PR vs. Publicity and the Wintek Rumor

Two items caught my attention today. One was a rumor pointing to Wintek, Apple’s display provider while the other was a post on Seth Godin’s blog.

The rumor deals with a leak about an increase in business for Taiwan-based Wintek. Now this is not the first ‘sneak’ preview of the recovery I’ve seen lately. Yet this is the first that ties a specific supplier to a customer. Its been reported that an order for a significant quantity of displays – between 9.7” and 10” has been placed, or will be placed shortly, depending on where you read the rumor, slated for end product delivers commencing in the second half of this year.*

Godin’s blog points out that there really is a difference between PR and publicity. And that often what is bought as PR really is plain old publicity. He defines PR as “the strategic crafting of your story” while “publicity is the act of getting ink.”

Using these definitions helps us understand that the Wintek rumor may be more than just publicity. The results meet the definition of PR if this is a deliberate ‘story’ told to the initial reporter. Otherwise, it lives somewhere between fact and fiction, waiting for the formal announcement or actual product release.

Sometimes it’s hard to discern the difference between plain old publicity and a well crafted PR campaign.

* This story has been covered by venerable and trusted sources from Dow Jones Wire to CNNMoney.com, Gizmodo.com and SiliconValley.com (the online portion of The [San Jose] Mercury News).