Opinion: The power of PR and reputation on brands by Grant Common Editor published August - September 2006 Grant has 30 years direct experience in public relations and communication in Australia and New Zealand - as well as directing and managing programs in the UK and USA. He has consulted to Governments, publicly listed companies, industry bodies, marketing organisations, multinationals and not-for-profit organisations. He is Managing Director of Sydney-based Network PR and as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (having completed the Company Directors Diploma examination) he is also one of the few PR practitioners to have the perspective of the company director. PR works better than other forms of marketing and at a small fraction of the cost “In recent years, more companies in industries ranging from auto manufacturing to financial services and consumer packaged goods to entertainment have reached the same unexpected conclusion: PR works.  And at times, PR works better than other forms of marketing and at a small fraction of the cost”. This is the opening paragraph of a new book “Unleashing the Power in PR: a Contrarian’s Guide to Marketing and Communication” by Mark Weiner president of Delahaye, a US-based research and analysis firm. In this issue of PR Influences we highlight from Mark Weiner’s book the fact that studies from one of the world’s pre-eminent marketers - Proctor & Gamble - show that PR is an efficient deliverer of ROI, often surpassing mass-market advertising, price promotion and trade activity.  And that in three of the six products run through an intensive modelling process PR returned the highest ROI of any marketing tactic. Click here for that story To illustrate how marketers in Australia are stepping ‘outside the square’ and employing fresh thinking - including a heavy use of consumer and brand PR - we take a look at Unilever in Australia. Once they were the classic advertising-driven marketer. The brand was the hero - and consumers learnt of them primarily through TV.  Unilever itself was virtually unknown to consumers - relegated to the manufacturer’s panel on the back of the product.  Its corporate philosophy appeared to be to stay invisible. Not so today. Unilever is still a large advertiser, but it is the type of advertising and their use of other elements of the modern marketing mix - including PR - that has lead to some of the most ‘edgy’ and agile consumer campaigns seen in this market. Their Lynx and Dove campaigns have attracted their share of controversy and criticism. But the ‘new look’ Unilever seems to be prepared for this.  They are complementing their consumer aggressiveness with some worthwhile community projects.  And are backing this up with a website that creates an impression of being open and informative - and very much part of Australian business and the community. Click here to read what Unilever has been doing and why they stand out as an organisation that seems to intuitively know how to integrate PR - both consumer and corporate - into the modern business. Finally, even I didn’t predict how bad the fallout would be for P&O when I wrote my  Opinion Piece “P&O brand undermined by extensive adverse media coverage” in April, before the inquest hearing that was splashed across our papers, radio and TV screens. It got much worse for P&O. Not only did they attract arguably the worst publicity of any corporate in Australia in recent times.  What emerged were a range of dubious marketing tactics employed by P&O. It raises questions as to who was controlling the marketing and overall communication of P&O two-to three years ago when the seeds of this disaster were being sown?  Did anyone ever stop to think of the likely corporate reputation consequences of the track P&O was going down? The P&O debacle is evidence of how important PR is to the brand.   It is also evidence of how important the brand and the corporation need to be in sync. Grant Common Editor

PR Influences: Power of pr pubic relations and reputation on brands brand consumer