PR is Cheap, Says P&G

It's always a heart-stopping moment when a positive article on PR appears and a cause for celebration. CHENer Nick Harris made my day yesterday when he flagged this pretty positive article (from The Economist, no less). The article asserts "...that for business, PR is an increasingly vital marketing tool -- especially as traditional forms of advertising struggle to catch consumers' attention."

It gets better. Procter & Gamble, a company reverred for its marketing prowess, reports in the article:

In a recent internal study, P&G concluded that the return was often better from a PR campaign than from traditional forms of advertising, according to Hans Bender, the firm's manager of external relations. One reason is that in comparison with many other types of marketing, PR is cheap. In P&G's case, it can represent as little as 1% of a brand's marketing budget. That proportion could now rise, says Mr Bender, although he hastens to add that other forms of advertising and marketing would remain important for the company.

Happy day!