Great book on getting brand awareness the right way.

Although this was published a little while ago, it's concepts hold truer today than they did when it was published. All concepts presented in this book can be applied directly to social media (as aspect of PR)

nothing new was learned - except that there were vivid illustrations of why the premise is right - didn't buy it entirely although my practice/profession should rely on it. PR can be more powerful, but human beings are complicated creatures with different buttons to push for different cultures and subcultures - some can only be pushed by the offerings of advertising (art, images, entertainment) - it's like narrative v. documentary - one works on different level to different type of people and the others don't.

Required reading for a class. Wanted their stand to be more extreme than what was presented in the book.

A final de cuentas resulta muy repetitivo, lo que sí es que es rico en ejemplos que ilustra los puntos que defienden y atacan tanto a las Relaciones Públicas como a la Publicidad. Fue escrito hace más de 10 años por lo que lo consideraría un libro 'teoría' que nos deja comprobar, gracias a nuestra experiencia, qué esa era la tendencia.

As A Marketing Communication Specialist, I would say that The Ries' book on PR is an absolute must for ALL the companies out there.

Before I work as A Marcomm, I've worked @ several Advertising Agencies, it helped me to understand the reality that this book shows to me. The reality behind the Advertising empire: an empire that seems to have lost its function, effectiveness and credibility.
"Creativity wins awards, but does it also win sales?" is the question, and the answer follows: " To be effective, advertising doesn't need creativity. It needs credibility", and that is where PR comes into the picture.

The strenght of this book is in the back-up evidence that the Ries bring forward, the simplicity and sincerity.

Companies have to follow their advice: "You can't live in the past. Advertising is no longer fresh and exciting. There's just too much of it.", and start focusing on the future: on PR.

So,..I think I've picked the right career,..

Masterfully written. One of the most important books on why public relations trumps advertising in building trust, the ultimate currency in long-term branding, marketing and communication.

The core idea of the book is about the new role of advertising & PR in building Brands (create new perception in customers'mind): PR is to create brand, Advertising is to defend/maintain it.

Why?
1. Credibility: In the new situation, when there are too many advertiments, people tend to doubt them more. Therefore advertising is loosing its credibility in customers' eyes. But PR is different. It can earn brands credibility through the third parties.
2. Price: From the same situation, advertising is going to be more expensive, while PR it not.
3. Necessary Conversion period: To change or to insert new perceptions/brands into customers'mind, it's necessary to be patient to wait customers (to reject the old perceptions) to accept a new idea. And PR is a suitable way to build brands or to broaden the perception of brands, while advertising is not because of being expensive and lack of credibility.
4. The uncertainty of PR: advertising's job should be to reinforce the same key message to customers because its target and content is controllable while PR its not.

Theirfore PR should be creative, natural, and orginal(make the new product attrative) While advertising should clarify the message of brands.

The idea is somehow similar to the idea of inbound marketing at the point: make customers remember brands by INDIRECTLY long-term seeding strategy. However there is a difference.
With the same goal which is indirectly seeding brand's name/or products into minds, they perform that by:
- PR: the directly suggestion/mention about products/brands from third parties.
- Inbound marketing: companies directly help customers' problems with contents by themselves.

Again, Al Ries haved broken into the new concept which have been true until now (2001-2018).

A should-read book on advertising for the knowledge worker, manager, executive, or entrepreneur.

Great eye-opener

DNF (for now).

There is no doubt that Al Ries is great at marketing, however, this book wasn't like his other books. I learned something from his other boos while this one just repeated itself every chapter. And it was more statistics than actual lessons.

Fantastic