No, we want you to invest in PR…we just don’t think it’s effective…
Thanks to Phil Gomes who picked this one up. Edelman, the well known (“world’s largest privately-held PR agency”) has decided to celebrate its 50th anniversary by getting suppliers to pony up cash for an advetorial in Ad Age.
Now I’m not a big fan of advetorial, I admit that, but this seems absolutely ridiculous. A PR firm with thousands of PR professionals, celebrating its 50th anniversary by paying for an ad in the advertising bible.
Anyone spot the irony? Can Edelman now tell clients, “oh you’re much better off getting editorial coverage than advetorial..what’s that? oh yes well we prefer advetorial ourselves but…”
This is all the more surprising given a fantastic piece of PR that Edelman executed a couple of year’s back when they held their global meeting in Canada and got the participants to come up with marketing ideas for the brand ‘Canada’. A fantastic story ran in the Canadian Financial Post.
Looks like Edelman thinks PR’s not worth the hassle. I’m sure their clients will be impressed.
Supplemental: On the front page of the Edelman website they have a link to a webcast on “Marketing in the Post-Advertising Era” – oh the irony of it!
Murphy's Law 