From a Marketing persepective, publicity is one of the variables that comprise the promotional mix. The other components of promotions are Advertising, Sales promotion, and personal selling. Promotion is one of the variables that comprise the Marketing mix.
Publicity is closely related to Public relations. Whereas public relations is the management of all communications between the firm and the general public, publicity is the management of product or Brand related communications between the firm and the general public. It is primarily an informative activity (as opposed to a persuasive one), but its ultimate goal is to promote the companies products, services, or brands. A publicity plan is a planned program aimed at obtaining favorable press coverage for a companies products.
A basic tool of the publicist is the press release, but other techniques include telephone press conferences, in-studio media tours, multi-component video news releases (VNR’s), newswire stories, and internet releases. For these releases to be used by the media, they must be of interest to the public ( or at least to the Market segment that the media outlet is targeted to). The releases are often customized to match the media vehicle that they are being sent to. Getting noticed by the press is all about saying the right thing at the right time. A publicist is continuously asking what about you or your company will pique the reader's curiosity and make a good story? The most successful publicity releases are related to topics of current interest. These are referred to as news pegs. An example is if three people die of water poisoning, an alert publicist would release stories about the technology embodied in a water purification product.
But the publicist cannot wait around for the news to present opportunities. They must also try to create their own news. Examples of this include:
The advantages of publicity are low cost, and credibility (particularly if the publicity is aired in between news stories like on evening TV news casts). New technologies such as weblogs, web cameras, web affiliates, and convergence (phone-camera posting of pictures and videos) to websites) are changing the cost-structure. The disadvantages are lack of control over how your releases will be used, and frustration over the low percentage of releases that are taken up by the media.
Publicity draws on several key themes including birth, love, and death. These are of particular interest because they are themes in human lives which feature heavily thoughout life. In television serials several couples have emerged during crucial ratings and important publicity times, as a way to make constant headlines. Also known as a Publicity stunt, the pairings may or may not be truthful.
The Top US Entertainment Publicists are:
The Top Australian Entertainment Publicists include:
A good example would be Paris Hilton's many antics, from lurid sex tapes to clumsy behaviour on TV shows actually increasing business at the family's chain of Hilton Hotels.
Another example would be the fact that the movie Proof of Life starring Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan, saw commercial success, even though it wasn't very well received critically, perhaps because of the affair between Crowe and Ryan, which led to Ms. Ryan seperating from her then husband Dennis Quaid.
The reason for this may be due to intense human interest generated by the character's in these events.