So much for the separation of church and state - and by that, we mean the dividing lines that once distinguished advertising from PR. Branding in the Internet age is like
fusion cooking. The more pots you use, the better.
Consider an integrated push like the National Fluid Milk Processors' ongoing "Milk Mustache" campaign. The milk lobby trumpets its message in paid print ads, which, in turn,
funnel viewers toward a toll-free number and Web site (staffed by PR people) for more information about the wonders of milk. Who needs a third-party journalist's endorsement -
PR's old-economy claim to fame - when you can speak directly to consumers online?
"The ads are one- or two-liners, so the PR piece is seen as a critical component, because that's how they get the educational messages out about the health benefits of milk,"
says Jill Tannenbaum, a senior VP at Cohn & Wolfe who previously worked on the milk campaign at Bozell.
Tannenbaum says the Web-bonded marriage of advertising and PR is old news on the healthcare front. Nevertheless, it was a hot conversation topic at the @d:tech summit held
earlier this month in San Francisco.
PR practitioners who decline the opportunity to become content providers and strategic branding counselors run the risk of being "disintermediated by the Internet," suggests
Aaron Heinrich, a panelist at @d:tech and VP of New Commerce at PR agency Niehaus Ryan Wong. "We need to position ourselves strategically at the uppermost tier of commerce - be
trend-watchers and prognosticators," he said.
In many cases, PR has superceded traditional advertising as the strategy of choice in getting fledgling brands off the ground, says Heinrich, noting that Starbucks used PR to
kick-start its empire, but waited three years before hiring its first ad agency.
In the future, "PR will look more and more like marketing," Heinrich predicts, citing Laura Ries' and Al Ries' book 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. "PR builds brands, and
advertising sustains them."
This philosophy is perhaps best evidenced by the number of pre-IPO companies that are using PR to sell themselves to investors - a situation that @d:tech panelist Holland
Carney believes has broadened the profession. While the decision to go public may be shepherded by bankers and the CEO, the role of the PR counselor is to communicate the
implications of the decision and how it will affect stakeholders, says Carney, who is executive VP and general manager of Alexander Ogilvy's U.S. Western Region practice.
"PR used to be about what a company is," said Carney. "Now it's management consulting for commerce within the market. Ten years ago, we used to arm-wrestle with the ad agency;
now we work closely together."
(Tannenbaum, 212/598-2847; http://www.ad-tech.com)
Customer Service Leads Web Sites' Raison d'Etre
The average U.S. corporation has 6.1 Web sites and a main mission online of "providing product/service information," according to research introduced by the Association of
National Advertisers at @d:tech in San Francisco. Not only are companies using the Web to build brand loyalty for their products and services, they're also "embracing extranets
to improve communications with their suppliers, agencies and consultants," according to Robin Webster, author of the study. Aside from customer service, what are the strategic
goals driving the average corporate Web site? Survey respondents ranked "increasing brand/corporate awareness" and "developing and improving brand loyalty" second and third,
respectively. (Webster, ANA, 212/455-8020, [email protected])