PR is a very important ingredient to building brand value

Research by Text 100 (a PR firm) called "Media Prominence: A Leading Indicator of Brand Value. How Effective Public Relations Contributes to Brand" shows that PR builds brand for complex products better than ads.

Key findings from the research were interesting:

• "Media prominence accounted for 27 percent of differences between the brand values of Interbrand’s Best Global Brands.
• "The relationship between media prominence and brand value depends on “product involvement” – i.e., the degree to which customers research a given product or solution prior to purchase. Media prominence was more associated with brand value for “high involvement”products compared to “low involvement” products. Advertising expenditures, however, were a leading indicator only for “low involvement” products, and accounted for very little brand value among “high involvement” products.
• "Media prominence was a particularly important component of brand value for computer-related industries, such as software and hardware manufacturers, as well as computer and Internet service companies, accounting for 48 percent of differences between companies’ brand values.
• "The results suggest that, in general, media prominence accounts for approximately one quarter of brand value, although this value is often higher for high-involvement brands, and particularly so in technology. This underscores the importance of managing and growing brand value through public relations efforts."

I wonder ... the results show that PR heavily influences brand perception, and this result was delivered by a PR company. Hmmm ... Okay, not that I really doubt it, but it is kind of humorous.

I believe that a key important point that needs to be made is that Public Relations is a critical type of communication that needs to be managed by a company as part of its overall media strategy.