The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR

Al Ries' and Laura Ries' National Bestseller

On Friday I escaped from my workplace and headed downtown Vancouver to collect my cousin who arrived from her hometown of Sydney, Australia. She'd been in flight for seventeen hours and up for 48 hours at the time and I had had four hours of sleep (worked late and worked early). But neither of our conditions prevented us from grabbing a beer with BadMark at a local watering hole. Four pitchers of Sleeman's Honey Lager later we dropped off her bags at home and went dancing at The Plaza. By 5AM her 48 hours of sleeplessness had turned into 59 hours and I had turned into a drunk and tired 43 year-old zombie.

Luckily, I had a date to keep me from oversleeping this morning. After spending a couple of hours brunching with You Jane, I wandered into the local used-bookshop and bought Al Ries' and Laura Ries' The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, which I had been eyeing since its paperback publication in 2004.

Al Ries is well-known for his work in the 1970s popularizing the concept of positioning. He is also the co-author (with Jack Trout or Laura Ries) of other books on marketing and branding, several of which I own (22 Immutable Laws of Branding, 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, and 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding). The books are all very easy reading and proof of this is that I spent the remainder of the afternoon, tired and hungover, reading and finishing The Fall of Advertising.

The gist of the books' argument is that no one believes advertising, that advertising agencies focus on being clever and witting but rarely on actually selling products or services or getting bigger market share. The Got Milk? campaign is well-known, highly awarded, has a high recognition with the public, is endlessly spoofed but hasn't done anything to increase sales of milk, of which consumption keeps falling in the US. PR is more cost-effective for promoting brand awareness and gaining market share because it's more believed by the public. When Oprah Winfrey says a book is 'worth reading' it becomes a national bestseller; when a book is advertised in a magazine it rarely earns back the cost of the space. The more effective marketing solution for corporations is to focus on generating ideas that feature their products or services positively in the media. Focus on PR and publicity rather than on advertising, they say.

The book is example rich and the marketing suggestions are viable, at least at first glance. Some of the solutions are extremely provocative to be sure: change the name of Guatamala to Guatamaya to encourage tourism of its Mayan culture and sites, for instance. The name change would help establish the public perception that Guatamala was the centre of Mayan culture and would generate thousands of inches of publicity and articles in the press and media.

The Fall of Advertising fits in well with an essay I'm working on for this blog (and may never finish) about media and the role of newspapers in a community. A community is well served by a working press or news media; information is critical in making decisions and understanding issues.

But as a sometimes writer I am aware that news stories are not always written with critical integrity. A local film magazine that relies on advertising subscriptions to its services catalogue can't write articles critical of its subscribers; since everyone in the local film industry are either subscribers or potential subscribers its editorial content is often regurgitated press releases or puff pieces about local productions and their filmmakers. There are all kinds of wonky and newsworthy items in this industry that go unreported because no one wants to offend their advertisers.

Now as a manager of a pub, however, the suggestions in The Fall of Advertising have been duly noted, as they say. I've already started jotting down potential news stories, rumour-mongering ideas, and promotional ideas that will feature the pub in its community (it's a campus pub at a post-secondary technical school). So, by end of week, I should be able to come up with a half dozen or more of good 'word of mouth' campaigns and realize the difference between marketing directed towards the BOGs (Board of Governors) and the actual pub clientele, the students.

But first I may need some more sleep.

'I drink, therefore I am,' said Rene Descarte. 'Beer proves your existence is worthwhile,' said the Buddha.