Role of public relations in promoting innovative products as a competitive advantage an evaluation from the perspective of public relations agencies

In recent years, Innovation has become a concept that has been frequently mentioned and widely used in both the business world and the academic sources. Globalized world conditions have brought about changes in the structure of markets and enterprises. This changes has become a compulsory process with the competition conditions in the market. Because competition is a concept that requires change and continuous development and consequently requires existence of innovation. Therefore, any business that wants to provide a competitive advantage against its competitors should fully embrace the process of innovation, integrate this concept with the identity of the organization and ensure the sustainability of the innovative structure. We can explain the contribution of public relations to the innovation process as follows: Public relations, which serves as a bridge between the target group and the institution, provides various contributions for the management of this communication. While providing these contributions, it is in the duty of public relations to convey the innovative activities of the enterprise to the target group with the right tools and correct communication strategies. And from the main objectives of the enterprise, the existence of public relations is needed in order for the brand to be positioned in the consumer mind by establishing correct communication with the target group. As a result, contributing to the innovation process by carrying out supportive activities in terms of the corporate image is one of the working areas of public relations. In the research section of the study, a qualitative analysis was applied to evaluate the innovation from the point of view of public relations as a competitive advantage in organizations. In this research, "Are the ınnovative brands creating a competitive advantage in terms of public relations?" question has been sought. As a result of the content analysis of the interviews; five themes were obtained under the titles of "ınnovation concept", "characteristic of ınnovative brands", "competitive advantage", "role of public relations in creating ınnovation culture" and "characteristic of organizations". In this study, based on the experience and literature acquired in the field of brand communication and advertising agencies with the professionals working in the field of public relations with experience in both national and international markets, it was asked whether working with innovative brands provided an advantage to the company's activities. Agencies generally emphasized that they can carry out more free, more innovative and creative works with enterprises that are innovative. In this study, it is concluded that the innovative brands are more successful in the activities carried out in order to reach the target audience, this process is easier to reach, and working with innovative brands contributes to the creativity process and brings the enterprises and agencies closer to success and thus, they can provide a competitive advantage in this respect.