GROW UP! WHY THE ADVERTISING & PR RELATIONSHIP SHOULD MATURE
Many a modern ad campaign has morphed into a PR disaster. P&O cruises’ use of sex in advertising returned to bite them when sexual assault issues came knocking on their cabin door. Meanwhile, when Cadbury in the UK launched a promotion asking children to exchange chocolate bar wrappers for sport equipment, the media were quick to point out that this health conscious offer actually required children to eat excessive junk food, quickly turning the campaign into a PR panic.
PR and advertising are not strangers. Many a PR campaign has utilised advertising to push main messages or generate an action, and advertising agencies have been known to launch new advertisements via media or viral campaigns, promoting unique aspects of the ad or celebrity involvement. Fosters is a perfect example of launching an ad using PR tactics, with their ‘Big Ad’ viewed online by the public and the logistics discussed in the media weeks before the ad was actually aired.
However, it is the need for early PR involvement and advice that needs greater attention, particularly as consumer generated media (CGM) becomes increasingly prevalent, allowing, for example, a world of web enabled bloggers to influence brands. Advertising is shifting from one-way to two-way communication, and what better qualified friend to turn to than PR.
Giving PR a forecasting/issue identification role in advertising strategy can allow for better consideration of the feelings and responses of ALL stakeholders and create a plan for two-way, open dialogue with these groups. Also, with the aforementioned increase in the audience’s wariness of advertisements, there could certainly be a place for the creative and often wider consideration of communication scope that PR experts can provide, helping to generate the “buzz” that is becoming harder to achieve.
Sometimes, the advertising ‘risks’ that are necessary to secure audience attention may backfire, but involving another well-informed communication opinion can only help to make those ‘risks’ safer and more calculated. Who knows - perhaps if P&O had asked a PR pal, “what potential issue could come from executing the ad in this manner?”, much public scrutiny could have been prevented.
