Pete Pepinsky on “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR”
I first had the pleasure of meeting Pete Pepinksy, brief as it was, at the PRCA Conference in Huntsville, Ala., this past September. Just last Thursday, however, we met again while he was in town for the Auburn University PR Advisory Council meeting. My PR Campaigns class got to sit in and meet with the advisory council members, and we had a nice, long, very enjoyable chat.
Toward the very end of our get-together, Pete held up a copy of the book “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR” and declared his recommendation of the book, elaborating on the quality of writing and ideas contained within. My ears perked up with the thought, “That’s on our suggested reading list … I should see if he’ll write something for us!” And … as you can see, he did! Pete was kind enough to do a wonderful write-up for me, and I have posted the full version of what he sent below. Enjoy!
. . .
“There I was, storming into a meeting of the AU PR Advisory Council last week, a copy of ‘The Fall of Advertising & The Rise of PR’ by Al Ries and Laura Ries tucked under my arm like Billy Graham with his Bible.
As usual, Margaret Fitch-Hauser (PR program coordinator at Auburn University) was way ahead of me. She stuck the Ries book on the www.forward-moving.com suggested reading list first. And that’s not the fawning posture of a survivor of one of her PR campaign classes. We’re friends and PR colleagues.
You may encounter many hostile or at least challenging environments in your PR career — bosses who don’t care about your development, businesses driven by the bottom line instead of the quality and effectiveness of the work, colleagues or clients who don’t understand or appreciate PR.
In the agency world, as Josh Morton of Weber Shandwick aptly describes in his blog on your site, life is not all football games, spring breaks and fraternity parties. At some agencies, including Lewis Communications where I love to work, the advertising types can seriously outnumber the PR people.
Whatever textbook definitions you’ve learned about how advertising, PR and marketing fit together, I see PR as the umbrella, with the others as subordinate tools or approaches to PR objectives.
Al Ries spent decades in advertising. He is credited with creation of the “positioning” buzz that has prevailed in our profession since before Elvis died. Now, with the fervor of the converted, Ries and his daughter have seen the light of PR.
The Rieses postulate that advertising doesn’t build a brand, it defends a brand that is built by PR. Consequently, the creative emphasis is even more appropriate and effective in the PR effort than in the advertising. According to the Rieses, advertising is art, not connected to sales or other client objectives. They also suggest that a brand is a name that stands for something positive in the prospect’s mind, but agencies often confuse the advertising with the product. That’s heresy in many advertising-dominated agencies, but it’s music to my ears.
‘The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR’ is a breezy read that will give you pride and respect for your chosen profession, approaches to use with clients, and ammo to hold the advertising devotees at bay.”
. . .
Pete, thank you again for your wonderful contribution!