User:Heatherer/Ketchum

Ketchum is a global public relations and communications firm, offering brand marketing, digital, and corporate communications services. George Ketchum founded the firm as a Pittsburgh-based advertising company in 1923. It later evolved to include a public relations practice. The firm is currently headquartered in New York City with offices and affiliates in North America, EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Ketchum has five global practice areas: brand marketing, corporate and public affairs, healthcare, food & beverage, and technology. The agency also offers communications services focused on specific industries, including automotive, fashion and luxury, energy, travel and hospitality and financial services, in addition to services focused on audience segments including Generation Z and Millennials. The agency has been owned by Omnicom Group since 1996. Ketchum merged with Düsseldorf-based Pleon in one of the industry’s largest mergers in 2009. It has been led by Chairman and CEO Rob Flaherty since 2012.

History
The agency that would become Ketchum was founded as Ketchum and MacLeod in Pittsburgh on May 22, 1923. The agency's name was changed to Ketchum, MacLeod & Grove in 1924. It was led by brothers George and Carlton Ketchum, and Norman McLeod and Robert Grove, whom the brothers met at University of Pittsburgh in the 1910s. The agency's early work focused on advertising, publicity, and fundraising.

In 1934 the agency established a public relations department, which was the first of its kind in the United States. The department's first assignment was a campaign for Natural Gas Companies, People’s Natural Gas and other local natural gas companies.

The agency received national attention in 1951 when it orchestrated a sponsorship for client Westinghouse of the first nationally televised NCAA football game. As the firm's billings grew in the late 1950s, it opened offices in New York City and Washington D.C. It acquired west coast-based agency Botsford Constantine & McCarty, forming Botsford-Ketchum in 1969. It continued acquiring other agencies throughout the 1970s and 80s, expanding internationally in Europe and Asia.

George Ketchum passed away in September 1975. The agency changed its name to Ketchum Communications Inc. in 1981. Its major divisions became known as Ketchum Advertising, Ketchum Public Relations, and Ketchum Directory Advertising. Ketchum Public Relations moved its headquarters to New York from Pittsburgh in 1982.

The agency won its first global account (with FedEx) and its first pan-European account (with Whirlpool) in 1994. In 1996, Ketchum handled the Torch relay for the Atlanta Olympics.

Omnicom Group acquired Ketchum in 1996. At the time, Ketchum was the 25th-largest American agency

In 1998, Ketchum merged with British consumer agency Life PR. Through the merger, the resulting agency, Ketchum Life, became a top-ten U.K. PR firm according to PRWeek. Ketchum Advertising was sold and renamed in 1999. The "Ketchum" name has referred solely to the PR practice since that time.

In 2001, Ketchum acquired New York-based management consulting firm Stromberg Consulting, becoming the first agency to provide full-service organizational change communications.

Ketchum launched a separate firm, Emanate, in 2006 that focused on influencer marketing and community building. It was the agency's first spin-off in its history. Emanate later merged with Ketchum’s Access Communications to form Access Emanate Communications in 2016. Ketchum acquired clinical trial patient recruitment agency MMG in 2008.

In 2009, Ketchum merged with Europe-based Pleon in one of the industry's largest mergers to date. Stromberg Consulting was combined with Pleon Change & Transformation in 2010 and is now known as Ketchum Change.

Other acquisitions during this time included Moscow-based Maslov PR in 2010, Indian agency Sampark PR in 2011, Capstrat in North Carolina in 2012, and German lifestyle and social media PR agency Brandzeichen in 2013. Additionally, the agency broadened its international presence by taking a majority stake in its China operations in 2011, expanding Ketchum Sports & Entertainment practice into Brazil in 2012, and, in 2013, merging with South Korea-based firm InComm Brodeur and acquiring ICON International Communications in Singapore. In the US, Ketchum partnered with luxury and lifestyle agency Harrison & Shriftman in 2011, and launched Ketchum Sounds, a service focused on music marketing for brands in 2012.

