Advertising & IMC: Principles & Practice

Eleventh Edition

Chapter 3
Public Relations

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Part 1
Principle: All Communications One Voice

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Key Objectives
1. Explain what public relations is.
2. Describe how public relations works.
3. List common public relations tools and their functions.
4. Name and discuss what is trending in public relations.

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Chapter Opener: Public Relations
Transforms a Brand

Procter & Gamble faced a formidable challenge in its competition to

reach a new generation of girls with its feminine care product Always.
The company recognized that one of the strengths of the Always brand
was its decades-long commitment to empowering girls through puberty
education.
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What is Public Relations?

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What is Public Relations? (1 of 3)
• A communication discipline covering a wide range of
functions that help an organization connect with the people
it touches.
• A strategic communication process that builds mutually
beneficial relationships between organizations and their
publics.

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What is Public Relations? (2 of 3)
• Public relations focuses on all the relationships an
organization has with various publics.
• Publics are all groups with which an organization
interacts: employees, members, local communities,
shareholders, customers, other institutions.
• Stakeholders: people who have a stake in a company or
organization.

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What is Public Relations? (3 of 3)
• Public relations is practiced by a range of organizations.
• Public relations is a dynamic, global profession.
• To learn more, visit the Public Relations Society of America
(PRSA) at: www.prsa.org

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Public Opinion
• Public opinion refers to what people think; their beliefs
based on perceptions or evaluations of events, people,
institutions, or products.
• Public relations strategists want to know:
– What publics are important to us now and in the future?
– What do these publics think?
• Opinion leaders: important people who influence the
opinions of others.

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Home Depot Employees Build Goodwill in
their Community

Volunteers build picnic tables for a park in Detroit and help build goodwill
for their company, Home Depot.
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Reputation: Goodwill, Trust, and Integrity
• Public goodwill is a company’s greatest asset.
• Integrity involves more than just image; it’s a result of a
company’s actual behavior.
• Public relations is the conscience of the company, creating
trust and maintaining its integrity.

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How Public Relations Contributes to Brand
Perception (1 of 2)
• Public relations contributes significantly to brand
perceptions.
• In integrated programs, advertising and public relations
aim at selected targets with different but complementary
messages.
• Advertising and public relations specialists share a joint
responsibility to promote a brand, and at times their efforts
converge.

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Social Responsibility is Good Public Relations

Häagen-Dazs joined
researchers to help determine
why U.S. honeybee colonies are
disappearing.

Public relations integrated with

advertising helped solve a
serious problem and build brand
image for the client.

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Comparing Public Relations and Advertising
Control
• With news stories, public relations strategists are at the
mercy of the media gatekeeper.
• There is no guarantee that your story will run. The story
may be rewritten or reorganized.
• In contrast, advertising runs exactly as the client who paid
for it has approved, and as scheduled.

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How Public Relations Contributes to Brand
Perception (2 of 2)
As opposed to advertising, public relations takes a longer,
broader view of the importance of image and reputation as a
corporate competitive asset.
Media use
• Public relations seeks to persuade media gatekeepers to
“cover” their companies.
• Gatekeepers are writers, editors, producers, talk-show
coordinators, and newscasters.
• This aspect of public relations is called publicity.

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How Does Public Relations Work?

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Figure 3.1: Twenty Key Publics

Of the 20 key publics of a typical multinational corporation, relationship

management programs focus on the media, employees, the financial community,
government, and the general public.
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Aspects of Public Relations that Focus on
Relationships (1 of 6)
Media relations
• Focuses on developing media contacts.
• One must know who in the media might be interested in
the organization’s story.
• Relationships must be built on honesty, accuracy, and
professionalism.

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Aspects of Public Relations that Focus on
Relationships (2 of 6)
Employee relations
• Programs that communicate information to employees.
• A related program is called internal marketing.
• Communication efforts work to inform employees about
marketing programs.

