At apt marketing and pr we believe that PR should be an essential part of any company's marketing strategy, so the argument that advertising dies/PR lives - cited in a recent blog post ruffled our feathers somewhat! Incidentally, the blogger in question- Elif Esiyok -does not hold this viewpoint and, in actual fact, echoes our own sentiments.
Without wishing to state the obvious, the main benefit of PR lies in its credibility. Positive copy written by a credible third party is - for the most part - far more powerful and persuasive than straight advertising; where companies pay purely for space and proceed to 'blow their own trumpets'. Having said this we certainly don't believe that advertising is dead, and the idea that advertising is not creative baffles us even further! Surely the whole advertising process is a creative cycle.
We think that advertising has an essential part to play in building company/product awareness and should work in partnership with PR for maximum impact. However, some of our clients don't pursue the advertising route at all, preferring to focus solely on PR to generate awareness and build reputation. PR can successfully work in isolation but it has to work a lot harder with the absence of supporting advertising. Our ultimate recommendation would be to think carefully about the budget you wish to commit, then trust an expert to implement a plan which incorporates all necessary elements and gives the best ROI. Simple :-)