07/17/2026
Founder Files // 002
One of the things I love most about public relations is that every client drops you into an entirely new world.
Several years ago, we were referred to a prominent Los Angeles neurosurgeon.
By every traditional measure, he was already successful. His patients included A-list celebrities, professional athletes, Fortune 500 executives, and people who traveled from around the world to be treated by him.
But outside of those circles, few people knew he was helping pioneer major medical advances in his field. More importantly, he believed patients deserved to know those options existed.
If we could establish him as a leading authority, we could do more than build a personal brand. We could help educate patients about life-changing advances they might otherwise never know to ask about.
There was just one problem: we knew almost nothing about neurosurgery.
So we immersed ourselves in his world. Within weeks, we understood the language, procedures, and complexities of his specialty well enough to translate them into stories journalists, television producers, and ultimately the public could understand.
Our objective wasn’t simply to generate publicity.
It was to architect a brand.
At the time, The Doctors was the biggest national television platform a physician could appear on. But you don’t start there.
We spent six months building credibility through medical trade publications, contributor opportunities, and regional television before pursuing national media.
By the end of the first year, we’d secured two appearances on The Doctors.
The campaign generated more than 15 million earned impressions, $2.1 million in earned media value, helped enable the launch of a second brand, and evolved into a trusted partnership that lasted for years.
The biggest lesson wasn’t about medicine.
It was that authority isn’t built by chasing the biggest stage.
It’s built by understanding a subject deeply enough to earn the right to tell its story—and then building credibility one brick at a time.
