Product Description

Bestselling authors and world-renowned marketing strategists Al and Laura Ries usher in the new era of public relations.

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #311652 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Amazon.com
In The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, longtime marketing strategist Al Ries and his daughter/business partner Laura Ries offer solid arguments championing the latter over the former for modern-day brand building. Such a stance is hardly new for these two, who have jointly, individually, and with others written eight previous books on related topics since Al penned The Positioning Era Cometh for Advertising Age some three decades ago. What's fresh this time is the dissection of contemporary corporate hits--like Starbucks, Botox, eBay, and even Harry Potter--that have eschewed traditional advertising and nevertheless soared to the top through the savvy use of public relations. The authors spend the first part of the book discussing how advertising lost credibility among consumers as it became more of a creative art than a sales tool, and the second part showing how PR subsequently supplanted it in effectiveness. Using the above examples and others, they explain how such practices can work in various situations (building a new brand, rebuilding an old one, dealing with line extensions, etc.), as well as ways advertising can still be usefully employed (primarily to maintain a brand and "keep it on course"). The result is both provocative and practical. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly
Marketing strategists Ries and Ries spend all 320 pages of their latest book arguing one point: skillful public relations is what sells, not advertising. Case in point: the failure of Pets.com's sock puppet ads. However, in a chapter devoted to dot-com advertising excesses, the authors never mention that many dot-coms had miserable business plans and neophyte management. (The Rieses may be counting on the sock puppet to sell another commodity, as a deflated sock puppet dominates the book's jacket.) Today, most small companies aren't bloated with venture capital to buy TV ads, yet the book has little practical advice on how these companies' executives should use public relations, particularly PR's most important role: crisis control. Some readers might resent paying $24.95 for what amounts to an advertisement for pricey PR consulting firms like Ries & Ries. The authors frequently poke fun at the most outrageous TV ads of recent years, paralleling Sergio Zyman's The End of Advertising As We Know It (reviewed above), a more thoughtful critique of current advertising trends. The inherent flaw in the Rieses' logic: time and again they cite ad campaigns for new products that are "off message" and then say how much sales declined; this supports the notion that products and services are sold by good advertising. Although their book is occasionally entertaining, the argument is simplistic and self-serving. Illus.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The father-and-daughter authors who previously collaborated on The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding here attempt to explain the difference between advertising and public relations, arguing that PR should be used instead of advertising to launch new brands. Once a brand is established, advertising may then be used to maintain the brand in the consumer's mind. The book is arranged in four chapters, with the first chapter describing the "fall of advertising" and offering examples of failed campaigns such as those for New Coke and Pets.com. Subsequent chapters describe the rise of PR and its effective use by brands like Sony PlayStation and Red Bull, tout the new role advertising can play in maintaining brands, and attempt to finally differentiate between advertising and PR. Throughout, the authors' mantra is "advertising failed, PR would have worked," but they never fully explain how and why PR would have been more successful for the companies and the brands used as examples. An optional purchase for corporate and academic libraries. Stacey Marien, American Univ. Lib., Washington, DC
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Do not spend a dollar on advertising before you read this book
The Ries father and daughter team put in proper perspective the role of advertising in todays economy: what it cannot do, what it can no longer do and where it still serves a purpose today. With numerous examples and good humour they expose the obsolescence of most common beliefs about advertising.

They effectively contrast the waning power of advertising with the growth of truth oriented public relations. We have become a society of sceptics, quick to recognize and punish the deceiving; but also quick to appreciate the authentic. The Ries explain the need for patience and truth in using Public Relations as an effective tool to build solid high value brands.

This is a quick read. I found it well written and entertaining.

Same old stuff
For some reason, Both Ries and Trout get away with recycling their old material and putting a new name on it.
More than that, you couldn't tell that their partnership fell apart years ago since the same ideas, and more importantly, the same examples are used extensively in each man's books.

For Example:
These guys must LOVE Papa Johns (or be shareholder's, as they both mention the compony time and time again (In multiple books as well) as some paragon of food and of great marketing. As far as I'm concerned, Papa John's is indistinguishable from Domino's. I wonder if either man has ever even tried it.
Anyway... back on track.

This book continually simplifies the reasons behind the success and/or failure of various companies and products to the poor use of publicity. No mention of poor management or rationalizing markets, or the fact that the product or service stunk in the first place.

The most appaling thing is this guy has the balls to tell the city of Cusco in Peru and the country of Guatamala, they should change names in order to attract visitors. (Ciudad de las Incas and Guatamaya, respectively). I don't know if this is marketing ignorance, or American disregard for foreign cultures, but I couldn't believe what I was reading.

He continues to show his ignorance of technology and pop culture with incorrect example after incorrect example.
For example, he points out that there was once a beer called Yuengling that failed because of it's name. Guess what, Al, Yuengling, is alive and doing pretty well.
Also chapters are repetitive. After reading about Red Bull 3 times, in as many chapters, it got a little boring

To sum it up: Advertising is bad, Brand extension is bad. Anyone who didn't listen to his advice is now out of business, Papa John's is great. There I saved you the agony of reading this (Or anyother of his books or the books by Jack Trout) and $15.

Save your money. A stinker of a book.

PR is King
The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR by Al Ries & Laura Ries

I agree with the thesis of this book: PR can change perceptions but advertising can't. I've been preaching about the credibility of PR for years (it's more believable because the message is delivered by the supposedly unbiased media.) Advertising, on the other hand, isn't believable because everyone knows that it's a company's paid-for message. Ries & Ries further state that advertising has crossed over into the realm of "art" rather than remaining a form of communication. They point out that the yardstick by which ad agencies measure the success of their ad campaigns is the number of creative awards they win--not whether or not the ads actually sell products. On this, the authors are absolutely right. Ads (especially TV ads) don't sell anymore, they entertain. It's a waste of money for companies to advertise as much as they do. So, even though the authors overstate their case and repeat it incessantly, follow the advice of Ries & Ries and spend more money on PR!