
by the Hay Group and Fortune magazine on the best
corporate reputations in the United States. The most admired
firms did not gain their positions merely by publicity and word
of mouth (nor, we guess, did the least admired).
A positive corporate image cannot be created just from a few advertisements. Quality
of products and services, innovation, sound financial practices, good corporate citizenship,
and wise marketing are just a few of the factors that contribute to overall
image. In addition, the type of product marketed and emotional appeal also contribute.
The survey mentioned above demonstrated that profits and stock performances had little
to do with reputation and that once a reputation is acquired, it has lasting power. A
study conducted by Harris Interactive and the Reputation Institute showed that companies
are ranked differently on key corporate attributes including emotional appeal,
social responsibility, workplace environment, and vision and leadership (among 16
Total Return (%)
Rank Company 2001 1996–2001
1 General Electric –15.1 21.2
2 Southwest Airlines –17.3 33.7
3 Wal-Mart Stores 9.0 39.1
4 Microsoft 52.7 26.3
5 Berkshire Hathaway 6.5 17.3
6 Home Depot 12.1 36.0
7 Johnson & Johnson 14.0 20.5
8 FedEx 29.8 18.5
9 Citigroup 0.1 28.9
10 Intel 4.9 14.1
Top ten average 9.7 25.5
S&P 500 –11.89 10.70
Source: Fortune, Mar. 4, 2002.
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
Exhibit 17-18 Mattel ad
designed to attract new
employees
Figure 17-7 Fortune’s
most reputable corporations
587
Chapter Seventeen Public Relations, Publicity, and Corporate Advertising