EGERTO N UNIVERSITY B.

A COMMUNICATIONS &MEDIA COMM 330: ADVERTISING 1 ASSIGNMENT: SIMILARITIES & DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ADVERTISING & PR LECTURER: MR. E. SITUMA GROUP MEMBERS: Kipngenoh Tonui-AP16/30116/10 Esther Adhiambo-AP16/30146/10 Dinah Chifalu-AP16/30099/10 INTRODUCTION Advertising is the process of structuring and composing non personal communication of information, usually paid for and persuasive in nature, about products by sponsor through various media. It consists of developing relationships with clients and doing what they ask of you. Public Relations is the formation of harmonious communication with the organization and its target audiences on the basis of full and objective information in marketing goals of the communicator. In PR you work within or outside the firm itself .When you work within the company; you are there to know everything that goes on within the company. You are the face of that company to the media and public. As PR officer you present speeches at public meetings, or arrange press conferences Similarities between Advertising & PR 1. Both are marketing tools geared to elevate a consumers interest in a product or service. 2. Both communications are passed through media i.e. TV, print, radio, internet etc. 3. Both provide information to the consumer about products. 4. Both in essence are selling through advertising, places ads while PR places news e.g. news release. 5. Both are geared at the good of a company. 6.Both can exist as department in a firm e.g. Nation Advertising Team, KCB PR or an established independent firms e.g. Scan Group, Telion Media(PR). 7. Both are governed by ethics-ads are regulated by while PR information is factual. 8. Both PR & advertising firms are compensated by retainers & commissions or some type of fee arrangement of percentage charges. 9. Both advertising & PR practitioners carry out research. Advertising research is on audience, market and environment while PR research is on needs of both internal and external publics. Differences between Advertising & PR 1. Advertising communications are paid for while PR communications are free. The media charges for the space of an advert but dies not charge for press release sent from PR firms. 2. Ads appear just as the advertiser wishes and so an advertiser has freedom of control over the ad while in PR, the messages are first reviewed and edited by the media before they are passed to the public.

3. Since adverts are built with bias and exaggeration, the public views ads with some skeptics while in PR, the publics think such messages are coming from media and so they trust them readily. 4. Advertising is aimed at creating awareness about a product that the company is selling while PR aims to generate awareness about the company as a whole and not its products. It resolves around enhancing the goodwill and image of the organization. 5. Advertising is the source of generating tangible benefits like sales while PR brings with itself an intangible nature. Its results come in the long run. 6. Adverts have a longer shelf life than PRs press releases. An advert can be run over and over because it is paid for. PR exposure you receive is only circulated once an editor wants to publish your same press release three or for times in their magazine. 7. Advertising targets the consumers who are already interested in the product while PR has a general audience and therefore it reaches a larger audience. 8.In PR a practitioner needs to be able to think quick and be able to work in the moment incase a sudden crisis /disaster occurs while in advertising, you have time to always develop your thoughts in creativity and ideas before they are presented to the public. 9. In PR, practitioners enjoy being in the public eye and can take critics well while an advertiser stay behind the scenes. REFERENCES Advertising . About .com//10 advpr.html Aren W.F .Contemporary Advertising 9th ed.Mcraw Hill, Irwin, Boston: 2007 Belch G.E, Michael B.A. Advertising & Promotion. An integrated Marketing Communication, McGraw, Irwin: 2007.