MarketingProfs latest missive includes an opinion piece on the death of advertising written by Harry Hoover. In effect it’s a redux on the Ries’ book from last year.
“I�ve been rereading The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR by Al and Laura Ries. It is their book that has moved me from having a mere suspicion of advertising�s demise as a brand builder to total conviction that it is dead.”
I posted my thoughts on this premise and the book last October, but I’ll post a quick recap to save you clicking.
Marketing is a multi-dimensional discipline and good marketing is hard.
The reason we have a whole host of professions undertaking marketing campaigns is that for the majority of organizations, (there are always exceptions) success is based on successful implementation of multiple campaigns such as PR, Advertising, Direct Marketing etc.
In my experience no one discipline can meet the business goals of the majority of firms. This is where the idea that Advertising in all it’s varieties is dead, fails. It’s not. The marketing mix may change but advertising is going nowhere folks, get over it.
Using Pets.com as an example of how advertising fails is ridiculous. Here’s why.
Most of those failed dot coms also spent extraordinary amounts of money on Public Relations. So is PR dead? No.
A good ethical company, with good products, a focus on customer service, a target market and smart marketing will succeed. Get one of those elements wrong and you could be in trouble.
I’m delighted PR’s influence continues to grow, but let’s be realistic.
The 
Murphy's Law 