Marketing Public Relations

Many companies are turning to marketing public relations (MPR) to support corporate or product
promotion and image making. MPR, like financial PR and community PR, serves a special constituency,
the marketing department.
The old name for MPR was publicity, the task of securing editorial space—as opposed to paid
space—in print and broadcast media to promote or “hype” a product, service, idea, place, person, or
organization. MPR goes beyond simple publicity and plays an important role in the following tasks:
• Launching new products. The amazing commercial success of toys such as LeapFrog, Beanie
Babies, and even the latest kids’ craze, Silly Bandz, owes a great deal to strong publicity.
• Repositioning a mature product. In a classic PR case study, New York City had extremely bad
press in the 1970s until the “I Love New York” campaign.
• Building interest in a product category. Companies and trade associations have used MPR to
rebuild interest in declining commodities such as eggs, milk, beef, and potatoes and to expand
consumption of such products as tea, pork, and orange juice.
• Influencing specific target groups. McDonald’s sponsors special neighborhood events in
Latino and African American communities to build goodwill.• Defending products that have encountered public problems. PR professionals must be adept
at managing crises, such as those weathered by such well-established brands as Tylenol, Toyota,
and BP in 2010.
• Building the corporate image in a way that reflects favorably on its products. Steve Jobs’s
heavily anticipated Macworld keynote speeches have helped to create an innovative, iconoclastic
image for Apple Corporation.
As the power of mass advertising weakens, marketing managers are turning to MPR to build
awareness and brand knowledge for both new and established products. MPR is also effective in
blanketing local communities and reaching specific groups and can be more cost-effective than advertising.
Nevertheless, it must be planned jointly with advertising.86
Clearly, creative public relations can affect public awareness at a fraction of the cost of advertising.
The company doesn’t pay for media space or time but only for a staff to develop and circulate the stories
and manage certain events.An interesting story picked up by the media can be worth millions of dollars
in equivalent advertising. Some experts say consumers are five times more likely to be influenced by
editorial copy than by advertising. The following is an example of an award-winning PR campaign.