Kotlerinterview

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Advertising vs. PR: Kotler on Kotlerby Philip Kotler July 12, 2005

The following article deals with the relative merits of advertising and public relationsin the marketing mix—with some conclusions that are sure to rattle your cage.

Philip Kotler is Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg

School of Management. He is the author of Marketing Management, one of the most

widely used marketing books in graduate business schools worldwide, and numerous

other books and articles. Kotler is renowned for pioneering "social marketing,"

campaigns for nonprofits or causes as "an alternative to coercion or legal action in

solving social problems."

His new book, According to Kotler (AMACOM), is a summary of the key principles of

marketing and how they relate to current events such as corporate accounting

scandals, outsourcing, globalization, warehouse shopping and online marketing. It

includes controversial new topics such as "demarketing," "reverse marketing," "body

advertising," and other tactics.

What follows is an excerpt of the book, based on the thousands of questions Kotler

has been asked over the years by clients, students, business audiences, and journalists.

Question: Can you please say something regarding "the need for a new marketing

mix"?

Kotler: The original marketing mix was not 4Ps but about 14. Neil Borden many

years ago used a large list of marketing tools. We can always add to the list. So the

question isn't "what tools constitute the marketing mix" but, rather, "what tools are

becoming more important in the marketing mix."

For example, I feel that advertising is overdone and public relations is underdone.

This is seconded in Al Ries's book, The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR. And

direct-marketing tools are also rising in importance in the marketing mix.

Question: TV advertising seems to be losing its effectiveness. What are alternative

ways to get attention?



Kotler: The average American is exposed to several hundred ad messages a day and

is trying to tune out. TV advertising is losing its effectiveness because of growing

advertising clutter, the increasing number of channels, the availability of zapping

mechanisms, and reduced watching of television by certain groups. The result is that

marketers must consider other methods of getting consumer attentions.

Here are a number of possibilities:

• Sponsorships. Companies have put their names on stadiums, on whole teams

and on individual athletes in order to gain exposure.

• Mentions on talk shows. During his evening show, David Letterman sent a

camera crew out to buy Snickers candy bars and ended up talking about it on

three subsequent shows, including when Mars sent a whole van of Snickers to

feed the audience.

• Product placement. In the movie Die Another Day, James Bond drove an

Aston Martin, used a Sony cell phone and prominently featured an Omega

wristwatch. Products are also mentioned in novels—in fact, Bulgari

commissioned a whole mystery novel to be written called The Bulgari

Connection.

• Street-level promotions. Companies have hired actors and actresses to walk

in busy areas and ask passersby to take a snapshot of them using their new

camera phone. Hopefully the picture takers are impressed and tell others

about the new camera phone.

• Celebrity endorsements. Michael Jordon's endorsements gave a boost to Nike

shows, McDonald's, Hanes underwear, and Rayovac batteries. Ex-Senator Bob

Dole's surprising endorsement of Viagra put Viagra on the nation's mind.

• Body advertising. College kids agreed to paste Dunkin' Donuts logos on their

foreheads during an NCAA basketball tournament.

Question: What is the main communication challenge?

Kotler: The major challenge today is getting people's attention. Consumers are

pressed for time, and many work hard to avoid advertising messages. The main

challenge is to find new ways to capture attention and position a brand in the

consumer's mind. Public relations and word-of-mouth marketing are playing agrowing role within the marketing mix to build and maintain brands.



Question: There is a great deal of hype about integrated marketing

communications. What is the status of this subject today?

Kotler: In the past, we taught separate courses on advertising, sales promotion,

public relations and other communication tools. Each student became a specialist inone of these areas, remaining ignorant of the other tools and having a tendency to

defend the primacy of her tool. Within companies, the advertising person always

received the biggest budget for marketing communication (leaving out the sales

force), and the others would fight for the crumbs.

Clearly, this is not a good situation, especially considering that the effectiveness of

different communication tools changes over time. The decision on how much to

allocate to the different promotional tools cannot be left to turf battles. Someone

must be put in charge. Let's call that person the chief communication office (CCO).

That person should be responsible for everything that communicates anything about

the company—not only the standard communication tools but also corporate dress,

office decor and even the look of the company's trucks.

Today, an increasing number of business schools are teaching marketing

communications using an IMC-oriented textbook. First, this prepares the student to

understand the role of different communication vehicles. Second, it makes the point

that the company's brand and customer message must be communicated

consistently through all media. Thus, if a company wants to be known for its high

quality, it has to produce high quality and communicate high quality in all of its

messages.

Question: Do you see companies as setting their communication budgets optimally?

