Ketchum's major clients include
MasterCard,
Chase,
IBM,
IKEA,
Philips, and
Pfizer. Ketchum also worked on the
rebranding of
Orville Redenbacher's popcorn in the 1990s to appeal to a younger demographic, developed
Doritos' 2006 crowdsourced "
Crash the Super Bowl" contest, which won a
Golden World Award from the International Public Relations Association, and created a campaign for
Delta Air Lines during
US Airways' 2008 bid to take over the airline after it had filed
Chapter 11 bankruptcy. US Airways later dropped the bid and the campaign won a Silver Anvil. The agency has also worked with
Kodak in 2010, the Committee to Preserve Olympic Wrestling (CPOW)'s campaign to keep wrestling in the
Olympic program, and
Wendy's on the launch of the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger in 2013, for which they were nominated as a 2014
Shorty Award finalist. In 2011, Ketchum faced backlash 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.
Crisis management Ketchum has a team of approximately 50
crisis management executives in the US University RepProtect for higher education, Cyber RepProtect for data security, and Game Plan for sports teams and brands. 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.
American 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, for which it was found to be in violation of a federal propaganda ban by the
Government Accountability Office. In 2005, the Ketchum received similarly critical coverage after the
Education Department directed the agency to pay for coverage that praised
President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act. The final investigation by the
FCC did not find Ketchum to be at fault, but it did issue a citation for
Armstrong Williams, who was paid by Ketchum to promote the NCLB Act, and fined two broadcasting companies.
Russian government work In 2006,
Dmitry Peskov,
Vladimir Putin's
press attaché, hired Ketchum to work on the
32nd G8 summit held in
Saint Petersburg, to improve Russia's reputation in the West after its state-controlled energy company
Gazprom cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine. In 2013, Ketchum pitched an op-ed from Russian president
Vladimir Putin on the
Syrian Civil War to
The New York Times. 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. In January 2015,
Politico magazine reported that Ketchum had received more than $60 million from the
Kremlin for their work from 2006 to 2014. The contract between the Russian and Ketchum ended in March 2015.
Awards In 1985 Ketchum New York was a finalist in the Caples direct marketing awards for their pro bono work assisting
Central Park and the Central Park Conservancy. As of 2016, Ketchum has won more Silver Anvils from the
Public Relations Society of America than any other agency. and 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. ==Corporate overview==