Ads Improve Wal-Mart's Rep, Reveal Synergistic Effect With PR

At a time when Madison Avenue is striving to understand the relationship between advertising and the rest of the communications mix, the public relations industry is finding there may be some profound effects of advertising on an area that traditionally comes under the PR banner - corporate reputation - and vice versa. While advertising and PR strategies have become much more integrated in recent years, as marketing teams move towards communications channel planning that consider all forms of marketing simultaneously, the new evidence of advertising and PR synergy comes from a tracking study on the corporate reputations of America's biggest companies.

 

The study, the Delahaye Index, produced by public relations industry researcher Delahaye, typically finds big Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, General Motors, and Wal-Mart near the top as measured by an analysis of their coverage in major print and electronic media outlets. But over the past several quarters, the PR researchers have detected a pronounced turnaround in Wal-Mart's media reputation, which analysts attributed largely to the role of the company's advertising campaigns.

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"In the third quarter of 2004, when Wal-Mart was coming under the microscope for a variety off issues, they fell to 14th place among U.S. corporations," noted Mark Weiner, president of Norwalk, CT-based Delahaye. "They moved to No. 4 in the fourth quarter, and to No. 2 in the first quarter of 2005."

 

Weiner said improvements in Wal-Mart's reputation correlate directly to the appointment of a new CEO in the third quarter of 2004, as well as a new thrust in the retailer's marketing and communications program that emphasized a positive and uplifting advertising campaign focusing on the quality of life of Wal-Mart employees. The company also became more open and accessible the press.

 

"The advertising gave them a totally controllable platform to deliver reputation-changing communication in a way that nobody could contest," said Weiner. "The ads featured many long-time Wal-Mart employees talking about what a great life they've had because of Wal-Mart, which made it hard for the unions to counter."

 

Those ads, coupled with the fact that Wal-Mart executives and corporate communications staff became more accessible to print and electronic media reporters meant a more positive tone in its news coverage. Instead of hiding from the press, Weiner says Wal-Mart took a proactive stance, which gave the company more opportunities to balance negative stories with its own positive spin.

 

Weiner said the Wal-Mart story is interesting, because of the newsworthiness of its ad campaign, and how it influenced the company's media coverage, which is something he says a number of companies have begun emphasizing more in recent years, especially Pepsi-Cola Co., Frito-Lay and Taco Bell.

Companies Ranked By Q1 Media Coverage

 

Reach

Microsoft

13,491,630,958

Wal-Mart

10,651,178,254

Walt Disney Co.

7,490,370,116

Verizon

8,508,650,407

Intel

5,272,072,397

Boeing

8,206,455,396

SBC Communications

5,240,048,248

IBM

5,403,751,782

General Motors

9,160,930,651

Pfizer

4,983,339,034

Source: First Quarter 2005 Delahaye Index. Reach = media impressions.

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