The Role of PR : In the Introduction Stage of a New Brand

Abstract: Abstract The reality of today is that companies are spending more and more money on commercial spots. The “highlight” of the year is Super Bowl, where a 30-second ad costs more than $2 million to run. Advertising agencies are using their role as communicators by competing with each other with no interest in the product. The marketing guru Al Ries released a controversial book called “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR” (2002) together with his daughter Laura Ries. In this book they are at-tacking the traditional advertising industry and claim that it has lost its credibility and above all, public relations is a more effective tool in brand building. The Rieses also favors PR in the in-troduction phase of a new brand. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate agencies’ view of public relations role relative to traditional advertising in the intro-duction phase of a new brand. The authors have used a qualitative study where the purpose will be achieved by performing in-depth face to face interviews with three respondents, which has a deep knowledge within the PR and the traditional advertising industry. Whether PR as a promotional tool is viewed as more effective relative to traditional advertising in the introduction of a new brand one has to consider different variables. PR is more effec-tive when it comes to credibility, cost, and clutter. However, a major drawback is the control. Also, one has to consider the at-tributes of the brand since there are brands that are more PR “friendly” than others.