PR is the fastest growing discipline within marketing. As PR makes its way into the marketing mainstream, it becomes increasingly important to understand its real power. In this article, we argue that cost-efficiency, attention-grabbing and credibility is not enough. Relying on these effects may yield disappointing results or even be detrimental to the effectiveness of PR in general as consumers become fatigued and PR-savvy. By letting go of control, marketers can enjoy positive effects of real PR, such as increased interest and attention, enhanced flexibility, and more favorable associations.

From the moment you wake up till the time you fall asleep, it is always present. You cannot avoid it. Turn on the TV, tune in your favorite radio show and it will reach you. Try to avoid it in any newspaper or magazine you read and you will most definitely fail. You do not even have to expose yourself voluntarily to a medium to get caught by it. Just take a walk down the street and you will find it screaming at you from almost every corner. As if this presence wasn't enough, the media explosion is allowing it to branch into new timespaces and places in your life via the cell phone, podcasts, GPS, and much more.

This could be an Orwellian, 1984-ish, depiction of the widely recognized omnipresence of advertising. But what we have just described is actually the proliferation and potential death of PR. As the number of advertisers and advertising spaces continued to increase, most people have become aware and wary of advertising. This development is, in fact, often used as an argument for the rise of PR (cf. Ries & Ries 2002). But one tends to forget that PR is increasing even more. Information about products and brands is encountered in TV and radio newscasts, news podcasts, cell phone news services, on news bills, in magazine product tests and features, and anywhere else where there is editorial space. As the number of editorial spaces increases, via new technology and the media explosion, so does PR. Consequently, the very same argument that has been used against advertising - that the sheer volume and obtrusiveness makes it less effective - can actually be used against PR.

In this article, we suggest, that if PR is not handled differently, it risks meeting the same faith as all the other marketing fads once hailed as the new marketing logics to replace traditional advertising (remember, for example, the "hallelujahs" over e-mail marketing, permission marketing, network marketing, reversed marketing, and many more, which never lived up to expectations). In order for PR to live up to its full potential, we must better understand its real powers. This means not taking control over new spaces in the media by simply switching outlet for the marketing message from ads to editorials. Instead, it is about relieving control.

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