As Ketchum’s home page is really detailed, and informative, so for most of our information we used this site. It is also very clean, and easy to use, so check out;

Ketchum’s home page: 

        www.Ketchum.com

Wikipedia: 

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchum_Inc.

Public relations and lobbying industry:

          http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=1570

Text Book: 

         Fundamentals od Strategic Management, Raghavan Parthasarthy, South Western College Pub; 1 edition (February 22, 2006)

Public relations and lobbying industry

           www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=1570

LINKS TO THE NEWS ARTICLES

New York Times:  

         www.nytimes.com/1984/07/25/obituaries/carlton-g-ketchum-is-dead-authority-on-raising-money.html?scp=6&sq=ketchum&st=cse

         www.nytimes.com/1995/02/09/business/ketchum-inc-has-plan-to-close-later-this-year.html

 Fox Business:    

         www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industrials/kodak-exposes-canadian-consumers-overspent–million-inkjet-printing/

Tradingmarket.com

         www.tradingmarkets.com/site/news/Stock%20News/2247700/

Ketchum and Ikea:

          www.ketchum.com/PRWeek_Awards_2009_news_release

BNET: Business Publications

         http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4PRN/is_2009_March_11/ai_n31437382/?tag=content;col1

Analyzing the macro-environment a company is
operating in one has to take certain factors as the economic, social, cultural,
technological and legal conditions into consideration.

·   
Economic:

Since Ketchum is a communication consultancy
they are not directly connected to the rate of living standards and general
well-being of a society. Anyhow they are indirectly influenced by the economic
environment and the impacts of today’s tough economic times where
customers tend to decline spending and therefore Ketchum’s costumers, big
companies in a need to improve their public relations, tend to cut their
expenses which therefore leads to decreasing orders for Ketchum. On the other
hand some companies might see the crises as an occasion and necessity to build
an even stronger international positioning and customer
relationship management in order to overcome the crises. If so, today’s
tough economic situation might be valued as a possibility for Ketchum to gain
new business partners.

·    Social:

As a public relations company the work of
Ketchum is strongly influenced by the social factors. In order to create a
PR-campaign for a company Ketchum always needs to be aware of demographic
factors and the social and lifestyle trends characterizing the target audience
of the campaign. An example of this can be found in the campaign Ketchum did
for IKEA. The main audience for IKEA products are creative and young people who
would like to built themselves a stylish home without spending too much money
on it. For these young people a main communication channel is the Internet.
Having a comedian move in to Ikea, and share the experience on line, Ketchum’s
campaign helped Ikea reaching out to young customers.

·    Cultural:

In general a culture is defined by the main
beliefs, values and customs of a society. For Ketchum, who as a public relation
company through their campaigns has to communicate and interact with a society,
cultural factors are very important. A campaign always needs to be understood
in a correct and appropriate way by the members of a certain society. Therefore
every campaign beforehand requires a deeply awareness or even an analysis of
the cultural environment. This might lead to a certain challenge, especially
when employees have to deal with cultures different to their own culture. If
so, employees need to be aware of their self-reference criterion (unconscious
use of one’s own cultural values, experiences and knowledge) in order to
eliminate it’s influence when they work on a campaign which aims at a different
cultural background.

·    Technological:

Since Ketchum is not a company who is operating
in the technology industry they are not directly depending or linked to
technological factors at first sight. However technology might play an
important role for Ketchum concerning their way of getting in touch and
communicating with people in order to address them with a certain message. The
advance and broadening of internet technology for example helps Ketchum and
their customers to address clients in a much more faster, modern and moreover
less-costly way compared to the past.

·    Political/Legal:

The political and legal environment does not
really have a big impact on the PR-industry. It mainly sets the regulations in
order to do business and operate in this industry.

NEW YORK, March 11 /PRNewswire/ — Ketchum, a leading public relations agency, today announced the appointment of Tom Barritt, a Ketchum partner, to a newly created position: director of online relationships and reputation for Ketchum’s Global Food and Nutrition Practice. He will also serve as associate director of the practice. Barritt was previously director of the agency’s global Issues and Crisis Management Network.

