What are the practical or pragmatic implications of this study and the program of
research it is part? We believe that there at least three major implications. First, it is
apparent that public relations practitioners – again with the caveat that this study
focused initial branding in a marketing milieu – should avoid making value promises that
what it can do will yield a multiple of X-times the value of advertising. In some ways,
this claim is as fraudulent as claiming that advertising equivalency value reflects the true
circulation or reach of a particular media. The key words today are transparency and
honesty. In the past there was no extant research that clearly tested for a multiplier
effect for either public relations or advertising, thus making such claims without caveats
based on lack of data. Now that data that that has been carefully examined in the best
possible context, it shows that while there are several advantages to editorial content
over advertising, those differences are not what we would have expected