One difference between the two
Advertising usually involves the promotion of products and their features. Typical headline: “2014 Jeep Cherokee: The
best of what we’re made of.”
PR is different. A reporter can’t interview a product. A reporter can only interview a person. And when a company
introduces a new product, the person a reporter would most like to interview is usually the CEO.
Having a celebrity CEO can be extremely helpful in the brutal competition in the marketplace. Take the personal computer.
Early on, all the big high-tech companies got into the business. AT&T, Burroughs, Dictaphone, Digital Equipment, Exxon,
ITT, Lanier, Mitel, NCR, NEC, Siemens, Xerox and, of course, IBM, the company that pioneered the “office” personal
computer.
Three years after the launch of the IBM PC, Michael Dell, a sophomore at the University of Texas, launched his own brand
of personal computer setting up a classic PR story. David (or rather Michael) versus the Goliaths.
In a reprise of the Old Testament story, it was Michael who won the battle. By 1999, Dell was the world’s largest personalcomputer manufacturer.
Finding a PR angle
In our work with startup companies, we usually stress the need for a PR “angle” that can drive publicity. And one of the
best angles is the founder.
That’s why in a number of cases, we have worked with clients to change the names of their companies to the founders’
names.
In several cases, we have even encouraged founders to change the spellings of their names in order to own websites. (In
today’s digital environment, a company name without the matching website is almost useless.)
Is an individual’s name like “Ford” a better name for a company than a general name like “General Motors?” In the long
term, perhaps not.
But in the short term, the individual’s name is much better because it can help drive publicity. (As Henry Ford once
demonstrated.)
That’s one reason that early on Michael Dell changed his company’s name from PCs Limited to Dell Computer. And it
was the resulting publicity that helped to create the world’s best-selling personal-computer brand.
But celebrities can’t solve everything and Dell got off the track the same way Martha Stewart did. But trying to get into
everything.
Consumer products, retail distribution, software and services. Even Dell television sets, Dell MP3 players and Dell
smartphones.
No wonder Dell itself is now for sale to the highest bidder.