Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Premise!
Review: Basically, "The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR" by Al and Lisa Ries contains a premise offered in four part harmony; The Fall of Advertising, The Rise of PR, A New Role for Advertising and, The Difference between Advertising and PR.I think this book can/should be used as sort-of an '101'intro book on Advertising v's/PR. It supplies the reader/student an ample supply of helpful hypotheses, graphs, stats, and insight, into the world of Advertising and PR...which I found to be both helpful and educational.
Rating: 
Summary: A hastily written, poorly researched piece of junk!
Review: The intro to this book has a few important points to make about the diminishing role of advertising in this ad filled world of ours. The next 100 pages repeat the same idea ad nauseum (sorry for the unintentional pun). There are a few good points about using PR instead of spending money on advertising. But the information contained in this book would have made a better 5 page pamphlet. Go to the bookstore and turn to the last few chapters and read about using PR to create brand recognition. There is no need to read the 200 anecdotes about how advertising does not work. And lastly, to the writers of this hastily written book, SITE YOUR SOURCES!! on many occasions the author uses stats to make a point, "99% of coke drinkers would drink Pepsi if no coke were available" or "Linux has 99% name recognition in the high tech industry" where on earth do you get those conveniently identical numbers? No sources are given so we can assume they just made them up. Advertising may have no credibility (as is repeated hundreds of times in the book) but your book lacks the credibility it needs to convince the reader to take it seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Bravo to Al and Laura you did it again!
Review: First of all if you call yourself a brand marketer of any kind and have never bought an Al Ries book you should be ashamed of yourself. But I forgive you because it's better late than never. I like this book because it has that in your face repetitive style reminiscent of the legendary "Positioning: The battle for your mind", which he wrote with Jack Trout. Positioning made me decide to become a brand marketer. The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR makes me proud to still call myself a brand marketer. Al has this cunning ability to tell us what we already know, but somehow when he says it then it becomes Gospel. Most advertising and PR professionals know that PR is a better way to launch a product. Mr. Ries simply has the credibility and courage to say it in such a public way. Plus his jargon-free straight talking style makes it easy for anyone to understand. If you consider this book promotion for the Rieses speeches and consulting I won't blame you. But you cannot deny the validity of most of their points. Too bad this book wasn't around for every person who started a dot com in the late 90's and spent millions on advertising just to see the company fail. That's not to say that PR can save a company that has a bad product or incompetent management. But at least the burn rates wouldn't have been so severe. I have worked in the advertising field and now I work in PR at Ming Diamond Price and some of the strategies that Al Ries addresses in this book are things I have been telling clients for years. Bravo to Al and Laura you did it again!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, Entertaining, Repetitive
Review: The fundamental principle is public relations first, advertising second. The message is strong--over and over and over again, starting with the title. The authors, respected marketing consultants (previously-published gurus?), relate that marketers have placed advertising on a pedestal. Advertising is King. Long Live Advertising! Wrong, they say. Advertising has historically and consistently been a waste of money. They cite case after case (it gets tiring after a while) of major advertising campaigns, many very well known, that were highly successful in winning awards and high profits for advertising agencies . . . but did not accomplish the results for the clients. I suspect there are great case studies of ad campaigns that increased sales substantially, but the authors don't share those examples. Instead they relate story after story of advertising's failure to deliver sales, preaching in page after page that sales actually suffered-especially in relation to competitors' sales--as a result of advertising. The reader gets the distinct sense that most advertising is a total waste of money and a manifestation of poor management. If this message takes hold in corporate America, advertising media such as magazines, newspapers, billboards, and broadcast will be in serious trouble. The first section of the book is an extensive, perhaps overdone, sermon against the evils and misfortunes of advertising. The second section explores how public relations--publicity--has been substantially more effective and considerably less expensive for organizations seeking to communicate their message and attract customers. In section three, Ries and Ries suggest that advertising does have it's place, behind PR, to maintain the brand established through PR. The authors complete the book with a series of short comparisons about what Advertising is, compared to what Public Relations is. Examples: Advertising is the Wind; PR is the Sun. Advertising is Spatial; PR is Linear; Advertising Reaches Everybody, PR Reaches Somebody; and Advertising is Brand Maintenance, PR is Brand Building. Postscript chapters for management, advertising, and PR complete the book, which is supported by a helpful index. It's an interesting book that probably could have been a bit shorter, given that the early section began to get repetitive . . . almost boring. The authors offer a wide range of good points; the book is instructive. Some will argue with the premise of the book, but it makes sense when you consider that various aspects of the presentation. Is there a counterpoint? Are there examples of successful advertising campaigns? Is this situation black & white, or are their significant shades of grey?
Rating:
Summary: Not a how-to on PR campaigns
Review: I think some people are looking for this book to be things it's not. It's NOT a how-to on PR campaigns. It's NOT a book about media pitching. It's NOT a book for those who are looking for direct comparisons to their clients. It IS a book for those who enjoy PR theory and national case studies. It was a quick read, and I enjoyed every page of it. Most advertising execs might find it hard to swallow. But definitely worth the time and dollars.
