Marketing PR – a much under-rated tool

Consumer marketing is one area where the contributions of PR are considerably under-rated. But it’s one where I’ve had some of my most satisfying moments.

It’s an area where the implied endorsement of influencers can be so potent.

Take for example the early days of digital cameras. Remember the time? Digital was new. Camera’s with 4 megapixels were regarded as an extra-ordinary breakthrough – and were priced accordingly.

I had the opportunity to lead my previous agency’s work for Kodak in Australia for nearly five years –from the early adopter phase right through to mainstream consumer adoption.

What was satisfying was that a largely PR-driven effort (little was spent by Kodak on advertising) helped drive Kodak to number one in the Australian market by volume of camera’s sold.

How was it done? Digital cameras were a new product. Consumers wanted re-assurance and education, and therefore turned to the media. When a marketer can’t outspend their competitor through advertising they can often win the battle for share-of-voice through PR.

We/Kodak did this in Australia by working with the consumer media – educating them about digital, giving them cameras to review and holding lavish new camera launches (if possible in exotic locations). The combination of PR and a great retail partnership strategy worked!

Motoring journalists are another key influencer of buyers choices; there’s been plenty of studies done on how much car buyers rely on car reviews. I worked on several car brands thoughout my career – most notably General Motors/Holden (especially the launch of the Commodore) and Honda.

Food is another classic territory for marketers. Nutritionists and dieticians have become key influencers for food companies. I was instrumental in having Network in New Zealand develop a whole food and nutrition expertise which has seen the agency dominate food PR and marketing in NZ for over 25 years. Over the years I’ve also been deeply involved in generic industry programs for milk, bread, butter and sugar. And supported work on some great brands such as the iconic Kiwi Wattie’s.

A different marketing exercise was the introduction of credit cards into the New Zealand market way back, whenever! I worked for what was then New Zealand’s largest bank by a country mile, Bank of New Zealand, on the introduction of a Visa credit card. The challenges, to convince retailers they should pay the bank/credit card company a commission; and to negate feelings that consumers would spend more than they could afford (what’s changed over all these years?).

At the time it was a large public issue – but again media (both general and trade) were key influencers to get ‘on side’. It was a classic case where the advertising couldn’t begin until the PR had been done – a bit like clearing the minefield before the heavy tanks can come through!

There’s lots of other marketing examples – too many to mention here.