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Aspects of Public Relations that Focus on
Relationships (3 of 6)
Financial relations
• Communications aimed at the financial community.
• These could include:
– Press releases to business publications
– Meetings with investors
– Annual reports

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Aspects of Public Relations that Focus on
Relationships (4 of 6)
Public affairs
• Communication with government and the public on issues
related to government and regulation.
• Lobbying to get legislators to support a bill.
• Issue management : monitoring, communicating to and
with public.

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Aspects of Public Relations that Focus on
Relationships (5 of 6)
Community relations
• Encompasses communities in broader society, both
geographic and ethnic.
• Includes consideration of diverse communities: the
underrepresented and underserved.
• Companies can build community relations through cause
marketing.

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Aspects of Public Relations that Focus on
Relationships (6 of 6)
Consumer relations
• Building relationships with people who buy things in the
United States and elsewhere around the globe.
• Core objectives: building sales and building the brand.
• Key activities: attracting/keeping customers, marketing
new products or services, handling customer
communication, educating customers.

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Aspects of Public Relations that Focus on
Particular Functions (1 of 3)
Corporate reputation management
• Corporate relations focuses on an organization’s image
and reputation.
• The overriding goal of reputation management is to
strengthen stakeholder trust.
• Corporate social responsibility describes good works
done in the community and environment.

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GE Practices Corporate Social Responsibility

General Electric demonstrates its

commitment to meet environmental
challenges using green technology
while spurring economic growth.

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Aspects of Public Relations that Focus on
Particular Functions (2 of 3)
Crisis management
• Anticipating and planning for disasters from a media
perspective and with stakeholders.
• Consider these now-famous public relations crises:
– The Tylenol poisonings (1982)
– The Toyota recall (2010)
– The BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster (2010)
• Effective crisis plans can help both avoid crises and ease
the damage if one occurs.

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Aspects of Public Relations that Focus on
Particular Functions (3 of 3)
Public communication campaigns
• Intended to change public opinion and discourage harmful
behaviors.
As a class:
Go here to examine the “Truth” campaign to discourage
smoking. What has made this an effective public
communication campaign?

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Aspects of Public Relations that Focus on
Particular Functions
Fund-raising
• The practice of raising money by collecting donations.
• Used by nonprofits: museums, hospitals, Red Cross, and
others; directed at potential donors.
• This is sometimes called strategic philanthropy.

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What are Common Public Relations
Tools?

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What are Common Public Relations Tools?
(1 of 3)

• Paid media: the sponsoring organization pays for media

and controls how and when the message is delivered.
• Owned media: channels owned and controlled by the
sponsoring organization: websites, blogs, or sponsored
events.
• Earned media: Consumers and mass media control
mentions and comments about the brand; the most
credible media option.

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What are Common Public Relations Tools?
(2 of 3)

Advertising: creates corporate visibility or strengthen

relationships with various stakeholder audiences.
• House ads: used in a company’s own publication or
programs for self-promotion.
• Public service announcements run free on TV, radio, or
print for a charities or civic organizations.

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Advertising can Advance Social Causes (1 of 2)
Since 1972, PSAs for the United
Negro College Fund have helped
raise more than $2.2 billion to fund
college educations for more than
350,000 minority students.

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Advertising can Advance Social Causes (2 of 2)

The Advertising Council sponsors

public communication campaigns in
support of good causes. Participating
agencies donate their time and
talent, and media donate time and
space to run PSAs.

The Fatherhood Initiative, shown

here, encourages new dads to learn
more about parenting.

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What are Common Public Relations Tools?
(3 of 3)

Advertising
• Corporate advertising: focused on the corporate image
or viewpoint.
• Corporate identity advertising: used to enhance or
maintain reputation among specific audiences.
• Advocacy advertising: intended to deliver various point-
of-view messages.

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Media Relations
• News releases
– Deliver public relations messages to external media.
– Should answer the five “Ws and the H.”
• Video news releases (VNRs)
– Contain video footage for a television newscast.
• Pitch letters
– An engaging letter about a feature story idea sent to
editors who have to be “sold.”
– They usually stress a human interest angle.

