By -
Al Reis & Laura Reis (The Fall Of Advertising & The Rise of PR)
In one of Aesop’s fables, the wind and the sun had a dispute
over who was the stronger of the two.
Seeing
a traveler walking down the road, they decided to settle the issue by trying to
make the traveler take off his coat. The wind went first, but the harder the
wind blew, the more closely the traveler wrapped his coat around him.
Then
the sun came out and began to shine. Soon the traveler felt the sun’s warmth
and took off his coat. The sun had won.
You
can’t force your way into the prospect’s mind. Advertising is perceived as an
imposition, an unwelcome intruder that needs to be resisted. The harder the
sell, the harder the wind blows, the harder the prospect resists the sales
message.
Advertising
people talk about impact. Spreads, inserts, foldouts, and full color in print
ads. Frenetic actions, crazy angles, and jump cuts in television commercials.
Turning up the volume in radio spots. But these are exactly the attributes that
say to the prospect, don’t pay any attention to me, I’m an advertisement.
The
harder an advertisement tries to force its way into the mind, the less likely
it will accomplish its objective. Once in a while a prospect drops his or her
guard and the wind will win. But not very often.
PR is
the sun. You can’t force the media to run your message. It’s entirely in their
hands. All you can do is make sure your publicity material is as helpful as
possible.
Nor
does the prospect perceive any force in an editorial message. It’s the
opposite. Prospects think that media are trying to be helpful by alerting them
to a wonderful new product or service.
