Senior PR executives no longer have the luxury of tracking just a handful of direct competitors (if that) who might threaten their brands. This trend is perhaps best
exemplified by the heavy coverage the low-carb craze has been getting the last few years, particularly when stacked up against coverage of low-fat diets (for a long time the only
game in town for the glandular-challenged).
An analysis of U.S newspapers for the period January 1990 through July 2004 by the media/market research firm Cymfony found that coverage for low-carb dieting was so
significant in the latter half of the 1990s -- and since 2000 - that overall media share for the period 1990-2004 is nearly equal for low-carb and low-fat diets.
The change in the coverage of light beers mentioned with low carbs is even more striking. In 2000 Miller Lite virtually owned the Light Beer and Low-Carbs space, with 72%
market share. By June 2004, however, that position had plummeted to 17%, as the positioning of Michelob Ultra as a "light" and "low calorie" malt appears to have given it a
significant edge over its competition (see pie charts).
"There's a danger in ignoring these trends," said Pat Fennessey, VP of Professional Services for Cymfony. "As people started to talk more about Michelob Ultra as a low-carb
alternative the [brand] was able to get a lot more share, whereas Miller didn't understand the extent of the low-carb craze." She said that as the PR and marketing disciplines
become more intertwined, PR executives will have to rely more on empirical evidence about their market. "A lot of companies have been caught flat-footed because they seem to rely
on anecdotal evidence [about their competitors] rather than hard the numbers." PR