The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR

Today's major brands are born with publicity, not advertising. A closer look at the history of the most successful modern brands shows this to be true. In fact, an astonishing number of brands, including Palm, Starbucks, the Body Shop, Wal-Mart, Red Bull and Zara have been built with virtually no advertising.

Using in-depth case histories of successful PR campaigns coupled with those of unsuccessful advertising campaigns, The Fall of Advertising provides valuable ideas for marketers — all the while demonstrating why

• advertising lacks credibility, the crucial ingredient in brand building, and how only PR can supply that credibility;
• the big bang approach advocated by advertising people should be abandoned in favor of a slow build-up by PR;
• advertising should only be used to maintain brands once they have been established through publicity.

Bold and accessible, The Fall of Advertising is bound to turn the world of marketing upside down.

Publicity first, advertising second: this is the provocative message that marketing gurus Al and Laura Ries deliver with The Fall of Advertising. The bestselling authors of The 22 Immutable Laws of Brandingare back, this time revealing a startling and crucial development in marketing, the shift from advertisingandndash;oriented marketing to PRandndash;oriented marketing. Today's brands are born with publicity, not advertising. A closer look at the history of many major brands shows this to be true. In fact an astonishing number of brands, including The Body Shop, Starbucks, Walandndash;Mart, Beanie Babies, Oracle and Yahoo!, have been built with virtually no advertising. With case histories and a stepandndash;byandndash;step plan for creating buzz in the PR era, The Fall of Advertisingshows readers how to:

Give up the cherished bigandndash;bang approach in favour of a slow buildandndash;up;

Create a category;

Use PR to communicate a brand's credentials;

Select the perfect spokesperson;

Roll out a program;

Develop a healthy relationship with the media.

Bold and accessible, The Fall of Advertisingtells how and why publicity will assume the major role in product launches, with advertising solidifying brands rather than creating them. This will be the essential primer on brandandndash;building in the public relations era.