The Difference Between Advertising and a Publicist
There's a saying people use to explain the difference between
advertising and PR: "Advertising you pay for, PR you pray for." That's
at the heart of the difference between the two closely related
industries.
When a client goes to an advertising agency, he's expecting the agency to put together a campaign to make people aware of his product or service. The work includes some creative effort along with a strategy for exposing it to as many people as possible - and he's willing to purchase media space to place the ads.
When a client goes to a Publicist firm, he is also looking to communicate with the public. However, as opposed to an advertising representative, a Publicist agent has to convince a journalist to feature the client - without paying the journalist. And in the cases where a journalist has already decided to feature the client, the Publicist agent's job is to ensure that the client is portrayed in as positive a light as possible.
Publicity is great when you get it, because the public is more likely to
believe a newspaper article or news story than an advertisement - but
the catch is that publicity offers no guarantees. For example, Barry's
Bagels could gain positive publicity by sponsoring a free bagel making
class next Saturday, but coverage of the event could easily be
overshadowed if there's an earthquake in New Jersey the same day.
Alternately, Barry could pay for a TV campaign. He would definitely get
his name out, but he wouldn't necessarily have an edge over all the
other bagel producers on the supermarket shelves.Though they take different approaches to publicity and marketing, Publicist and advertising have been collaborating for at least 80 years. In fact, in 1919, N.W. Ayer and Son became the first advertising agency to open its own Publicist department.
Today many advertisers create integrated marketing
programs that combine traditional advertising, sales promotion,
interactive ads, direct marketing, and other tools.
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