Choosing different paths for the same goal is something we all experience in everyday life. Same thing is applicable to various aspects of businesses running around us. Companies have different products to sell, different balance sheets to fill. The path to the common goal of higher sales and recognition can differ in their approach.

COMPANIES WHO WENT ADVERTISING HEAVY

Globalization means less variety; the same products are sold worldwide, thanks to heavy advertising and low prices.

Heavy advertising for consumer goods is expensive and often unnecessary, especially for a small business. But certain product characteristics create a need for heavy advertising, at least in the short term. These include newness or complexity, competitive position and/or seasonality.

When introducing a new product, the highest priority marketing task is to create awareness among as many members of the target audience as possible. Broad exposure, known as reach, is equally critical when a product must be explained because it is technologically complex or has innovative functions. In these situations, firms generally rely on heavy advertising in mass media. For example, marketers of cutting-edge personal interactive devices invest significantly in ads on network television and in other legacy media outlets, like national magazines and newspapers.

Most people are undoubtedly influenced by heavy commercialization and advertising of products; consumers are buying out of desire more than necessity.

To begin with, most people are compelled to purchase unusual items that hardly belong to their basic need as they are lured by the advertisers. Owing to their clever campaigns, consumers often consider an unnecessary product to be highly essential for their everyday lives. Although the necessity to buy such a lavish item hardly stays in their mind, advertisements can induce them to consider buying it. For example, my mother bought an automatic juice maker a few weeks ago after watching an advert on TV. However, after using it for a few days she realized that the product is actually not useful for home use purpose.

EXAMPLES

1.       COCA COLA

Coca Cola is a really good example for this approach as it is always focusing on promoting their immediate sales. They don’t need to rebuilt their brand as it is also famous among the customers. "Since capturing those extra few percent of market can give them huge boost through their bottom lines".

They came up with advertisements like ‘THANDA MATLAB COCA COLA’ and ‘OPEN HAPPINESS’.

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2.       DOVE

Dove uses advertisement campaigns in order to introduce its new variety of products whether they are seasonally or for all time use. Their ads make them add new users each day in contrast to keeping relevance with existing users as well". They came up with ‘before and after’ ad campaign.

3.       KIA MOTORS

KIA Motors entered the Indian market in 2019 which is recent and launched few cars. Thus it opted for Ad heavy approach.  The new ad campaign they came up with was ‘Magical Inspirations, Stunning Designs’.

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COMPANIES WHO USED PUBLIC RELATIONS TO LEAD THEIR STORYTELLING

Companies opt for public relations heavy approach with the main aim of brand awareness. This is a long term strategy as it focuses on long term goals like sustainability and retaining customers. This approach is generally used by startups or small companies who require a great amount of customer awareness for their brand and product.

This approach is used when an announcement is made in order to cover a great new target audience.  This is also used to build a brand image and maintain the reputation of the company in the market. Public relation is good for building trusts among the customers as it enhance the relationship with the audience.

Public relations heavy approach is used in crisis management whether internal or external as it helps to rebuilt the brand name and reputation with the help of various tools. This approach can be used for an individual too. For example Prime Minister of India uses this approach.

EXAMPLES

1.       WORLDWIDE LIFE Earth Hour 2020

The organization conducted a great public relation campaign through website and social media where millions of people around the world turned off their lights for an hour to show their steadfast commitment to protecting nature in 2020. 

2.       APPLE

Apple has a great public relation strategy. It is a well-known famous brand which doesn’t require any brand recognition and it holds a great event for its product launch. Apple stokes the buzz before launching iPhone 12 by providing virtually no information through social media. The announcement was kept secret for months and invites were sent out just a week before the event.

3.       POLAROID CAMERAS

The company had low advertising budgets so they opted for public relations heavy approach in order to stand out in the market. With the tagline ‘All That Glitters is Not Gold…Its Silver’, the company worked with the fashion influential to establish the silver cameras as an ‘of-the-moment’ fashion accessory. In the event, the models walked the catwalk with the new Polaroid silver cameras in hand snapping photos of the media.  Todd Oldham created a dress from its tiny snapshots which was used by Britney Spears onstage snapping pictures of her fans.

CONCLUSION

Both approaches help build brands and communicate with target audience. The most basic difference between them is that the advertising is paid while public relations results are earned through providing information in the form of press releases and pitches.

Through ad heavy approach the companies and organizations are creating advertisements that primarily target potential customers, whereas in PR heavy approach, the professionals are hoping to cast a wider net. Also public target through this approach can be internal or external.

The objective of PR heavy approach is to revolve around the fact that consumers place more trust in and more likely to do business with a company they know and admire. Whereas the Ad heavy approach just focuses on boosting sales and promoting a product or service than building reputation.

In PR heavy approach there is no control over the content with the company. Once the information is passed to media or the content writer then it is in control how to write a press release or what to show in the media. But in Ad heavy approach the company has the control over the content and how it wants to present its brand or product to the world.

Thus it depends on the brand, company and product that which approach will be more successful. Like above stated, if a company is new in the market or doesn’t have a large brand name, it should go for public relations heavy approach as it will help it to start from the scratch and build a long-term customer base. Whereas if a company is reputed and well settle in the market it can directly opt for advertising heavy approach as it just requires to reach out to the target audience for its product awareness.

 Pls mention courtesy where it is missing. Do a thorough copy check.