Kotler: Marketers develop a certain mindset concerning the most effective

communication mix. They will continue the same mix even when evidence shows

diminishing effectiveness. Allocations become frozen, and the chief marketing officer

is loath to change the allocation.

This would change the power positions of different communication managers in the

organization. Also, it will be done at some risk.

Question: Companies continue to spend more money on TV advertising, even as

channels proliferate and more channel-switching takes place. Aren't companies being

slow to realize TV advertising effectiveness has fallen?



Kotler: Companies are still fairly blind to the cataclysmic changes in the

communication marketplace. The days of mass advertising, with its waste and

intrusiveness, are passing quickly. I have advised clients to reduce their TV

advertising budgets, especially mass advertising. Fewer people are watching TV,

many are zapping commercials, and most commercials are too brief to be effective.

If a country had only a few TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers, mass

marketing would be effective. When a country, such as the United States, has

thousands of TV stations and radio stations, reaching a mass audience is very

expensive.

Among the few mass audience vehicles are the Super Bowl and the Olympics. The

growing fragmentation of media audiences requires marketers to shift to target

marketing and even one-to-one marketing. The good news is that this will reduce

wasted media exposures. What good is it to advertise cat food on national television

if only 25% of families own a cat?

Question: What should advertising agencies do in response to the declining

effectiveness of mass advertising?

Kotler: Advertising agencies can no longer prosper just by creating ads and choosing

media. There are so many new ways to communicate today. Smart ad agencies willtransform themselves into full-service communication agencies. They will work with

their clients to choose the best messages and media vehicles, whether these are in

the form of ads, press releases, events, sales promotions, sponsorships, direct mail,

email or telesales.

Some advertising agencies have added these communication capabilities—they have

created them or networked with public relations firms, sales promotion firms and

direct-marketing firms in a move to becoming total communications firms.

Ogilvy called its system "Ogilvy Orchestration" and promised to deliver integrated

marketing communications.

In practice, however, the dominant voice in this comprehensive agency is still that of

the agency's advertising group. These agencies still make most of their money from

their advertising billings. So how can they be fully objective when advising on the

best mix of communication tools?



Yet advertisers are demanding more communication effectiveness. They want to shift

more of their promotion dollars into direct marketing, public relations, and newer

promotion tools. Advertising agencies would be wise to transform themselves from

being narrowly defined advertising agencies into broad communication agencies.

Question: What is advertising's main limitation?

Kotler: Traditional advertising works primarily as a monologue. Today's companies

would gain considerably by setting up systems that would enable dialogue to take

place between the company and its customers and prospects.

Question: Will the Internet become an effective advertising medium?

Kotler: A few years ago, the CEO of Procter & Gamble said that he would happilyswitch a large portion of P&G's huge advertising budget to the Internet if he could

find effective ways to do Internet advertising. So far, the Internet has not become a

full-blown advertising medium like television, radio, newspapers, or magazines.

It is true that the Internet carries banner ads, but they are being opened less than

1% of the time. Advertisers are pressuring popular Web sites to carry skyscraper or

pop-up ads, but the Web sites see this as risky. Also, consumers can choose to block

pop-up ads.

Google has developed a system to align paid-for ads next to topics being searched by

consumers. For example, if I type "BMW" on Google, the right side of Google's page

will show a BMW ad. BMW will quickly learn whether its ad is leading to sales. All

said, it is too early to tell how widespread or effective Internet advertising will

become.

Question: How can companies effectively reach mass audiences?

Kotler: Advertisers won't see again the glorious days when they could reach millions

of people in the evening with the same TV show or mass magazine.

There are three options today: One is to advertise on a number of media channels in

the same time slot. Another is to advertise on Super Bowls, the Olympics, and other

major worldwide events that attract large audiences. A third is to build a giant

database containing the names of people who have the greatest interest in the

company's offerings.



Question: Some media analysts call for more spending on public relations. Do you

agree?

Kotler: I agree. Advertising has been overdone in the past, especially mass

advertising with its "hit or miss" quality. PR has been underdone. PR consists of many tools, which I call the PENCILS of PR: publications, events, news, community

involvement, identity tools, lobbying, and social investments.

When a customer sees an ad, she knows it is an ad, and an increasing number of

customers are tuning ads out. PR has a better chance of getting a message through.

Furthermore the message can be fresher and more believable. PR is better equipped

to create "buzz" about a new product or service. Interest in PR is increasing—witness

the title of the recent book by Al and Laura Ries, The Fall of Advertising and the Rise

of PR.

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