“We’re thrilled to have such a proven leader join our team,” said Linda Eatherton, partner and director of the Global Food and Nutrition Practice. “This new position was developed with Tom in mind. It capitalizes on both his passion for all things food-related and his expertise in the online space, and it represents the beginning of the next generation of our 40-year heritage in food marketing.”

In his new role, Barritt will be responsible for working with clients to embrace online channels to help them better manage their communications needs to achieve their business goals. As associate director, the practice will capitalize on Barritt’s six years as head of Ketchum’s Issues and Crisis Management Network as he takes on the role of chief adviser on food reputation management, as well as builds and activates growth plans to benefit the practice’s client relationships and business development. This move aligns the Food and Nutrition practice with the agency’s growing global digital strategy capabilities and follows the appointments of Jonathan Kopp as global director of Ketchum Digital and Clement Lau as senior vice president of digital communications in Ketchum’s Greater China division in February.

“There is a dynamic conversation around food taking place online from recipe sharing to food blogs to photos to social networks,” said Barritt.

“Food is emotional and evocative and perfectly suited to social media. We have a great opportunity to help our food clients navigate this space and join in the conversation.”

“This is a very specialized role, and critical to business strategies of our food clients moving forward,” said Eatherton. “Trust is a key component in marketing food, and social media networks are a primary channel for our clients to build trust with consumers in both good times and bad.”

Barritt has completed numerous training programs at the French Culinary Institute in New York and is an avid food blogger. His Culinary Types blog, begun in 2006, serves as a diary of food experiences, with entries ranging from family recipes to cooking techniques to food concepts to favorite restaurants around the world. Through his blog, Barritt has built relationships with home cooks, chefs, food enthusiasts and industry influencers.

In addition to this new role, Barritt will continue to manage Ketchum’s Communications Training Network out of its New York office.

The brand simplifies the ability to distinguish products from amongst a wide range of offerings. Therefore every kind of company or organization has to find a way to distinguish itself from its competitors offering. In a crowded marketplace it gets more and more difficult to differentiate the services offered. The brand allows a positive demarcation of the competitor’s offerings.  A strong brand also allows the transfer of the brand to new products. This allows enterprises to offer new services and products, an opportunity for increased revenues. An organization having a strong brand is better protected from crisis and from the impact of competitors. In times of trouble and crisis they also provide a certain bonus among customers, so mistakes and market fluctuations do not have as much impact on sales. Further a strong brand enables an organization to buildcustomer loyalty as they trust the brand and its quality. Therefore it is essential  for a company to build up brand equity. But this is a very difficult undertaking since building up customer trust takes ages and destroying just a second. Many companies have there one in-house marketing and branding department but with the increase of products and brands  in the market, it is hard to break the clutter. Therefore many organizations resort to professional aid from external PR agencies. Ketchum is listed as one of the biggest provider of brand equity development and communication strategy launches. Our blog analyses Ketchum and its function and additionally the industry they are competing in.             

Conversations at Ketchum PR – will PR seize the golden opportunity?

In general an industry is defined by a group of firms, which offer products or services that are similar and in most cases close substitutes for each other. Ketchum is operating in the PR-industry, which is considered to be one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic industry in the marketing and media world. Within this industry, Ketchum aims at certain industry segments. With their activities in “Brand Marketing” and “Corporate” Ketchum addresses different companies who are willing to improve their image and work on their outer appearance whereas their activities in Food & Nutrition, Healthcare and Technology is primarily addressed to those companies operating in these industry segments. By offering this different field of activities Ketchum differentiates themselves and their services from other PR-companies. As mentioned above the PR-industry is a fast growing industry. This leads to the fact that more and more companies are willing to enter the market and therefore intensifying the competition. In 2008 the ten biggest PR-companies in the United States were

1) Weber Shandwick Worldwide

2) Fleishmann-Hillard Inc.

3) Hill and Knowlton Inc.

4) Incepta

5) Burson Marsteller

6) Edelmann Public Relation

7) Ketchum Inc

8 ) Porter Novello

9) GCI Group/APCO

10) Ogily Public Realations

Large conglomerates own many of these big PR companies. Ketchum for example is hold by Omnicom, and Interpublic Group. These super-companies bring together PR, lobbying, advertising and marketing companies to provide “integrated communications services” for their corporate clients and can be seen as a strategic way in order to survive the increasing competition in this industry. 

