Breaking out of the herd

Posted by Erin Koch

How often have you read about an advertising campaign before you’ve seen even one of the ads? Or have you ever wondered if an ad campaign is making a difference?The front page of the April 22 Union-Tribune provides a great example of PR being used to “position” an ad campaign. The San Diego Convention & Visitors’ Bureau launched a PR program to raise attention for its $8.7 million ‘Happy Happens’ ad campaign in an attempt to boost tourism and hotel occupancy.

Another example comes from Southern California’s omnipresent Lexus vs. Audi battle. Apparently, Audi’s “black sheep” campaign – where they position their Q5 luxury-compact SUV as standing apart from the herd of Lexus RXs (the segment’s most popular) – is proving to be quite effective.

PR can (and should) be an integral part of any major advertising campaign. Why? Because the story behind the ads often has a greater impact than the ads themselves. Effective PR results in news stories about the ad campaign itself. As Al Ries noted in his classic book The Fall of Advertising (and the Rise of PR), PR lights the fires and advertising fans the flames. Telling the target audience that Lexus owners are now purchasing Audis because of the ad campaign has a much stronger impact on the car buyer than simply seeing an ad on TV. And a front page story on low hotel occupancy rates in the local paper reminds San Diegans of the need to support the local economy – and might just result in a significant increase in locals booking in-town weekend getaways.

Happy Happens – because PR helps!

Photo Credit: MJK23

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Tags: advertising, branding, creative, marketing, news, positioning, PR

This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 3:14 pm and is filed under Client Service Results, Clutter Busting, Leverage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.