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PR vs advertising - cost effective? 

The situation 
A major high street retailer appointed DA to maximise its PR budget's efficiency. The objectives were to raise and improve brand awareness, drive footfall at stores, but, most importantly, achieve a high level of press coverage in agreed key press. Additionally, the client's parent company wanted proof the UK budget was better spent on PR than advertising.

The solution 
A UK-wide consumer media campaign - including weekly and monthly women's magazines, broadcast media, national and regional newspapers - was carried out. Seasonal promotions highlighted particular product lines; special dates such as Christmas and Mother's and Father's day were a major focus.

The results 
External press coverage evaluation compared the PR spend with the equivalent in advertising that would have been necessary to achieve the same coverage over a designated nine month period.

It determined the advertising value equivalent (AVE) of the PR campaign was £2,017,151 - compared with a PR expenditure of £110,997 - and that the campaign was seen by 76,082,637 members of the target audience. A further monitoring tool is the cost-per-impact ratio. This calculated that every £1 of PR budget "hit" 685 people. In this case, the figures spoke louder than words.