Advertising is headed to its doom-again.

Advertising is headed to its doom-again.

likewise declares prolific marketing guru Al Ries, ex-ad executive and coiner of the phrase ``positioning.'' In a forthcoming August part ``The Fall of Advertising and Rise of PR'' he joins his daughter and consulting partner Laura Ries in contending that public relations quietly has become the in the greatest degree powerful marketing-services discipline.

The Rieses still diocese a role for advertising, if it be not that primarily as a defense mechanism for established brands and performances not as a builder of novel ones. Public relations-specifically publicity and the resulting word of mouth-is what really build modern brands, they ...