Marketing public relations: conceptual legitimacy or window dressing?

TLDR

Debate exists over whether marketing public relations (MPR) should be integrated into marketing or viewed as a distinct discipline, with marketing scholars favoring integration and PR scholars warning of a PR hijack. The study investigates the arguments surrounding MPR’s emergence and legitimacy as a separate marketing or PR discipline. The authors compare their research with findings from a review of relevant literature. Exploratory analysis shows that MPR is essentially a rebranded form of PR applied to marketing promotion, does not constitute a new discipline, yet its use is growing in the costly arena of marketing communications.

Abstract

Explores the development of the marketing public relations (MPR) concept examining the arguments advanced concerning MPR’s emergence and legitimacy to be a separate marketing or PR discipline. Some marketing academics suggest that MPR should be incorporated into the marketing discipline whereas the majority of PR academics argue that MPR represents a further attempt by marketeers to “hijack” PR, incorporating it into the promotional mix. Indeed, certain academics claim that MPR may evolve into a new marketing or PR discipline separate from corporate public relations. The research is compared with the findings from a review of pertinent literature. Exploratory findings indicate that what MPR represents is merely a new term for PR applied to marketing promotion. However, the fact that a new label has been applied does not amount to the emergence of a new marketing discipline. MPR would appear to enjoy a growing importance in the expensive world of marketing communication activities.