Company Overview
Highlights
Ketchum is known for having a particularly effective intranet, which allows it to coordinate global ad campaign efforts quickly and efficiently.
Winner of the "PR Week Product Brand Development Campaign of the Year" in 2005, for its work on “the breakup of the millennium” for Mattel—that of Barbie and Ken.
Founded in 1923, Ketchum is an advertising leader today, with 24 offices around the world. In 2004, its U.S. operations underwent some serious consolidation, with the Los Angeles and San Francisco offices combining to create Ketchum West, the Atlanta and Dallas offices combining to create Ketchum South, and the Chicago and Pittsburgh office combining to create Ketchum Midwest. In 2005, the corporate, health care, food and nutrition, brand marketing, and entertainment practice areas performed especially well.
The firm has 231 account wins globally that year, including Best Buy, IBM, Kodak, National Geographic, Novartis, Samsonite Luggage, and Weight Watchers. Of the firm’s 50 largest accounts, 38 increased spending in 2005. Some 40 percent of the money Ketchum makes is from international or inter-practice accounts. The agency has five core practice areas around the globe: brand marketing, corporate, food and nutrition, health care, and technology. More specific practice areas include lobbying and public affairs, entertainment, sports, and change management and workplace communications. In 2005, the corporate, health care, food and nutrition, brand marketing, and entertainment practice areas performed especially well. In 2006, the company launched Emanate, a communications agency using emotion-based methodologies. In 2007, it launched Zacalo Group, another agency that focuses on integrated marketing and public relations.