In order to give a more detailed analysis of the industry Ketchum operates in we used the five forces model of Porter. In general this model analyzes five important forces on order to value the industry conditions and a firm’s profit potential within a certain industry. The five forces consist of the threat of entry by new or potential competitors, the degree of rivalry among incumbent firms, the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of buyers, and the threat of substitute products and services. Analyzing these five forces helps a company to gain information they need to prevent potential entrants or to build a defensible competitive position.

·        Threats of Entry:

By threats of entry, Porter considers the possibility that new firms might easily enter the

industry, and cut inroads into the profits of incumbent firms. Considering the PR-industry, Ketchum operates in an industry where lots of new companies entered in the past few years, this has led to a raising competition among the firms. This high rate of new entries reduces the ability of incumbent firms to raise their prices, and therefore has a negative influence on their profitability. One reason why new PR-firms can enter the PR-industry in a comparable easy way is that the entry barriers in that industry can be classified as being low. This is mainly due to the fact that the capital requirements in order to be able to operate and do business in the PR-industry are for the most part low. Compared to other industries, one does not need a certain costly technology and for the most part „just“ the know-how of the workers and the technical support (computers). Another criteria which on the other hand set the entry barriers at a much more higher level are the switching costs which display the costs the buyer must assume when switching from the product of the incumbent firm to that of a new entrant. When taking the PR-industry into consideration a company will more likely stay with a certain public relation company they worked with in the past, than switching to another because a new PR-company at first needs to get to know the company and the customers they want to address and for this process the company who hires the PR-company has to pay. Another criteria, which might protect Ketchum from other PR-companies who might enter he market, is the differentiation of the services they offer. In contrast to many other PR-companies Ketchum does not only offer their services to a general firms but also offers their services to certain industries such as Food & Nutrition, Health Care and Technology. Doing so Ketchum directly addresses customers from these industries offering and guaranteeing them an even better and deeper knowledge of their particular industry.

·        Rivalry Among Incumbent Firms:

By rivalry among incumbent firms Porter refers to the intensity of competition among the incumbent firms. The PR-industry can be seen as very competitive industry and therefore the rivalry between the companies is strong which lead to the fact that price wars occur which then minimize the ability of incumbents to realize higher returns. The PR-industry moreover can be classified as a fragmented industry, which is characterized by many small- to medium-

sized firms, where each has a low market share. Therefore the lacking market power, of the firms in a fragmented industry does not give them the possibility to prevent new market entries. Additionally they don’t have the power to set the price, which is therefore usually set by the market. This eventually leads to price wars, where one PR-company has not the power to set a much higher price than their competitors, mainly since this will cause them to run out of orders. Especially in the PR-industry the companies need to be creative in order to offer a very effective PR-strategy, which at the same time does not cost the customer too much. A good example of a very efficient PR-campaign Ketchum can be found in their collaboration with IKEA.

Another important criteria to consider are the demand conditions existing in a certain industry. Taking the current economic developments of the financial crises into consideration two possible developments might be possible. On the one hand the crises could lead to a high decrease of the demand for the services of public relation companies due to the facts that companies need to cut their expenses. This would intensify the degree of competition between the PR-companies even more since each firm must fight to retain its market share and profits. On the other hand the crises could encourage firms to spend even more money on public relation campaigns cause especially in difficult times like now they are willing to strengthen their relationship to customers in order to prevent loosing them.

·        Bargaining Power of Suppliers:

Since Ketchum is a subsidiary of Omnicom Group Inc. which provides Ketchum with most of their needed resources (mostly networking and know-how), and additionally to the fact that they do not need any real inputs besides human capital, real bargaining power of suppliers does not really exist in this industry.

·        Bargaining Power of Buyers:

In general buyers might display a threat to a firm’s profits because they can force down prices, demand a high service quality, or other concessions from the firm. Concerning the PR-industry buyers can be characterized as strong mainly due to the high amount of public-relation companies in this industry. Therefore a company might consider working with a different PR-company when they think prices are set too high. On the other hand, the service a PR-company as Ketchum offers is very differentiated. A company might need and depend on the network, and a certain platform a PR-company can offer them. In this case the power of the buyer can be valued as rather low and the supplier on the other hand holds the power. In the PR-industry this fact is also supported by fact of the rather high switching costs of the customer.

