Page 1 - Lesson Note 8
P. 1
SAI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Class-12
th
Business studies
Chapter – 11, Marketing Management
Topics: Public Relation (Exclude role)
(Lesson note - 47)
PUBLICITY
Publicity is similar to advertising, in the sense that it is a non-personal form of communication.
However, as against advertising it is a non-paid form of communication.
Publicity generally takes place when favorable news is presented in the mass media about a
product or service. For example, if a manufacturer achieves a breakthrough by developing a car
engine, which runs on water instead of petrol, and this news is covered by television or radio or
newspapers in the form of a news item.
It would be termed as publicity because the engine manufacturer would benefit from such
dissemination of information about its achievement by the media but would not bear any cost
for the same.
Thus, the two important features of publicity are that:
(i) Publicity is an unpaid form of communication. It does not involve any direct
expenditure by the marketing firm; and
(ii) There is no identified sponsor for the communication as the message goes as a news
item.
In publicity, as the information is disseminated by an independent source, e.g., the press in the
form of news stories and features, the message has more credibility than if that comes as a
sponsored message in advertising. Also, as the message goes in the form of a news rather than
direct sales communication, it can reach even to those persons who otherwise may not pay
attention to paid communication.
