The Submarine

April 2005

"Suits make a corporate comeback," says the href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/14/fashion/thursdaystyles/14peacock.html?ex=1271131200&en=e96f2670387e3636&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland">New
York Times. Why does this sound familiar? Maybe because
the suit was also back in February,

href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2004-09-01-suits_x.htm">September
2004, href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/06/23/go.fashion.jones/">June
2004, March
2004, href="http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/09-03/09-21-03/c01li238.htm">September
2003,

href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_46/b3808122.htm">November
2002,
April 2002,
and href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1836010.stm">February
2002.

Why do the media keep running stories saying suits are back? Because
PR firms tell
them to. One of the most surprising things I discovered
during my brief business career was the existence of the PR industry,
lurking like a huge, quiet submarine beneath the news. Of the
stories you read in traditional media that aren't about politics,
crimes, or disasters, more than half probably come from PR firms.

I know because I spent years hunting such "press hits." Our startup spent
its entire marketing budget on PR: at a time when we were assembling
our own computers to save money, we were paying a PR firm $16,000
a month. And they were worth it. PR is the news equivalent of
search engine optimization; instead of buying ads, which readers
ignore, you get yourself inserted directly into the stories. [1