Have you ever read a book about your industry that left you feeling incredibly stoked to be a part of it? That was what “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR” did for me.

This national bestseller written by Al Ries and his daughter, Laura Ries, gives an excellent argument on why companies should turn to public relations to build a brand, rather than advertising. They say that brands are built by publicity.  

The authors have a way of driving the point home throughout the book without appearing to beat a dead horse. They provide dozens of examples of how companies successfully branded themselves through PR, and examples of how others relied too heavily on advertising and fell short of their branding goals.

Repeatedly, the authors reiterate that advertising is not brand-building. It is brand maintenance. Brand building is a function of PR. Why? A company can purchase ad space to say whatever they want about themselves, but getting others to say positive things about you…well, that’s public relations, my friends.

“To get something going from nothing, you need the validity that only third-party endorsements can bring,” they wrote in the book.

They also make a good point that advertising has become more about creating edgy, water-cooler talk ad campaigns that win awards than about promoting a product or service.

This book is brutally honest in some areas, and scarily edgy in others. One good example: the authors point out the huge uncertainties of public relations- you can’t control the content, the timing or the visual appearance. You can’t even be sure that your message will be delivered. But when it is delivered, oh, how sweet it is! That’s because the one advantage of PR that advertising can’t offer is credibility. PR has it, advertising does not.

Now on to scarily edgy: these PR professionals once had Guatemala as a client. Guatemala sought to increase its tourism. The professionals suggested changing the country’s name to Guatamaya. Hey, if a name change is good enough for Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan, Woody Allen and Judy Garland, why not a country, too? As wacky as the idea sounds, the authors made a really good argument that I won’t go into in this book review.

Instead, I’ll leave you with this: if you’re looking for something to reignite that spark that got you interested in public relations to begin with, this book is a great start. I found numerous tools that I intend to use with future clients. For me, this book has become a great reference guide, where I’ve highlighted entries and tabbed pages for future needs.