The difference between PR and Marketing

The difference between Marketing and Public Relations is highlighted by BL Ochman in this post.

On the one hand there is a glitzy promo and the alternative is to make it a fun conversation. She says:

OfficeMax has launched an elaborate, and undoubtedly expensive interactive campaign featuring "graphologist" Dr. Gerard Ackerman to launch OfficeMax’s new private label design pen brand, TUL. It's created by DDB Advertising-Chicago and the heavy hand of ad agency cluelessness is evident.

The very nice, and intensely cheery PR person told me the campaign is "hilarious" "amazing" and "a hoot." It's definitely funny, and I laughed out loud when Dr. Ackerman told me he loves me. I didn't feel compelled to pass on the URL to friends, but I did think it was fun. If I am ever in an Office Max store and see a Tul pen, I'll certainly look at it.

But there are many missed opportunities in this campaign, like feedback from participants on how accurate they find the readings. All in all, it's an amusing old-fashioned push message with a couple of new media bells and whistles.

People have the option to go straight to TUL.com for a "personalized" on-site analysis or to mail in a sample of their handwriting which results in Dr. Ackerman emailing them a video that shows an image of their handwriting as he analyzes it.