I have no objection to adverting sales people selling into content.  For example, if a medium is planning to run a piece on golf, then approach golf courses, equipment manufacturer, retailers, etc., about adverting in that issue or during that episode.  Also, I think it is smart marketing to copy your advertising sales rep with any press release you are sending to a particular medium.  (I don’t mind another voice bringing a good story to an editor’s attention one more time.) What I do fervently object to is the creation of seemingly editorial content strictly for its sales value as well as tolerance of the unfettered quid pro quo where advertisers get positive and pronounced editorial coverage despite the quality of the product or service in question.  Running editorial and advertising as one unit where advertisers are “partners” is ethically dubious and it destroys the credibility of real PR in that medium, and perhaps across all media.  The wall between editorial and advertising has always had a degree of fluidity, but I fear it is now no more than a gauzy veil.  Editors, producers, journalists-rebuild this wall!

Check out this segment from NPR’s On the Media for an example of such a conflict.

Click here and join the MPR Fan page on Facebook.  You’ll be glad you did.
 
 
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Surely, you’ve seen this by now, but I need to point it out here.  Sometimes, ads can be great PR.  Benetton and P.E.T.A. have been both provocative and effective with their use of advertisements to generate media attention.  Now Weatherproof has done it with their billboard depicting President Obama at the Great Wall of China wearing one of their jackets.  The White House lawyers got into the act, but not before the media had spread the story and image all over the world.  The New York Times, the Huffington Post, and Fox News are just a sampling of the thousands of media mentions this ad received.

Great job Weatherproof!  Now if I can just get a snap of the President reading my book.
 
 
In the November 2009 edition of the Journal of Marketing, Diego Rinallo  (Bocconi University) and Suman Basuroy (University of Oklahoma) publish the results of their study that took a quantitative approach to discovering the effect of advertising on media coverage.  Their study suggests that the more a firm advertises with a given medium the more coverage the firm’s products will receive within that medium.  (PR professionals already know this from experience.) They also show that the influence of advertising on a medium’s coverage increases as competitive media coverage of the advertiser’s product increases. That is, a medium will increase its coverage of an advertiser’s products as other media increase their coverage of those products. 

They go on to explain that advertisers have a higher degree of influence over publishers that focus on a single industry, and that larger companies receive more coverage than small companies, while innovative firms receive more exposure than mundane firms.

While MPR folks already understand the unspoken editorial quid pro quo that can occur between a medium and its advertisers, there are a few other MPR strategies that can be inferred from the work of Rinallo and Basuroy.

1.       As coverage begets coverage, show off the media mentions that you get on a timely basis, and put it somewhere that the media, especially those that you advertise with, can see it.  An “In the News” blog that feeds out to your media contacts is a great addition to a webpage of similar purpose.

2.       When pitching a story, think about starting with trade journals or other media that have a narrow focus on the topic at hand.  This coverage can then be leveraged into coverage by the broader media.

3.       If you can’t be big, be creative.  Even if your product or service is not particularly exciting, look to the intangible stuff and the areas where your products and services create true value for your customers.  It is in those spaces you will discover the novel and innovative things that your firm is doing.  Let the media know-especially those with which you advertise.

This is an installment of the MPR Distillery where we find the latest ideas and research on marketing public relations and social media and boil it down to where it can be easily implemented in a business or taught in a classroom. 
 
 
Advertising is not PR, social media, or word-of-mouth, except that, well, it is.  Especially when a campaign is tied to a big budget or a radical departure in the way a company does business.   Let’s face it, the media and consumers talk about ads, which in turn creates buzz that makes more news and spawns more word-of-mouth.  I bring this up because I am intrigued by General Motor’s “May the Best Car Win” campaign.  No matter whether it is by design or not, this campaign has a significant marketing public relations component, and I think the GM execs are missing the mark by applying a dated solution to a contemporary problem.  In a time when consumers look for products tailored to their needs from companies that actively interact with them, GM is using the old school “we’ve put our money where our mouth is” approach.  This is basically a “take it or leave it” arrangement.  (Sure I can take it now, and decide to leave it in 60 days, but it’s still all about the product.)  There is no interaction and no hint of awareness about the needs and desires of the customer.  This is a great example of archaic sales philosophy that just won’t work to reposition a fallen mega-corporation.  It is going to be the company that positions itself a partner in a customers’ driving experience that will win in the long run. (The experience extends beyond customers’ transportation needs, and includes the symbolism of the automobile as a marker of personal style and connection with the physical environment.)

To make matters worse, GM selected the wrong messengers.  With global awareness and environmental consciousness sharing the front of consumers’ minds with distrust for the corporate establishment, making gray haired, white males in suits the face of the GM turnaround is a non-starter.  Anyone remember Marshal McCluhan?  If the medium is the message, what are consumers taking away from any message delivered by GM chairman, Edward Whitacre, and his soon to retire colleague, Bob Lutz?

 This may just be to be the latest no va (don’t make me translate) introduced by GM. 
 
 

Connector is a term that you will see me use frequently in this blog, so I wanted to take a moment to clarify just what it means. In Marketing Public Relations: A Marketer’s Approach to Public Relations and Social Media (Pearson-Prentice Hall), I defined MPR as any program or effort designed to improve, maintain, or protect the sales or image of a productby encouraging intermediaries, such as traditional mass media, the electronic media, or individuals, to voluntarily pass a message about the firm or product to their audience of businesses or consumers. These intermediaries are connectors.  If you’ve read the Tipping Point:  How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, you will notice that this is a variation on Gladwell’s use of the term.

 
 

This past week saw the passing of pop icons Ed McMahon, Farrah Faucet, and, of course, Michael Jackson.  While their lives and accomplishments were featured in great detail in many media venues, I’d like to recognize Billy Mays who also left this world last week.

Billy was a great American pitchman in the tradition of many great hucksters and hawkers dating back at least to P.T. Barnum.  With ventures going beyond fast talking TV commercials, his star appeared to be on the rise.  Yes, he was a salesman and an advertiser.  But he also understood MPR.  Loud and sensational, his spots never failed to create some buzz, both on the Internet and through word-of-mouth.  Aided by an impressive batting average in endorsing products that actually lived up to their hype, Mays could spread the word with some credibility and get products sold.  Of course the buzz from Billy’s spots didn’t rival that of Super Bowl commercials, but I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that most Americans have talked about one of his products or ads or snuck a second peek at one on You Tube.  Big consumer products companies like Church & Dwight (makers of Arm & Hammer products) recognized his position as a marketing icon, and so should we.  We’ll miss you Billy Mays!!!

Take a look at one of Billy’s last interviews promoting his show, Pitchmen.

Reflection:

Why was Billy Mays so successful in blending sales promotion, advertising, and MPR?