·        Substitute Threats:

 Substitute products are those consumers perceive as an alternative to a firm’s products. In case of the PR-industry there are no real substitutes existent. Just the fact that a firm might abdicate to work together with a PR-company and therefore running a PR-campaign on their own due to costs reductions. This might be valued as some sort of substitute.

                                          Carlton G. Ketchum Is Dead;    Authority on Raising Money

Published: July 25, 1984

Carlton G. Ketchum, founder of Ketchum Inc., the nation’s largest fund-raising counseling concern, died today at his home. He was 92 years old and was chairman emeritus of the company.

Mr. Ketchum and a brother, George, also founded Ketchum, MacLeod & Grove, one of the nation’s largest advertising agencies.

Mr. Ketchum was national finance director of the Republican Party from 1937 to 1941 and again from 1949 to 1957. He was credited with adapting organized fund-raising methods to politics.

Ketchum Inc. has directed more than 6,000 fund-raising campaigns, raising an estimated several billion dollars for nonprofit institutions. The company, with headquarters here, has offices in Boston, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas, Los Angeles and Toronto.

Mr. Ketchum was a founder of the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel in 1935 and served as its president for two terms.

He is survived by a son, David S. Ketchum, and two grandchildren.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Kodak Exposes: Canadian Consumers Overspent $500 Million on Inkjet Printing in 2008

Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) today announced the launch of a global marketing campaign to support its revolutionary line of all-in-one inkjet printers. Kodak’s “Print and Prosper” campaign boldly exposes the issue of high-priced ink and how Canadian consumers overpaid for inkjet printer ink – to the tune of $500 million CDN in 2008 alone.*

Kodak first introduced its consumer inkjet line in 2007 and reinvented the consumer inkjet printer industry with a new business model – outstanding image quality, superior image permanence and significant savings on the price of ink. Consumers worldwide have embraced Kodak’s value proposition and the company’s installed base of inkjet printers has grown to more than one million units in the past two years. In 2009, Kodak aims to double that number and is supporting that goal with a series of marketing investments, including the “Print and Prosper” campaign.

“Paying too much for printer ink is a financial black hole that consumers can easily avoid,” said Jeffrey Hayzlett, Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. “Kodak’s approach is to let consumers know there is an alternative to high-priced ink. We sell reasonably priced printers that use reasonably priced ink, which can save consumers who print a lot on average $137 CDN per year on ink.(xx) That’s powerful – especially in this economic environment.”

‘Print and Prosper’

Kodak’s “Print and Prosper” campaign highlights today’s harsh economic climate and offers consumers a solution to help them save money. Bold campaign headlines will urge consumers to switch to Kodak and stop overpaying for printer ink. A comprehensive global campaign, created by Deutsch NY, launched March 29 in Canada and the U.S., and will be rolled out in additional countries over the next several months.

“This is a big, bold idea that doesn’t tiptoe around the issue and lets consumers know Kodak is on their side,” said Linda Sawyer, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsch Inc. “Kodak has a longstanding, deep and emotional relationship with consumers and, by exposing this issue, that relationship will only become stronger.”

The global campaign is designed to powerfully connect with Kodak’s target consumer – people who print a lot – via television and newspaper placements, social media and websites like www.printandprosper.com. The campaign seeks to ignite the conversation around printing cost, bringing the issue of overpriced ink to the forefront.

In November 2008, Kodak tapped Deutsch to support the company’s inkjet marketing initiative in collaboration with long-time agency partners Ketchum Communications for public-relations, and Partners + Napier, which handles business-to-business marketing.

How Much Do I Really Spend on Ink?

By going to www.printandprosper.com, consumers can calculate in seconds how much they overpaid for ink and how much they can save with Kodak. The personalized numbers, based on printer type and usage, demonstrate that a switch to a KODAK All-in One Inkjet Printer will help consumers print more and pay less.

