Rating: 
Summary: A Great Read...Not a great Buy
Review: The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR is a great starter for those who have no idea what PR really is and how it differs from advertising. The Authors use examples we see everyday to show how advertising works, and does not work. I would not buy this book though. Many examples are given to illustrate one point and I found myself skipping over large parts of the book. The books easy to read language make it very easy to read through quickly. I would recommend finding this book at a library or a borrowing a copy rather than buying.
Rating: 
Summary: A Point Well-Argued!
Review: First of all, Al and Laura are people who I greatly admire. They are also somebody I would like to work with in the future if opportunity permits.
This book is a series of marketing books I read last year for my own exploration on the subject. I have read many marketing books that argue the same point which is PR is a more effective tool for a company to sell its products than advertisements, and I have to say that this book is well-written in terms of defending the argument. However, PR is definitely not enough. So, this book is only for those of you who would like to know the relationship between marketing strategy and PR, or for those of you who would like to know the current trend on marketing.
That being said, Al and Laura have a lot of great thoughts on marketing, and if you are interested you can log onto Laura's blog: www.lauraries.com.
Rating:
Summary: Fresh Look
Review: This highly readable and interesting and insightful book should be compulsory reading for anyone involved in deciding where a company's marketing funds are spent. The authors speak some serious truths about advertising and how it is misused and overused and about public relations and how it is under-used. Here is the book's essential idea: advertising can't buy you a brand identity, and if you try to spend your way to it, you will just be throwing your money away. The book explains why and along the way you pick up how to build a brand, what advertising is designed for, and learn a lot about ad agencies and how they believe that their job begins and ends at being creative without regard to whether the ad agency's product makes the client money. It supplies the reader an ample supply of helpful hypotheses, graphs, stats, and insight, into the world of Advertising and PR. I found this book to be both educational and helpful. It's a fun read, and if it doesn't make you sit back and take a long look at your own strategic thinking, maybe you should read it again.
Rating: 
Summary: So how do we implement this PR?
Review: The book states over and over that PR is great for brand-building, but never bothers to offer any tips on how to plan or implement a PR campaign. It could have at least given a few pointers on what to include (or not include) in a press release. Or, it could have given some guidance on how to select a PR firm. But, it's an easy read and somewhat entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: The title explains it all!
Review: Each year companies spend an increasing budget on advertising. It seems that now everything encountered in American life is somehow drenched with advertising in one form or another ? corporate logos everywhere, extensive television commercials, billboards, helium blimps, magazine ads! Are these companies really getting a return on their investment?
Al Ries says ?No!? People have become so bombarded with advertisements that they become trained to ignore them. Advertising alone has lost its credibility. We are in a new age where public relations are more important ? the use of media and other sources of credibility must be used to promote your product.
?Fall of Adversing? is filled with examples demonstrating how advertising has lost its effectiveness. Even successful ad campaigns like the famous Taco Bell dog have only subtracted from revenues. Sales went down and Taco Bell blamed the chiuauah. As Jay Leno noted, ?Do you think it?s the food?!?
Ries goes on to explain that successful products are built through recommendations from credible sources. Amazon.com was built through word-of-mouth. Volvo became a success after the media promoted its safety features. I even decided to buy this book because of a CNBC interview with Laura Ries!
This book is a great read if you are at the executive level or involved in marketing operations. Hundreds of examples are cited and the final chapters end with a special note written for managers, PR, and marketing people to help create more effective strategies.
There are some weak points. A good half of the book reemphasizes brand-building techniques found in other books written by Al Ries. It is also focused on the multi-billion dollar ad campaigns started by large companies like Pepsi. But nevertheless, it is well written and enjoyable to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Same old stuff
Review: For some reason, Both Ries and Trout get away with recycling their old material and putting a new name on it.
More than that, you couldn't tell that their partnership fell apart years ago since the same ideas, and more importantly, the same examples are used extensively in each man's books.For Example:
These guys must LOVE Papa Johns (or be shareholder's, as they both mention the compony time and time again (In multiple books as well) as some paragon of food and of great marketing. As far as I'm concerned, Papa John's is indistinguishable from Domino's. I wonder if either man has ever even tried it.
Anyway... back on track. This book continually simplifies the reasons behind the success and/or failure of various companies and products to the poor use of publicity. No mention of poor management or rationalizing markets, or the fact that the product or service stunk in the first place. The most appaling thing is this guy has the balls to tell the city of Cusco in Peru and the country of Guatamala, they should change names in order to attract visitors. (Ciudad de las Incas and Guatamaya, respectively). I don't know if this is marketing ignorance, or American disregard for foreign cultures, but I couldn't believe what I was reading. He continues to show his ignorance of technology and pop culture with incorrect example after incorrect example.
For example, he points out that there was once a beer called Yuengling that failed because of it's name. Guess what, Al, Yuengling, is alive and doing pretty well.
Also chapters are repetitive. After reading about Red Bull 3 times, in as many chapters, it got a little boring To sum it up: Advertising is bad, Brand extension is bad. Anyone who didn't listen to his advice is now out of business, Papa John's is great. There I saved you the agony of reading this (Or anyother of his books or the books by Jack Trout) and $15. Save your money. A stinker of a book.
Rating:
Summary: PR is King
Review: The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR by Al Ries & Laura Ries I agree with the thesis of this book: PR can change perceptions but advertising can't. I've been preaching about the credibility of PR for years (it's more believable because the message is delivered by the supposedly unbiased media.) Advertising, on the other hand, isn't believable because everyone knows that it's a company's paid-for message. Ries & Ries further state that advertising has crossed over into the realm of "art" rather than remaining a form of communication. They point out that the yardstick by which ad agencies measure the success of their ad campaigns is the number of creative awards they win--not whether or not the ads actually sell products. On this, the authors are absolutely right. Ads (especially TV ads) don't sell anymore, they entertain. It's a waste of money for companies to advertise as much as they do. So, even though the authors overstate their case and repeat it incessantly, follow the advice of Ries & Ries and spend more money on PR!
Rating:
Summary: The Rise of "PR" Spin
Review: Most parts of this book impressed me, however some parts did not and it often seemed to point ou the obvious. They did a good job distinguishing the different between advertising and PR but using different examples to show how PR is more modern than advertising yet we view the advertising ass classic and somewhat essential. However, sometimes they drag on with exlaining the difference, and use too many example in a row that may throw people off. The thing I liked is that when distinguishing advertising and PR, they try not to show how they are different, but how it is impossible for them to be the same. This led into how nothing can be mass produced without PR.
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