Rating:
Summary: Silly book
Review: One could easily write a book citing all the successful advertising campaigns (Nike, Got Milk, Absolut Vodka) and cite disasterous attempts at PR. They simply try that first-grader trick, citing the hits and ignoring the misses. Silly self-serving book that deserves a spot in everyone's fireplace.
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Summary: Advertising Bashing Void of Facts
Review: Maybe I'm just having a bad day but this is quite possibly the worst book I've ever read. I bought this book hoping for an education on what Public Relations offers versus Advertising and how to use this to my benefit. Instead, I received page after page of trite comparisons of advertising to any number of things followed by week, factless reasoning as to why that particular comparison is bad. This book is no more than Public Relations people on a very rickety soap box yelling out self-gratifying opinions. If ever in my life I again read a page that compares advertising to The Buckingham Palace it will be entirely too soon. Page 19, "You can recognize art by its extensive use in everyday language. Even though the sword has no function in today's society, it does live in the language. Nobody says, 'Live by the gun, die by the gun.'" (end of paragraph)
Wow, mesmerizing. If you were thinking of buying this book, Don't. If you've already purchased this book, Do not open it. Return it as fast as possible before it makes you less intelligent through the void of reason it exudes and it's proximity to your brain.
Rating:
Summary: PR's Where It's At
Review: Ries talks about how important PR is, how it's more important than advertising because PR's got credibility. Discusses campaigns, but not as much on tactics small companies can use. For that, Michael Levine's Guerrilla PR: Wired can give you lots of useful advice. Ries's Fall of Advertising is a good read, but it's a bit weak on good ideas if you don't have much money.
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Summary: "The Unconscious Civilization" Meets Madison Avenue
Review: If John Ralston Saul ever decided to write a book to debunk the advertising world's groupthink about its almighty influence on the consumer, this would be it. I read this book on a flight from LA to Toronto and couldn't put it down. I found that this book answered questions that I had often asked myself about whether advertising really impacts sales numbers. If you ever sit in front of the tv and wonder "Who is the genius that thought that ad would actually get me to buy something?" or you get the Energizer bunny confused with Duracell you might find this a very interesting read. The book is broken down into four parts: The Fall of Advertising which details various arenas in which advertising proclaims its superiority (Advertising and Car Salesmen, Advertising and the Dotcoms, Advertising and Credibility are some chapter titles); The Rise of PR in which there is a primer of sorts on how PR can be used more effectively than advertising (Rebuilding an Old Brand with PR, Dealing with Line Extensions); A New Role For Advertising in which the authors suggest that the bathwater not get completely tossed out with the baby--that advertising does have a place....as a cart after the horse (Maintaining the Brand); and finally The Differences Between Advertising and PR which gets a little cloying in the use of analogies but is a good read nonetheless (Advertising is the Wind. PR Is the Sun, Advertising is Incredible. PR is Credible.) What I liked about the book:
1. It has a breezy, shoot from the hip conversational feel
2. There are ample anecdotes backing up the hypotheses--makes for a very lively read...lots of "Oh ya...I always WONDERED about that" responses.
3. It made me really think about how brainwashed our society is about the value of advertising.
4. This book also gave me some insights as to how to continue as I launch my new company...pitfalls to avoid and things to definitely do. I am not particularly well-read in this field so this was a good intro to the subject for me.It might be too rudimentary for some. I am definitely going to check out the authors' other books on Positioning and 22 Immutable laws of Branding. The only tiresome aspect I found in the book is the RELENTLESS repetition of the "Publicity builds brands not advertising" axiom. If one mention is good, 43 mentions is better? I would also have appreciated footnotes on the sources for some of the stats and graphs used in the book. Would have added additional scholastic integrity to the figures. Otherwise, I would highly recommend the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting at first, but then...
Review: In the Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR, father/daughter team Al & Laura Ries write about the shortcomings of modern advertising. In this book, they highlight many companies, books, toys, dotcoms, and other modern day symbols which are products of advertising. The first few chapters were very interesting to read and were very informative. However; as the book progressed, I found that the authors lost sigh of the point they were trying to make. After chapter five, the authors rely heavily on the same statistics and advertising campaigns. I found myself becoming very bored and the reading becoming very tedious at this point.
I feel that the authors seemed to have an unfair prejudice towards advertising. True, they did highlight a good majority of advertising campaigns that did not work; however, I am sure there are plenty of advertising campaigns that do work. Their prejudice turned into them saying that PR is the only right, cheap, and successful way to publicize and market a product or company. I think the authors could have found a more precise way of emphasizing this point without droning on with the same facts and figures over and over throughout the book.
I would have liked to see the authors delve more into the world of PR. Perhaps show us some successful campaigns that they have launched and give some pointers for future PR executives. Many of the chapters in the books are repetitive and this could have been a much stronger book with a mix of the downfalls of advertising and the successes of PR. I would have found the book more interesting and more helpful if there was more information about the PR world and its successes.
In using this book to teach a PR class, I would not recommend making students buy the book. I think students would get a better understanding of the book and why it was written with some select excerpt reprinted from the book. As I was reading the book, my mind began to wander and I found myself thinking "Yeah I get this, you have used this example ten times now... what is the point?" The book does have some good qualities, but overall it was a repetitive read and left me desiring more.
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