Rob Flaherty became CEO of Ketchum in 2012. Among the things the agency has focused on during his tenure are creativity and re-engineering its practice offerings.

Major work
Ketchum's major clients include Wendy's, MasterCard, Chase, IBM, Ikea, Philips, and Pfizer.

In 1985, Ketchum launched the Acura line of cars for American Honda Motor Company.

Ketchum worked on the rebranding of Orville Redenbacher's popcorn in the 1990s to appeal to a younger demographic.

The agency created the "Crash the Super Bowl" contest for Doritos in 2006 that utilized crowdsourcing by asking the general public to submit Super Bowl commercials for the company. The winning advertisement was aired during the game. The initial winning entry was included on lists of the best Super Bowl advertisements and Ketchum earned a Golden World Award from the International Public Relations Association. The contest was held annually through 2016.

Ketchum was tasked in 2008 to create a campaign to rally support around Delta Air Lines during US Airways bid to takeover the airline after it had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The campaign "Keep Delta My Delta" targeted lawmakers, employees, frequent flyers, and retirees and included an educational website, buttons, and a petition. US Airways dropped the bid and the campaign won a silver anvil. In 2010, the agency created “The real Kodak moment happens when you share” for Kodak to promote the social aspect of photo taking and sharing.

In 2011, Ketchum faced backlash in the press for a promotion for ConAgra, in which the agency hosted a dinner for food bloggers that was billed as serving food prepared by George Duran, but diners were served ConAgra frozen foods instead. Ketchum filmed each dinner and hoped to use footage of diners' reactions for promotional purposes. However, many bloggers felt tricked by the switch. Ketchum apologized and ConAgra offered reimbursement for any incurred expense to the attendees.

In 2013, Ketchum Sports and Entertainment (KSE) partnered with the Committee to Preserve Olympic Wrestling (CPOW) to develop a campaign to support the preservation of wrestling in the Olympic program. Ketchum arranged a wrestling match at Grand Central Terminal in New York called “Rumble on the Rails” featuring wrestlers from the USA, Russia and Iran. Wrestling was reinstated in the Olympic Games in September 2013.

To launch the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger for Wendy's in 2013, the agency created a series of videos featuring customer's positive tweets about the burger being sung as love songs by performers including Nick Lachey. The campaign was named as a 2014 Shorty Award finalist.

Crisis management
Ketchum has a team of approximately 50 crisis management executives in the US.

In 2011, Pennsylvania State University hired Ketchum to handle crisis communications following the Jerry Sandusky scandal in 2011. Ketchum worked with Malaysia Airlines during the search for and response to missing plane MH370 in 2014. The agency also provided crisis counseling to Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield in 2015 during the largest data breach in the US insurance industry’s history. Ketchum has a suite of crisis management services that it offers clients. It launched Mobile RepProtect in 2014, and University RepProtect, for higher education, Cyber RepProtect, for data security, and Game Plan, for sports teams and brands, in 2015.

Government work
Ketchum has fulfilled multiple contracts for the United States government, including for the Department of Education, Department of Health & Human Services, the Internal Revenue Service, and the US Army. In 2015 the agency worked with the Library of Congress to provide support for the National Book Festival. In 2004, Ketchum was accused of "covert propaganda" for a series of news stories for HHS that used actors playing journalists reporting on drug benefits without informing viewers of the government connection. The FCC later cleared Ketchum of wrongdoing. In 2005, the Ketchum received similarly critical coverage after the Education Department directed the agency to pay for coverage that praised President Bush's education policies.

From 2006 to 2015 Ketchum represented the Russian Federation in the US and Europe. The agency's work included support around major events such as the G20 Summit, World Economic Forum, and Sochi Olympics, media and op-ed outreach, and social and digital media outreach for ModernRussia.com and ThinkRussia.com, among others. The relationship ended in 2015. According to The Holmes Report the assignment "attracted plenty of mainstream media scrutiny in the US, most of it negative" due to the countries' political relationship.

