How Important Is PR In Branding?

In more than 20 years as a senior-level consultant on the art and science of brand management, John Grace has looked at branding from many different directions. Here we ask John, founder of BrandTaxi ( http://www.brand-taxi.com ), to talk about why good PR is — or should be — one of the major components of a successful brand strategy.

Greg Miller:
John, what is branding?

John Grace:
There are many definitions of brands, but in its essence, a brand is a relationship between an organization and its primary audiences that generates loyalty. Think of it in the chocolate chip sense of, I like Chips Ahoy and therefore I’m loyal to that brand – I will go back and buy more. But it could be just as true for employees who say, I’m really happy to work here and I’m glad to stay and work even harder. The relationship is the brand.

Greg Miller:
Sounds simple. Why don’t PR and corporate communications people understand it better?

John Grace:
I just don’t think anyone asks them to think about it. Brands are built by communications and behaviors. It’s as simple as how the receptionist answers the telephone, or the lobby design, or the company’s advertising, or what its public relations and other internal and external communications say about it.

Greg Miller:
Most people think that it’s advertising that really drives branding. Is that true?

John Grace:
Much less than it used to. If anything, public relations has gained incredible importance as the role of advertising has diminished. Public relations is far more efficient in terms of getting messaging out to any audience than advertising. Its cost is lower and, more importantly, the value of a message is much higher, because effective public relations results in a third-party endorsement from the media. That carries a level of credibility that is significantly greater than an advertisement saying, trust me, this is great.

Greg Miller:
And then there’s the Web …

John Grace:
Absolutely. Look at the increase in blogs and other forms of what I’ll call messaging or instant chat communications. Web communication now happens faster than the mass media. And that’s a good thing; it’s just very uncontrollable right now for a lot of institutions and companies.

Greg Miller:
Why is it a good thing?

John Grace:
It’s a good thing because ultimately it will result in complete transparency. You won’t be able to say anything that everyone won’t hear about, debate and challenge. You’ll be honest … or you’ll be out of business. So the rapidity of the spread of information is going to shake out a lot of corporations that are not doing the right thing, either from
a moral or ethical sense from honest business practices to high levels of product quality. But that simply makes PR even more important – more than it’s ever been – in the portrayal of a brand.

Greg Miller:
And particularly in the electronic environment, in which your faulty message – your lie – lives on forever.

John Grace:
That’s right. And is accessible to everyone instantly. So I think if anything, it has put the level of responsibility for effective and honest or credible public relations and messaging at an ever-higher level within a corporate organization.

Greg Miller:
What don’t PR people understand about their role in communicating the brand?

John Grace:
A variety of things. First, they don’t understand the connection between successful PR and value creation. Admittedly, that’s very difficult to measure, but successful PR does have a connection to value growth, whether it’s share price, profits, revenues, or some other measure important to the company. Second, public relations professionals need to
continually drive home the role that PR can play in differentiation. We think of the power of advertising to differentiate, but because PR is so pervasive, it can differentiate a company or organization and make it
stand apart from all others. It is the importance of this function that should give PR people an opportunity to sit at the policy table. And third, I’m always surprised when some public relations professionals don’t realize the power of turning a transactional event – a press release or a media event – into a sustainable relationship with the media. That’s the most concrete way that PR people can participate directly in branding.

Greg Miller:
John, can you think of any companies that actually do a good job at PR’ing their brand? Coke, Pepsi, IBM, Microsoft?

John Grace:
General Electric would be a classic example. It’s passed the torch from one CEO to another, its stock price hasn’t significantly wavered, and it is business as usual; in fact, it is growth as usual. I would say the public relations effort must have been good to have that happen. Or take Microsoft. This is a company that was sued by the federal government on anti-trust issues. And yet even with all of the bad press that went with that, the company has been very successful. My only conclusion is their PR effort must have been extraordinarily successful in calming what could have been very troubled waters.

Greg Miller:
What’s the single most important thing a PR person – whether in-house or at an agency – can do to become more active in communicating the brand?

John Grace:
I can think of two things. The first is to truly understand the brand strategy for the corporate or consumer brand that you’re involved in so that PR is connected. When that occurs, the synergies are amazing and, in fact, it becomes easier and easier to get incredibly good placements that are appropriate for the brand. Second, given the importance of corporate governance and transparency, challenge inconsistencies in how the company’s commitment to corporate governance and transparency fails to find its way into the tone and manner of public relations activities. That’s more important than you think. Again, good credibility makes good brands.

John Grace’s career has been dedicated to building brands. Having started at Grey Advertising, he gained broad experience in integrated marketing. He was Executive Vice President at Lippincott & Margulies and Executive Director of Interbrand, building that company to become the largest and most influential brand consulting firm globally. He is one of the authors of the concepts behind communications and brand architectures. His primary focus is on understanding the relationship of brands and brand strategy to value creation. He has degrees from Tufts University and the Sorbonne, and an MBA with distinction from Stern School of Business. He serves on the Board of Overseers at Tufts University and the Dieu Donne Papermill.

Courtesy of Miller DeMartine Group

http://www.mdgpr.com