Omnicom agency Ketchum all set to enter India through alliance

Ketchum International, Omnicom’s US-based global PR network, is all set to foray into India by 2007-end. For this purpose, the agency wishes to enter into an alliance with a local PR firm in India. It is likely that Ketchum will buy a significant amount of stake in this local company. However, Ketchum is yet to commence talks with Indian firms on this regard.

While Ketchum will benefit from its partner’s insights into the local market, culture and dynamics, the local firm can in turn, take advantage of Ketchum’s global network and expertise for its own set of clients who wish to leverage opportunities abroad.

“The Western world uses PR quite effectively, although it is picking up rather nicely here,” says Olszewski. He particularly feels that the process for growth in the industry in India has already commenced albeit it took longer than the West. “However, the speed at which things will move will be much faster in India,” Olszewski allows.

Ketchum wishes to explore opportunities in the new media space in particular, as consumers in India are increasingly changing the way they consume media and obtain information on brands. Ketchum specialises in corporate communications, brand building/marketing, healthcare and nutritional communication, and the convergence of technology and lifestyle. Out of these, brand marketing is obviously of key importance to any client. Therefore, Ketchum will chart out three major strategies.

Firstly, it plans on imparting brand experiences at events. Secondly, the agency plans on leveraging third party endorsements, be it celebrities, famous persons from various fields, or even influencers and peer groups. Lastly, Ketchum will also delve into better segmentation/clustering of target audiences.

In India, Ketchum will begin with offices in Delhi and Mumbai, followed by an expansion to the other major cities. After India, Ketchum’s next destinations are Vietnam and Mexico.

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