Laws of Publicity &

Advertising
 The Law of Publicity

The birth of a brand is achieved

with publicity, not advertising
 THE BODY SHOP
The Body Shop was created in 1976 to
provide “natural” cosmetics made with
pure ingredients
With virtually no advertising, but with
massive amounts of publicity, the Body
Shop has become a powerful global
brand
Surgeons Recommend Surgery
Most of America’s 5200+ ad agencies are
committed to the concept of building a brand
with advertising
Are brand leaders built with better, fresher,
creative work? – Probably not
Giant brands (Coke, McDonald’s) need
advertising to maintain brand. Advertising
generally won’t get a new brand off the
ground
 Evidence
Starbucks
Wal-Mart
Sam’s Club - $57-million* per store with
no advertising
Miller Brewing spent $50-million to
launch Miller Regular.
 The brand generated no publicity
 There is no publicity potential in a regular
beer with a line extended name like Miller
* WikiInvest (8/27/10)
New Brands are Born, Not Made
A new brand must be capable of
generating publicity.
How, you say?
Be first – be the 1st brand in a new
category
 Examples
Band-Aid – 1st ESPN – 1st cable
adhesive bandage sports network
Chas. Schwab – 1st Gore-Tex – 1st breath-
discount stockbroker able waterproof fabric
Intel – 1st
CNN – 1st cable microprocessor
network
Hertz – 1st Car rental
Domino’s – 1st home Q-Tips – 1st cotton
delivery pizza chain swab
 How Come?
The news media like to talk about
what’s new, what’s first, and what’s hot
NOT what’s better
Today, brands are built with publicity
and maintained with advertising
The Law of Advertising

Once born, a brand needs

advertising to stay healthy
 Goodyear

A consistent theme of Goodyear advertising

over the years has been, #1 in tires.”

So, who makes the best tires? “It must be

Goodyear,” thinks the consumer. “It’s the leader”
 Your Defense Budget
Your ad budget is like a
country’s defense budget
Those big ad $$$ probably
won’t buy you much; they
just keep you from losing market share
to your competition
 It’s Time to Advertise
Sooner or later a brand outlives its
publicity potential
Then, it’s time to advertise:
 By raising the price of admission,
advertising makes it difficult for a
competitor to carve out a substantial share
of the market
What Should a Leader Advertise?

Brand leadership of course

Leadership is the single most important
motivating factor in customer behavior
 Examples
Heinz – America’s favorite ketchup
Heinekin – America’s leading imported
beer
Coca-Cola – the real thing
Visa – the #1 credit card in the world
Barilla – Italy’s #1 pasta
Goodyear - #1 in tires
 Truism

The list of leaders who advertise

their leadership is very short. Most
leaders advertise some aspect of
their quality.
Why Not Advertise Quality?

Because people think,

“That’s what they all say.”
Why Advertise Leadership?

What does the prospect think?

“It must be better!”