Awards
As of 2016, Ketchum has won more Silver Anvils from the Public Relations Society of America than any other agency. Its campaigns have been awarded "Campaign of the Year" by PRWeek five times. The winning campaigns include "Man Lives in IKEA" in 2009 for IKEA in which comedian Mark Malkoff lived in a New Jersey IKEA for a week; "Dreyer's Beat the Blues with a Taste of Recovery" in 2010 for Dreyer's, which introduced a patriotic ice cream flavor to celebrate the brand's 80th anniversary and a video contest; "Barbie: After 125 Careers, Barbie Gets Her Geek On" in 2011 for Mattel which allowed the public to choose Barbie's next career and resulted in Computer Engineer Barbie; "How Does the Man of Steel Shave?" in 2014 for Gillette which was a tie-in with the film Man of Steel and sought to explain how Superman managed to shave in difficult situations; and "Selfie-nomics" in 2016 for MasterCard.

Ketchum was the 2002 and 2012 PRWeek Agency of the Year.

Ketchum London was named Agency of the Decade by U.K.’s CorpComms magazine in 2015. Ketchum London has also been awarded "Master status" by the Great Place to Work Institute for making its "Great Place to Work" list ten years in a row.

Corporate overview
Ketchum is owned by Omnicom Group and is part of the company's Diversified Agency Services network’s Omnicom Public Relations Group. The agency's subsidiaries include Access Emanate Communications, Capstrat, Harrison & Shriftman, and MMG.

Services
Ketchum has five main practices, including brand marketing, corporate and public affairs, food & beverage, healthcare, and technology. In addition, it operates practices relating to digital, clinical trial recruitment, audience segmentation, sports & entertainment, change management, and a research & analytics team with 150 employees in eight countries. It has offerings specializing in marketing to moms, women aged 25 to 54, men, the 50+ generation, and Millennials, as well as engaging with Generation Z.

Ketchum conducts and releases extensive research studies. Studies in 2015 included the Leadership Communication Monitor, which explored perceptions of leadership, "Innovation Kernel", which detailed how innovation impacted consumer habits, "Liquid change", which focused on change fatigue among employees, the "ReMovement Study" about the 50+ generation, and "tranZition" about engaging with Generation Z.

The "Food 2020" study released in 2016 studied the food movement and what the researchers termed food "eVangelists".

The agency has several proprietary tools it offers clients including StoryWorks, a social and digital content creation platform.

Locations and employees
Ketchum's headquarters are located in New York City. The agency has more than 130 offices and affiliates in over 70 countries.

Ketchum is led by Chairman and CEO Rob Flaherty. Other leadership roles include President Barri Rafferty, Chief Client Officer, Jerry Olszewski, and Chief Financial Officer Bill Visone. As of 2016, Ketchum has approximately 2,500 employees. In 2016, Ketchum announced the formation of a global leadership council, comprised of 20 senior leaders. The GLC replaced and significantly expanded Ketchum’s Executive Committee.

Company culture
Ketchum has several employee development programs. It began two initiatives in 1984: Camp Ketchum, a week-long training for exceptional employees throughout the agency, and Ketchum College, a centralized training platform for employees. Ketchum College was renamed Ketchum University in 2010. Ketchum's Global Scholars program allows employees to apply to visit any Ketchum office to participate in knowledge sharing. Additionally, the agency has training for all client-facing employees and offers a program called SparkTank to encourage employees to create new business ideas and services.

Ketchum offers a Summer Fellows program, which is a 10-week paid internship that places recruits in all parts of the agency. Acceptance is competitive and the agency receives approximately 2,000 applications for the 15 open positions. The agency created an app called "LaunchPad" to gamify the recruitment process. Applicants are measured by their responses to challenges and by their participation with other applicants' responses.

Similarly, Ketchum developed a program called MindFire for college students to respond to client challenges with creative solutions in order to earn prizes and networking opportunities.

Ketchum's social responsibility programs include a focus on employee volunteerism and pro bono work with Room to Read, a children's literacy organization.