{"id":723,"date":"2022-03-17T13:12:27","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T13:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/?p=723"},"modified":"2025-10-29T09:51:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:51:22","slug":"why-pr-value-is-the-sneakiest-pr-metric-of-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/why-pr-value-is-the-sneakiest-pr-metric-of-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Why ‘PR Value’ Is The Sneakiest PR Metric Of All"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Over the past few years, there has been a concerted global effort within the PR industry to stamp out the use of AVE<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We’ve written post entitled ‘What Is AVE In PR? (Advertising Value Equivalency)<\/a>‘, and our own position is clear: it needs to disappear completely.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We have also undertaken some pretty unique research<\/a> around the topic too. Analysing over 400k of the custom KPIs added to our own reporting platform over the past few years, we found that in 2015, 18% of reports included AVE, reducing to just 6% in 2021. So its use is diminishing – but this stubborn metric just refuses to die.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Just the name Advertising Value Equivalence should be enough to stop it in its tracks for reasons obvious to every PR pro.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

However AVE is a slippery blighter. At some point – I don’t know when – it pulled a very clever stunt which I believe is in large part responsible for its continued popularity.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

AVE rebranded itself to ‘PR Value<\/strong>‘. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This is the greatest trick a PR metric has ever pulled. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

PR Value is nice and simple. No acronyms to explain. No mention of advertising. It grandly states: here is the monetary value of the PR work that’s been done.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

On the surface, it’s just so convenient. I spent x and got y. No questions asked.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But there should be questions asked. Lots of questions. Because it’s simply the discredited AVE metric disguised in a sticky moustache and oversized glasses.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Whenever a client asks if our platform features PR Value, they always do so in an apologetic tone. “I know it’s nonsense” <\/em>they say “but my client \/ our execs insist on it”<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I do have sympathy here – everyone has bills to pay – but if we as an industry drink the PR Value Kool-Aid (disclaimer: I’m British so have never had Kool-Aid) then we are legitimising a form of measurement that is fundamentally flawed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So let’s rip off those glasses and moustache and expose PR Value for what it is: AVE in disguise – and there are so many ways to discredit AVE that we’re almost spoiled for choice. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Quick Primer: Our top five arguments against AVE<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

  1. Advertising and PR are fundamentally different and shouldn\u2019t be conflated<\/li>
  2. It\u2019s not always possible to advertise where earned coverage is available<\/li>
  3. Advertising Value Equivalents often confuse \u2018value\u2019 with \u2018cost\u2019<\/li>
  4. AVEs do not take the quality of the coverage into consideration<\/li>
  5. Earned media may not share the same tone as an advertisement<\/li><\/ol>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Over the past few years, there has been a concerted global effort within the PR industry to stamp out the<\/p>\n\t\t

    \n\t\t\tread<\/span><\/path><\/g><\/svg><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":736,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thought-leadership"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/PR-Value.png","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1192,"href":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723\/revisions\/1192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/releasd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}