Stay tuned - later this evening I will post a case study I've prepared on how Coolmore has effectively used public relations ('PR') in their promotion of freshman sire FUSAICHI PEGASUS.

In the interim I thought it might be helpful to provide you with a basic definition of PR as a lot of people confuse it with advertising.

Advertising and PR both communicate messages to the public. But they do so in different ways. An advertisement buys space (think of an ad in a magazine or on television) and it will contain an overt sales message ("10 shares in exciting Catbird filly for sale" - for example). PR does not buy space and the company whose product the media are reporting on cannot control the message which is given to the public (therefore demonstrating the importance of developing good relationships with the media).

PR is not directly about selling - rather (if well used) it is about increasing the profile of a company and its products [so the 'brand name' if you like] which then DOES help to sell more products (as the consumers will then actively seek them out). PR can also be used to minimize negative public perceptions about a company. For example - some people may feel that large global companies take money offshore, do not adequately invest in local staff and minimize their tax. PR campaigns can be used to shift these perceptions (or at least manage them) by showing evidence of the company being a good corporate citizen (ie. the company may spend $100,000 on staff education every year, contribute $50,000 to charity, develop a young Australian leadership programme and lead the way in environmental standards).

PR can be very authoritative as it takes the form of official news broadcasts from the media which are relied on as facts that the public can trust.