Ketchum Inc. Has Plan To Close Later This Year

By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON, February 9, 1995

Ketchum Inc., for many years the nation’s largest fund-raising counseling company, has begun to wind down operations and will close later this year, Robert Carter, its president, said last night.

“While we are fully booked with fund-raising commitments throughout the country, the firm’s inability to make a reasonable profit in the foreseeable future made this difficult decision a prudent business move,” Mr. Carter said. Word of the company’s plan began circulating in fund-raising circles yesterday after it started notifying clients that it would fulfill its contracts but would not extend them.

Ketchum Communications, the worldwide advertising and public relations group that was spun off from the fund-raising operation years ago, will not be affected by Ketchum Inc.’s closing. A related partnership, Ketchum Canada Inc., will also be unaffected, Mr. Carter said.

Mr. Carter said the company, which is privately held and based in Pittsburgh, fell victim to a failed expansion into Britain, too much debt resulting from a 1986 purchase of a Pittsburgh office building and a slowdown in fund-raising drives by nonprofit hospitals unsure about the future of health-care financing.

He said the company was also hurt by its emphasis on full-time employees, instead of consultants paid by the project. Ketchum Inc. has 70 employees, down from 200 employees five years ago, in Pittsburgh, Boston, Charlotte, N.C., and other cities.

The decision to close Ketchum Inc. comes at a time of intense competition for charitable dollars. Data gathered by the National Center for Charitable Statistics indicate total giving, adjusted for inflation, has been declining since 1989.

In campaigns for major gifts “the market has matured and many, many colleges and hospitals and other institutions that in the early days hired a firm like Ketchum and paid them a healthy retainer to have a manager on-site for a year or two years now have their own staff to run their campaigns,” said Russ Reid, president of Russ Reid, Inc., a prominent fund-raising firm for direct mail and television campaigns, based in Pasadena, Calif.

“The old-line firms are going to have to adapt to a new market if they want to survive,” Mr. Reid said.

Since its founding in 1919, Ketchum Inc. has raised billions of dollars for hospitals, youth and social services organizations and religious charities. Mr. Carter said that in the past decade it raised more than $1 billion just for higher education, including campaigns for St. John’s University, Georgetown University and Northeastern University.

“This is very sad because they were for years the biggest and one of the best,” said Jack Schwartz, the retired president of the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel Inc., a trade association. “This shows that the field of professional fund raising is much more difficult today, with much greater competition for the philanthropic dollar and with many organizations relying on their own staff and using professional firms primarily as consultants, which makes it very hard to make a profit.”

Carlton G. Ketchum, one of the company’s founders, helped start the trade association in 1935 to raise standards among professional fund-raisers. Mr. Ketchum, who died in 1984 at age 92, served as the association’s first president.

Ketchum Inc. is a one of the largest global public relation firms operating in more than 50 countries. Founded in 1923, Ketchum developed today to a communication innovator with five global practices:

·      Brand Marketing

·      Corporate Healthcare

·      Food and Nutrition

·      Technology

·      Concentric Communication

              o     Ketchum Entertainment Marketing

              o     Ketchum Interactive Communications

              o     Ketchum Global Research Network

              o     Ketchum Sports Network

              o     MMG (clinical trial recruitment)

              o     Stromberg Consulting (change management and workplace                                           communication)

With 23 offices and 46 affiliates  and associations in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America Ketchum leverages its marketing and corporate communications expertise to build global brands and reputations for clients. Their strategy consists of the five-step Ketchum Programming Process (KKP) and the ReCreativity Approach which are very effective in terms of developing programs that address client’s specific challenges in an innovative way.  These creative approaches try to go beyond the conventional solutions in order to deliver extraordinary ideas for all phases of the public relation process. 

Ketchum has carried out service  for some of the largest corporations and industry trade groups, like FedEX, Kodak, Delta, IBM or Roche.

Indeed , the Ketchum Global Research Network and the Ketchum specialized approaches have helped Ketchum Inc. to become the most award-winning agency in history in the field of Public Relation, Communication and Brand Marketing.  Ketchum is the winner of 107 Public Relations Society awards, 17 times of the PR Week and 39 times of the EMEA SABRE Award. Public Relation, Marketing and Corporate Communication