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News Releases: A Key Public Relations Tool

Notice the tight and simple

writing style in the news
release from the University of
Nebraska–Lincoln.
News releases can be
accompanied in the digital
age with associated media
files, such as short videos, to
help communicate the news.

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Publicity
• Press conferences
– Here, a spokesperson makes a media statement.
– A media kit may be sent ahead of time.
• Media tours
– A “press conference on wheels.”
– A spokesperson makes speeches and announcements,
holds press conferences, and offers interviews.

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Publications
• Pamphlets
• Booklets
• Annual reports
• Collateral material
• Books
• Bulletins
• Newsletters
• Inserts and enclosures
• Position papers
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Figure 3.2: The Impact of Banks

Regulations have become the standard for the banking industry. It is important for
bankers to visit with their state and national representatives to leverage the
impact community banks have as legislation is written and voted upon. Finding a
way to communicate the importance of community banks was critical. The
solution was to create an infographic to reach the target audience of busy elected
officials and communicate quickly and powerfully.
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Other Tools (1 of 3)
Videos, CDs, podcasts, and books
• These are now major public relations tools.
• Books can be published simply with electronic publishing.
• Videos are expensive but are ideal for distributing in-depth
information.

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Other Tools (2 of 3)
Speakers and photos
• A speakers’ bureau is a group of articulate people who
will talk about topics at the public’s request.

Displays and exhibits

• Displays include booths, racks and holders for promotional
literature, and signage.
• Exhibits are larger than displays and may have moving
parts, sound, or video.

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Other Tools (3 of 3)
Special events and tours
• Special events celebrate company milestones:
– Open houses
– Birthday celebrations
– Corporate sponsorship of events

• Tours and trips by delegates and representatives

– The “truth” youth smoking-prevention campaign tour
reaches 500,000 teens annually with information about
the harmful effects of smoking.

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Specials Events can Promote Products

In one of his classic performances,

the late Steve Jobs unveils the iPad,
generating lots of buzz for the new
Apple iPad.

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Online Communication
• Intranets connect people within an organization.
• Extranets connect people in one business with its
business partners.
• External communication includes websites, email
contact with reports, press releases distributed by email, or
PR Newswire.

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What’s Trending in Public Relations?

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What’s Trending in Public Relations? (1 of 3)
1. Mobile communication will continue to grow as audiences
increasingly use smartphones.
2. Visual storytelling will be increasingly important, and
news releases will include more visual content.
3. Real-time marketing, messages based on current events,
will present opportunities to define brand personality,
especially with the adoption of social media.

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What’s Trending in Public Relations? (2 of 3)
4. Educational video content will become more important.
5. Attempts to go viral will continue to try to get a crowd
involved to replicate the success of other efforts.
6. Digital security will be a continuing concern as hacking
endangers information collected through digital channels.
7. Twitter users need to become more sophisticated to
avoid creating blunders that require public relations fixes.

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What’s Trending in Public Relations? (3 of 3)
8. Brand owners will continue to integrate public relations,
advertising, and marketing to create one consistent
voice.
9. Social responsibility is paramount and will result in the
increasing use of cause marketing.
10. Measuring the effectiveness of public relations efforts
continues to evolve.

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Looking Ahead
• In this chapter, we reviewed the practice of public relations
as a fundamental discipline of IMC.
• Organizations have many ways to reach publics and build
positive images and relationships for their brand.
• Chapter 4 will look at direct-response and promotions
practices.

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It’s a Wrap (1 of 2)

“Running #LikeAGirl wins Like a Champion”

• This campaign took a stance on an issue, benefited young
women, and also sold a lot of product.
• More than 80 percent of women age 16 to 24 viewed “like
a girl” as a positive and inspiring statement.

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It’s a Wrap (2 of 2)

Running #LikeAGirl wins Like a Champion

The campaign garnered:
• More than 64 million video views in the US.
• More than 1,880 media placements on influential media
sites.
• More than 290 million social impressions and 133,000
social mentions with #LikeAGirl.

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Copyright

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