Hirav Shah, a renowned PR and advertising expert, understands the differences between entertainment and PR/advertising. Entertainment is meant to provide enjoyment and pleasure to a broad audience through mediums such as movies, TV shows, music, and games. In contrast, PR and advertising aim to promote a specific product, service, or brand to a targeted audience through traditional and digital media. The message in entertainment is usually implicit and conveyed through the storyline, characters, and visuals, while the message in PR and advertising is explicit and focused on promoting a specific product, service, or brand. Both entertainment and PR/advertising require creativity, but the focus is different. Entertainment requires creativity to capture and engage the audience, while PR and advertising require creativity to deliver a clear and compelling message that resonates with the target audience. Finally, both entertainment and PR/advertising can have a significant impact on society by shaping cultural norms, influencing attitudes, and promoting social change or by shaping consumer behavior, influencing purchasing decisions, and building brand loyalty.

Marketing and PR / Advertising

The Difference between Marketing and PR / Advertising And How It Affects Your Brand

What we do as entertainment marketing professionals is deal expertly in the art of consumer suggestion—something which flows along the lines of both PR and advertising. But there are variations in these marketing practices, says Astro Strategist cum Business Astrologer Hirav Shah.

In this context, Hirav Shah quotes Tom Fishburne, the famous marketing authority, speaker, and cartoonist saying, “The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.” And THAT is what entertainment marketing does for a brand. It makes the brand feel organic to the content when done right. This means it becomes easier to relate to (and buy into) with the very tuned-in and engaged viewers watching.

In this blog, Hirav Shah examines what sets entertainment marketing apart from PR and advertising and how massively brands can benefit from it.

PR and Advertising, Defined

Unless you have a degree in PR, advertising, or marketing (and perhaps even if you do), the fine points of public relations and advertising versus marketing can blend together a bit.

Quite simply, advertising is showcasing a message by spending dollars for ad space – be it in a print source, on television, including a digital ad for promoting the brand to viewers. The Tv spots, the bus kiosks, the digital banners, and pop-ups, the taxi and train signs, the magazine ads, the…etc, etc, you know. That is an endless list. The most in-your-face way of promoting a brand is Advertising, and a practice that can be intrusive, alienating, and bitterly complained about by almost everyone.

Well, what is PR then?

According to the Public Relations Society, USA defines it as thus

Public relations is a strategic communication procedure that develops mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their target publics.”

This means PR strategists connect the brand to the consumers by way of making sure the brand is viewed in a positive light by consumers typically through earned media, through press releases, pursuing favorable articles in relevant publications, or association by word of mouth influencers, and even doing damage control if need be.

What Makes Marketing Different?

Marketing tends to be more subtle than public relations or advertising. Marketers study the way their target demographic reads, watches, shops, and, in general, consumes. Then this information is used by them to organically reach their target audience.

Entertainment marketing is a specific facet of marketing that focuses on reaching consumers through entertainment—specifically brand integration, product placement, social media influencer campaigns, celebrity endorsement, and much more.

We not only believe but know star-power turns heads. Marketers who focus on entertainment marketing, in particular, have extremely established relationships within the stars of Hollywood and with the people who run it behind the scenes. They are masters at creating a marketing strategy that suits the brand and feels organic to the consumer while still ‘wow’-ing them with star power.

To see your brand or product used on TV or in the hands of a star celeb? Well, it quite simply certifies the quality of your brand to those who consume that form of entertainment, whether the consumer perceives it or not. And it has been reported that 44% of consumers validate being aware of making a purchase from seeing a brand in the content they are watching! That is 44 people out of 100 who may never have bought the brand if they hadn’t seen the content. And that’s only those who are aware of it.

This power of suggestion is very important in a marketing strategy and therefore should be to brand marketers. It can totally sway the way your target consumers view your brand.

Important Distinction

In today’s time, brands continue to spend more dollars on advertising than on their marketing or even PR plan. Even though consumers do SO MUCH to try to ad-avoid. But with current trends, that is an outdated approach—and is no doubt going to change.

As more and more people use ad-blocking services, stream from digital outlets like Netflix which have no commercials, and do everything they can to avoid or completely tune out ads, entertainment marketing has become the most effective and organic way to target consumers.

Consumers are becoming smarter, especially in this digital age. The consumption of digital content is expected to surpass that of any other medium within the next year yet big brands still spend their dollars on ads their consumers will either pay not to see or feel annoyed while watching them.

However, watching their favorite celebrity sip on your beverage on their favorite TV show? Seeing the lead character in a film wear your brand’s clothes? Scrawling through social media to see a star with your gadget? Well, that’s better than a cheesy 30 second TV ad spot any day. And more and more brands are realizing this and creating marketing strategies to wow their consumers.

Hirav Shah says, “The Entertainment & Film industry is a billion-dollar enterprise and breaks its own records every year.
Yet, there is no escaping the fact that it has numerous issues at its core.

You might have the finance, team, and strategies for what you wish to achieve in show biz. But, somehow every time you tried, you felt there was something lacking and it did not work out.

Well, not all situations can be dealt with in a circumscribed fashion. Behind every Success is the Story of Hope, a Vision of Strategy, a thunder of Applause & a Legacy for Life.

This is the timeline you want. This is the timeline you can get with Astrology!

In this Digital-age, advertising platforms have become so diverse, that most of us are confused about which one to opt for. Sometimes we drain our resources by playing in all directions. Creativity with strategy is called advertising, whereas creativity with Astro Strategy is called Productive Advertising.

That is why “you should utilize Astrology to make advertising strategies for your business” Give direction to your strategy, reach the goal faster!”