Can advertising and public relations play well together? It can be a loaded topic, but the right combination is essential when rebuilding your identity, just ask GM.

Public Relations involves gaining positive, unpaid media coverage; sharing perceptions of targeted audiences; and telling the persuasive side of a story. PR is more than mere press releases, it includes the shaping of ideas in order to convince others to see the product, service or company from a specific perspective.

Advertising pushes the consumer to make an emotional connection. It changes the perception of a target audience without the ability to negotiate that perspective, and it engages consumers to act. Advertising is attractive and much more glamorous.

That said, is one tactic water while the other is oil, and never shall the two mix effectively? Certainly there are situations when one is
more advantageous than the other. Each method has its benefits as well as deficiencies. However, there is a time when, if combined appropriately, advertising and public relations can make a fantastic team.

Image is everything, and rebuilding one’s image is a tricky situation. Just ask GM. The automaker recently launched a campaign aimed at reinventing its public persona. While it’s not the first company going through such a campaign, it faces a tough challenge when the economy is front and center on the public’s radar.

GM’s campaign emphasizes qualities that the average consumer would have long-considered a necessity. Qualities such as being leaner, greener, smarter and faster. There are many who will argue that GM should have tackled this monster a long time ago, and perhaps if they had, today’s headlines would be different. Since that is not the case, GM is attempting to utilize both advertising and public relations strategies to communicate with its consumers.

The GM Reinvention campaign consists of a website, print inserts and ads, and television buys. In addition, GM is using social media mechanisms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to reach additional audiences. From a PR standpoint, the automaker is doing its best to be forthcoming and display an air of honesty. Admitting to shortcomings and that it’s time to do a better job was surely difficult. At the same time, the ads focus on American values, heroes that have risen in the face of adversity and images that play to the American consumer’s sense of patriotism.

Together the PR and advertising tactics GM is employing are a good mixture. Should some strategies be ramped up while others are toned down? Perhaps. This could be the perfect moment to capitalize on the popularity of social media and feed the system with well-crafted, straight-talk versus pushing messages through ads.

Then again, facing the challenge that GM has in front of it, this is a case where PR and advertising can work together, complimenting each other and rebuilding its image one step at a time. Reinvention may very well be achieved by allowing PR and advertising to play well in the sand box after all.