This book is a waste of time - it tries to claim that PR is more important than advertising but its not fooling anyone

Could have been much much shorter. The author has a tendency to drag on with his point. The core message of this book could have been relayed with a hundred less pages. Also the author's predictions on Amazon and 3g technology feel hilarious considering their prospects in the end.

This preaches to the choir in the worst possible way.

Perhaps it's ideal for non-PR practitioners, advertising people, the like, who could truly benefit from this insight.

For me, it was just example after example meant to stroke my ego. And that's why it gets 3 stars, not 2. I love me some good ego-stroking.

Very informative

A STRONG ADVOCATE AND MANIFESTO FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS

The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR is the Manifesto of Public Relations in modern times.
Ries and Ries render excellent service to public relations. Their advocacy is sound, impactful, and persuasive. They do so with a mix of anecdotes, data and facts, a combination that makes a strong case.
There are strong pillars
1.tPR uses the Slow Buildup against advertising’s Big Bang
2.tPR is verbal; Advertising is Visual
3.tPR reaches Somebody; Advertising Reaches Everybody
4.tPR is Other-Directed, Advertising is Self-Directed
5.tPR Lives, Advertising Dies
6.tPR is Inexpensive; Advertising is Expensive
7.tPR favours new brands; Advertising favours Line Extensions
8.tPR Likes New Names, Advertising Likes Old Names
9.tPR is Serious, Advertising is Funny
10.tPR is Credible, Advertising is Incredible
11.tPR is Brand Building; Advertising is Brand Maintenance
12.tPR is Creative; Advertising is Uncreative.
A central thesis is a nexus between public relations, media, and brand building. Public relations deploy media to drive publicity. It uses storytelling, newly rediscovered as part of the fabric of human communication after Aristotle nearly 3000 years ago.
The dot-com era and the many start-ups of the technology boom validate the thesis. “Massive amounts of publicity built the Microsoft brand. We are quite sure you can remember reading dozens of stories about Microsoft and Microsoft products. But do you remember a single Microsoft ad? What was the headline? What did the ad tell you? Especially, What did the ad tell you about Microsoft that you didn’t already know?”
Ries and Ries drop this epigram: What builds brands are media messages. The more messages, the more favourable the messages, the stronger the brand.
I assert in my upcoming book, 25 Commandments of Media Relations, “The Information Age has brought increased attention and interest to public relations as one of the most significant disciplines of the modern age. The plethora of platforms and channels of communication means that there are many voices and messages. One consequence has been a Tower of Babel situation. There is so much information but not enough communication.
Therefore, the world is increasingly turning to the communication discipline that best approximates the promise of the field to enable better understanding between and among people, whether as businesses, institutions, individuals, or governments.”
On the downside, they should not have played futurologist. Their predictions on Amazon and the telephone are so way off the mark in this age. The modern phone is now a principal tool of public relations, for instance.
The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR admirably pushed public relations further into the reckoning. Public Relations now sits properly among the management functions of the modern Information Age.

Badly dated in places thanks to using 2002 examples all the time (predictions of the failure of 3G phones and of Amazon.com stand out, along with taking the piss out of Apple). But still makes a good case on the benefits of PR over advertising, with some handy case studies - and all written in a snappy, highly readable way that enables speedy reading. Chugged the lot in two short sessions.

I had to read this book for my public relations class and it was so boring. The authors have some good points and examples, but they beat everything around the bush.

Also, the title doesn't really make any sense.They never talk about an era during which advertising started going under and PR started to make a boom.

Definitely awesome! Totally changed the way I perceive the media now. If you've already read his previous books, you may find this one a bit 'refurbished'. But nevertheless, it's still worth your penny.

Read it for work. Some good ideas, but nothing mind-blowing.

Biased because I’m so uninterested in the subject but the whole book reads like a contradiction. The authors try and make their point while making themselves incredulous with scant evidenced claims and quick anecdotes. I would love a more rigorous book about PR’s and advertising’s functions but this is marketing heebly-geebly.

very interesting, not convincing a good read though.

As the title implies, this book is about how PR, in many situations, especially for new products and brands, can be more important than advertising.

The book covers the relations between PR and advertising.

The most interesting parts were real-life anecdotes from the authors' consulting engagements.

(and yes, the book was fairly dry).