Jim Horton raised the issue of positive PR not being able to solve everything. He uses Segway as an example. A product that had a textbook launch, massive build up in every major news outlet and positive lifestyle stories, but, weak sales.
Elizabeth Albrycht followed up Jim’s posting with a very interesting real-life case study along a similar line which highlights that no matter how successful your PR program, it can’t solve a bad products number one challenge… it’s bad.
I think these examples also raise the importance of the entire marketing process to the success of a PR program.
If all the different elements around a product, namely its price, packaging, distribution etc aren’t correct, a PR program will fail.
Furthermore successful PR programs that contribute to the bottom line build and supplement the activities of other marketing disciplines. A successful launch needs a good product, good PR and good marketing.
Murphy's Law 