Brand-centric planning first emerged back in the days when PR was considered little more than a marginally relevant stepchild of corporate marketing and advertising
departments. How the family dynamics have changed. PR NEWS caught up with renowned branding expert Al Ries, author of The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding,
to discuss his philosophy about the critical role PR now plays in nurturing young brands until they're ready to stand on their own.
PRN: What role does PR play in the branding equation, compared with advertising?
Ries: I think the role is changing. Publicity and PR are slowly but surely becoming a dominant force inside the corporation. Not in every company at the moment, because
traditionally it's been the advertising people who have called the tune. But our belief is that brands should be launched with PR first and advertising second.
PRN: Can you give some examples to illustrate how you've reached this conclusion?
Ries: The failure of a lot of dotcoms in the last six months can be attributed to the fact that they didn't establish their name or brand in advance of the advertising.
During the Super Bowl, for example, the only spots that were remembered were spots for E*Trade and Monster.com and others that already had somewhat of a reputation in [the
marketplace]. People forgot [about] sites they've never heard of.
It's like if someone calls you from Saks Fifth Avenue and says, "Hey you're one of our customers and we're having a party for customers...would you like to attend?" You say,
"Yeah, maybe." But if someone calls and says, "Hey, I'm Joe Blow and you've never heard of [my store]. Would you like to come to my party?" you say forget it. That's the problem
with starting a marketing program with advertising.
PRN: Who, then, is in charge of spearheading the branding strategy for a new product or service?
Ries: PR is the function that should, in a sense, develop the marketing strategy. Then, after the brand is established, when you run out of publicity potential, then the
advertising should take over.
PRN: I can't imagine ad agencies being too thrilled with that philosophy.
Ries: Oh, of course not. Ad agencies feel that they're in charge of strategy. It's generally been the [ad] agency who meets with clients and develops marketing
strategy. Then they tell PR people what the strategy is. I think that's backwards. Because what happens is the client eventually says, "I can't get any publicity for my new Web
site." The bottom line is, if you can't get publicity, [the business concept] is not a good idea. Any brand that doesn't have publicity potential needs to be rethought from the
outset - by publicity people, not ad people. Ask the advertising people and they'll say, "Hey, we can build this brand. All we have to do is spend $75 million."
PRN: Can you give some examples of companies that have successfully followed the PR-first model you're suggesting?
Ries: Sure. All of the big Internet brands - Amazon.com, eBay, Priceline.com, Yahoo - they were all launched with massive amounts of publicity. Yahoo did very little
advertising, but became a dominant search engine. They were first. They were early.
PRN: Yes, they were pioneers. What others who are just now jumping on the bandwagon?
Ries: On the Internet in general, there tends to be room for only one brand in a category. In books, it's Amazon.com. In auctions, it's eBay. What's the second
largest auction site? Who knows? In search engines, Yahoo is way ahead. In ISPs, AOL has 22 million subscribers. The next closest provider has 3 million. Second place is no
place.
PRN: Do you think that'll change? Can we eventually expect to see more brand choices online?
Ries: No. I'm not saying people don't want a choice, but I think your choice is the Internet or the OuterNet. You can either buy it on the Internet, or go down to the
local store and buy it.
PRN: So what do you do if you have the dubious distinction of being on the PR team for the number two online brand? Say, Barnes&Noble.com?
Ries: You should narrow your focus so you're number one in a segment of the market. Why not consider the possibility of Barnes & Noble becoming the [online]
specialist in business books? Let Amazon continue to be the leader in books in general. There are a couple sites that have already [taken this approach]. Varsity.com has become
the leader in textbooks. Alibris.com has become a leader in used books.
PRN: Are you suggesting that PR counselors should be involved in evaluating the rationale behind a company's business model?
Ries: I think this is the challenge for PR people. As an outside consultant, I don't see many PR people at the strategy meetings, whereas the advertising and the ad
agency people are there in force. Those [PR types] who do attend tend to sit back and let someone else pontificate about what the strategy will be. Then they jump in on the
execution side, as in "You tell me what to say, and I'll go ahead and say it."
PRN: Any observations as to why the average PR practitioner isn't being more proactive in gaining a seat at the strategy table?
Ries: You go back five or 10 years and not only did PR people not participate in developing marketing strategy, but if the meeting was called marketing, they
didn't attend. They'd say, "We're not in marketing, we're corporate - we're advisors to the CEO. We don't want to get our hands dirty in the marketing." That's an error too. I
think marketing is the most important thing a company can do. If your company is doing well, I don't care how bad a speech the CEO makes at the annual meeting, it's going to be
applauded. If your company is in the tank, I don't care how good a speech you make, you're going to have bricks thrown at you.
PRN: All of the brands you described as early adopters of the PR-first strategy were online brands. Do the same principles apply to offline brands?
Ries: Yes. Big brands like Starbucks and the Body Shop have been built with publicity, not advertising. We also did some work for Frito Lay when they bought Cracker
Jack from Borden for $100 million. The ad agency wanted to relaunch the brand with a massive advertising campaign and we said don't do that. Eventually they launched the
"Cracker Jack is Back" PR theme.
PRN: Would you say most CEOs are recognizing the value that PR can bring to their organizations, or do they still need to be converted?
Ries: It's an easier sell than many people believe. In advertising today, unless you spend really big amounts of money, it's hard to make any impression at all. And I
think the financial message [that PR is more cost-effective] is very powerful. Plus, CEOs see the power of publicity in their own lives. They know that when their company gets a
good story in Fortune or Forbes or The Wall Street Journal, their stock goes up. You can run all the ads in the world and you'll very seldom see a stock
increase just because you ran an ad.
Al Ries is co-founder of Ries & Ries (http://www.ries.com), a strategic marketing firm in Atlanta that serves clients such as AT&T,
Coca-Cola, Dell, Intel and Southwest Airlines. He is the author of seven books, including Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It, and The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding:
How to Build a Product or Service into a World-Class Brand, whcih he co-authored with his daughter and business partner Laura Ries. Their most recent title, The 11 Immutable Laws
of Internet Branding (HarperBusiness) hit the shelves (and the Web) last month. He can be reached at 770/643-0880 or [email protected].