Archive for August, 2011

We’re pleased to announce we’ve hired an intern for the fall semester. Paige Wills is a senior communication major at Bellarmine University.  Welcome aboard, Paige! 

Jennifer McGuire discusses the blurring lines between public relations, advertising and digital marketing in Business Lexington’s Media & Advertising issue. Jennifer is a Senior Counselor for Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations and is based in our Lexington office.

The Blurring Lines Between PR, Advertising and Digital Communications

Great marketing ideas can come from anywhere – advertising, public relations, customer service, even the mail room. But determining who brings that idea to fruition can get complicated. The lines between the marketing disciplines used to be quite defined: If it requires payment, it’s advertising. If it’s about awareness or perception, that’s for PR. If it’s online, call interactive. Today, these lines have become blurred almost beyond recognition. But that’s good.

The divide between PR and advertising started getting murky the second the first website went live. The internet leveled the playing field, allowing organizations of all shapes, sizes and budgets to aim straight for the consumer. This opened more doors to marketers than perhaps any other communications medium in our history. As the web evolved from static websites to chat rooms, blogging, social media and mobile, the marketing opportunities multiplied exponentially.  When advertisers saw their audience flocking online, they followed suit. Last year, online advertising sales surpassed newspaper advertising for the first time.

This shift to the web ripped the walls off the PR and advertising professions, forcing both to venture out of their comfort zones into new territory. Agencies and professionals alike are becoming much more integrated – not just on a let’s-hold-a-joint-brainstorm level like we saw in the late ‘90s, but in a manner that is integrated to the core. It has become a deep part of our thinking, our team structures, and even our education.

Take the University of Kentucky’s Integrated Strategic Communications degree that was created in 1997, which is breaking down the barriers between the disciplines before students even graduate. Students study a mix of advertising, PR, direct response and communications topics to learn how these pieces all fit together into the overall marketing puzzle. While such integrated degree programs are still not commonplace, they are likely to become prized selling points as employers look for job candidates that can already think across the marketing borders.

Because today’s most successful marketing campaigns are highly integrated. Consider, for example, the new PR Grand Prix Award presented at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – the Oscars of advertising. Created two years ago, both times this prestigious PR award has been bestowed it has gone to an ad agency.  Surprised?

This year’s winner, the National Australia Bank, waged a guerilla advertising campaign announcing it was “breaking up” with the other big three Australian banks.  While the four banks weren’t related in any way, Australians believed they were in cahoots to fix fees and eliminate competition. So NAB launched a stealth campaign of tweets, online breakup videos, and clever “Dear John” letters placed in the papers and outdoor (as advertising). The other banks never knew what hit them. The campaign earned so much press that the media coverage would have cost $5 million, had it been advertising. Sounds like something one of the big PR firms would come up with, but they didn’t. It was BBDO, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world.

The campaign certainly had PR elements, including massive amounts of news coverage, using creative means to tell a story and grab attention, and changing perceptions, which has long been the hallmark of a good public relations campaign. But there was obviously a strong advertising element with all the paid placements. Then there’s that tweet that started it all, which was intended to look like a mistake to ignite buzz – a classic PR tactic using digital communications.

One thing we all have in common, regardless of what we studied in college or what our business card says, is that we’re trying to find our place in this exciting new world. PR firms are developing Facebook strategies and participating in social media communities. Ad agencies are coming up with mobile campaigns and buying Twitter key words. Digital – ever the avant-garde loner — is largely doing its own thing, both leading the pack and supporting the other two.

The important thing to remember is that big ideas can and should be executed across multiple platforms, whether that’s an ad, Facebook page, news coverage, mobile app or a publicity stunt.  Which team takes the lead is almost a moot point.