Enjoy this best-selling updated 8^th edition – packed with new material, keeping abreast with AI, AR, VR, MR, MA and other innovative approaches to marketing communications. All integrated with the world’s most popular SOSTAC® Planning methodology that delivers a reassuring sense of order in a chaotic digital world and also that delivers success from better, MarComms’ ‘information-based’ decisions.

In Part 2 – all ten marcomms tactical tools (incl ads, PR, sponsorship, Owned, Earned and Paid Media etc.)  has a sample SOSTAC® Plan at the end of chapter.

Ze Zook and I are so pleased with it.  So much new material including AI integrating with MarComms.  We’ve tried to keep the edutainment angle so readers actually enjoy discovering some cutting-edge examples, tips and tools throughout the book. Thanks to the team at @Kogan Page including: Alison, Donna, Bruna and  Jack, Jeylan, Susie and of course, Helen Kogan.

What New Marketing and What Classic Marketing is in the 8th ed.?

What’s new and what’s old in Marketing Communications 8th ed.?

20% author’s discount can be used legitimately by following these instructions.

1. Go to koganpage.com/MC8
2. Click ‘Add to Cart’
3. Click ‘Checkout’ on the top right corner of the screen.
4. Complete your Billing & Delivery Information
5. Click ‘Continue to Review & Pay’
6. Scroll down to ‘Review Items’
7. In this section, click the ‘Add an offer code’ button – bottom right
8. Enter your code AMK20 in the box provided
9. Scroll down to input your payment information
10. Click the ‘Buy Now’ button at the bottom of the screen.

Enjoy Your Book

The post Marketing Communications 8th ed Released! appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.

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Shell VP Media Relations recently gave an interview to one the UK’s major PR magazines, PR Week, presumably to boost credibility or to raise its profile, but instead, this main feature interview effectively ended with these words from the interviewer:

‘So Shell finds itself incapable of doing anything other than selling a product that is destroying the planet.’  

Benady (2015)

Media interviews are one of PR (Public Relations) much sought after tools. However PR is different to other communications tools like advertising, since PR has a low cost, yet high credibility but with very low control (over the message). Credibility of the message is deemed a lot higher via PR generated editorial coverage (as readers assume it’s a journalist who writes it when often it is simply a well written news release) than messages delivered via advertising. The negative quote about Shell demonstrates the uncontrollable nature of PR (compared to advertising where you can control the message).

Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword

I once was bitten by some negative editorial exposure when, ironically, I launched an award winning,  training video about PR, called ‘Actions Speak Louder Than Words’ with Emma Freud presenting amidst 3 screens packing in 90 mins of action into a 30 min video broken into 6 sections with onscreen questions at the beginning of each section.

It was before the internet and went on to win awards and sell very well. As our primary target market was PR people, journalists, media and marketing people, we gave a limited edition Parker Pen made from smelted nuclear missiles (SS16 and Persian Missiles) complete with a certificate of authenticity and donation to a children’s war charity. The pens were the same as those used by Gorbachov and Reagan when the signed the nuclear peace treaty. The news release went out and next day we were on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Later that week we gota two page spread in a key magazine, Training Today, with the following words whcih I will never forget:

Any Publicity Is NOT Good Publicity

‘Award of the year for gratuitous bad taste goes to PR Smith and his PR Training Video company, PRTV.’ Ouch! Live by the sword – die by the sword (since journalists believe the pen is mightier than the sword!). Absolutely no control over the message but very low cost (just a couple of hundred quid). I guess despite the negative press coverage, it did spread the message but not in an ideal format. You can read the full case in  Marketing Communications 6th ed. by Smith and Zook (2016).

Don’t ever believe ‘any publicity is good publicity – where is Gerald Ratner now?’ Where is Gerald Ratner and his international jewelery chains now? . After he told the press that his jewellery was ‘crap’, his business went downhill.

Develop Credibility Before Raising Visibility

The old adage: ‘Develop Credibility Before raising Visibility‘ makes a lot of sense in business. The corollary makes a lot of sense: ‘Having Developed Credibility, Don’t Destroy It With Stupid High Visibility Comments’ as in the case of Gerald Ratner.

So the risk you take with low cost, high credibility tools like PR is clearly seen in this PR Week interview with Shell’s VP Media Relations, Andy Norman. Had Andy known that the interviewer, Alex Benady, was going to finish the interview with a paragraph shown below, would he have done the interview in the first place? Andy, if you are out there, please let me know or, perhaps share your advice for others regarding the risk return trade-off between lack of message control, low cost and high credibility of message.

‘So Shell finds itself incapable of doing anything other than selling a product that is destroying the planet. Faced with shareholders who will not compromise  on their returns and consumers who refuse refuse to compromise on their consumption, it will take all Norman’s powers of engagement to square that particular circle.’ Bernady 2015

Perhaps some of Shell’s legacy is biasing journalists? Shell’s underground (allegedly) ‘raw’ gas pipe in Co. Mayo, Ireland split the community, imprisoned teachers and provoked a documentary movie called ‘The Pipe’.

Another documentary, called ‘Pipe Down’ explored the issue and challenged Shell’s actions (60 minute documentary).

