Doctors, lawyers and police get more media attention than engineers. Take a look through the latest television listings and try to find a show about engineers. There aren't any. As a result, the general population knows more about resuscitation, bond hearings and Miranda Rights than it does about building design.

A recent survey by Zweig White & Associates, Inc., asked industry 100 firms, "How accurate do you feel the media's perception of the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry is?" The results? An overwhelming 96% chose the response, "Non-existent: We're 'missing in action' to the popular media." The remaining 4% felt that the media's portrayal of the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry was accurate.

Richard Friedman, principal in charge of marketing consulting at Zweig White & Associates, suggests that part of the problem may rest with the firms themselves, which do little to promote themselves to the public.

"With a few exceptions," Friedman says, "firms do a shameful job of marketing themselves to the outside world. Instead of giving the media self-serving, self-promotional content that focuses on features at the expense of benefits, they should provide them with something they can actually use."

For further information about the survey, contact Mackenzie Dawson at Zweig White & Associates by phone at 508-651-1559 or e-mail at mdawson@zwa.com.