Regardless of who wins the case, does this controversial project, or any other controversial events (Shell in Nigeria, Smith 2016)  generate a lingering negative feeling towards a brand like Shell? Perhaps it generates negative attitudes amongst journalists and influencers, long after the controversial project has ‘calmed down’? is it possible that this project or other stories influenced the journalist writing the piece?

Would It Work On Blab.im?

I just wonder how this interview would have worked if it was done on Blab.im (ie via a mobile with a live video feed and video recording capturing, for posterity, the reactions from the interview and a finishing comment like that).

Blab.im screen grab: 3 of the 4 panel seats taken and 3 panelists in heated discussion while an external audience watches – all done on a mobile phone.

The Uncontrollable Nature of PR

So, regardless of what platform you use (whether Blab.TV, TV, Mainstream Media, News Distribution specialists,Social Media etc.), PR is simply not controllable. Editors and journalists can change the intended message.

The Power Of Creative PR 

Having said that, there are many news releases published  in the media, verbatim, carrying the exact intended message (with high credibility as it is deemed to be written by a journalist) to a carefully targeted audience.  There are also examples where a great image or video can generate massive coverage (as in the ‘swimming pool in the sky’ image (below), which incidentally wasn’t a photograph but rather, it was a graphic image created by a designer.

Ballymore Developers Graphic Image of a swimming pool suspended between two building in London generated a huge response

This image was created and distributed to the media (with a press release). It generated almost 1 billion impressions (valued at £10m), boosted awareness and helped to generate sales of £21m of the Embassy Gardens Apartment Blocks. See How To Integrate & Leverage A Great Image For Max Impact for the full story of this very creative news release. The image also prompted renowned award-winning,  Irish chef, Robin Gill to move in and set up his new Darby’s Restaurant in the Embassy Gardens.

In summary, PR, as a tactical tool, is highly credible, but uncontrollable yet very cost effective when you get it right.

PR =  Low Cost, High Credibility and almost No Control.

—end—

If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy:

How To Integrate & Leverage A Great Image For Max Impact.

or

How Integrated Content Marketing Creates Competitive Advantage

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References:

Benady, A. (2015) The Energy To Change Our Minds – The Interview, with Andy Norman, PR Week, Sept.

Smith, PR & Zook, Z. (2016) Marketing Communications 6th ed offline & online integration, engagement and analytics, Kogan Page

White, Roisín (2020) – thanks for information re the top floor connecting pool image prompting award-winning chef to set up a restaurant in the block.

The post Low Cost, High Credibility But Uncontrollable – PR Horror Story appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.

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How To Leverage A Graphic Image To Get Maximum Impact

– The Sky Pool 

Embassy Gardens

This stunning computer-generated image from the Ballymore Group was leveraged/used across multiple channels:

• News Release distributed to luxury, trade (construction, property, architecture, design), international, London and national press online & offline
• Social media
• Web site
• Conference slide shows
• Award entries
• Marketing suites
• All marketing collateral

Results: Coverage  

The news release generated 1billion ‘opportunities to see’, 105 apartment enquiries, £27 million apartment sales and an award-winning chef opening his new restaurant in the same development. In fact, it generated just under a 1billion OTS’s (972,126,464) Opportunities To See (OTS)  calculated using readership figures for the various outlets where the image appeared in the usual media outlets (ie online & offline media). Note this did not include social media coverage/shares/likes/comments etc.

Results: Sales Leads

Within 24 hours of the image first appearing, it generated 105 new sales leads (from people wanting to buy an apartment). Apartment prices in the second phase went from £602,000 up to almost £2million, so if, say, the average apartment price was £1.3m and if, say, just 20% of leads normally convert to sales, then the 105 leads generated will convert to an estimated 21 apartments sold at an average price of £1.3m, which, equals £27m revenue generated by this image (& the idea behind it).  The image also prompted renowned award-winning,  Irish chef, Robin Gill to move in and set up his new Darby’s Restaurant in the Embassy Gardens.

Results: Profile Raising/Awareness Building

This image has also increased awareness of (and perhaps preference for) the Ballymore Group.

Where did the idea come from?

The Sky Pool was an idea formed by Sean Mulryan, founder and CEO of Ballymore Group, whose vision stemmed from a desire to push the boundaries in the capability of construction and engineering – to push the boundaries on all aspects of design. Sky Pool’s transparent structure is the result of significant advancements in technologies over the last decade. As such, Mulryan brought in not only architects and engineers but also aquarium designers to ensure the pool is at the forefront of design excellence. The pool will actually be made of acrylic rather than glass – and the experience of the pool will be truly unique, it will feel like floating through the air in central London.

Brief Excerpt From The Brief:

‘Do something that had never been done before’

PR Low Cost, High Credibility but No Control

Note: PR has very low costs, very high Credibility of message (higher than say, an advertisement in the UK) but no Control (as an editor or journalist can challenge or even rebuke a news release). So PR, like advertising and sponsorship is great at generating awareness (not as efficient at generating sales). Advertising has very high control of message, very high cost and lower credibility of message (compared to PR). Sponsorship sits in the middle.

See the savagely uncontrollable nature of PR and the consequences for Shell

Low Cost, High Credibility But Uncontrollable – PR Horror Story

If you like this, you might also like:

The Tactical Matrix – Choosing Which Tool – Owned, Earned or Paid Media

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The post How To Integrate & Leverage Great Graphics For Max Impact appeared first on PR Smith Marketing.