Ketchum Sponsors Cannes Lions Young Marketers Competition

Ketchum Sponsors Cannes Lions Young Marketers Competition

LONDON, June 2, 2011/PRNewswire/ --

- First PR Agency to Sponsor the Competition

Ketchum, one of the world's leading public relations agencies, will be
the exclusive sponsor of the Young Marketers Competition during the 58th
Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, June 19 to 25 in Cannes, France.

In its second year, the Young Marketers Competition[1] is designed to
recognise young, talented "in-house" marketers, age 30 or under, from around
the world, and give them the opportunity to showcase their work in front of
industry leaders, including chief marketing officers from top global
companies, attending the Cannes Lions Festival.

"Public relations is contributing more and more to the marketing mix. We
are proud to partner with Cannes Lions to celebrate breakthrough ideas that
deliver meaningful and measurable business outcomes," said Ray Kotcher,
senior partner and CEO of Ketchum. "The Young Marketers Competition gives us
the opportunity to connect with the next generation of top marketers and
recognise the work they do."

In the run-up to Cannes Festival, local competitions will be held to
identify two marketer candidates from each of the 22-plus participating
countries, including Spain, where Ketchum Pleon is the local sponsor.[2]
Once at Cannes, the teams are given two days to produce a brief on a product
or service, the topic of which is not revealed until competition day. The
young marketers contest will be judged by leading communications strategists
and creatives. Gold medals will be presented to the winners at the Film, Film
Craft, Creative Effectiveness and Titanium & Integrated Awards Ceremony on
Saturday, June 25.

"Cannes Lions recognizes the importance of investing in future marketing
leaders. We're pleased to work with a public relations industry leader like
Ketchum for the Young Marketers Competition," said Festival CEO Philip
Thomas. "As a global firm, Ketchum understands the importance of recognising
young talent to unleash great work around the world."

A Ketchum representative has served on the Cannes Lions jury since 2009,
the first year public relations was included in the annual awards. This year
Andrea Cornelli, CEO, Ketchum Italy, will represent the agency. In 2009,
Ketchum was honored by the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival
with a Cannes PR Lion award for its "Haagen-Dazs Loves Honey Bees" campaign
in the Corporate Responsibility and Environmental Issues category.

Editor's Notes:

[1] For more detail on the Cannes Lions International Festival of
Creativity "Young Marketers Competition", please visit:
http://www.canneslions.com/young_lions/young_lions_competition.cfm?section_id=47&link_id=405

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste
this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the
space if one exists.)

[2] There is expected to be up to 25 participating countries for the
Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity Young Marketers Competition including:
Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic,
Finland, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Russia,
Republic of Slovakia, Spain, the Philippines, Turkey, the UK, the US and
Vietnam.

Ketchum's operation in Spain, Ketchum Pleon Madrid, is the Young
Marketers competition sponsor for that country in partnership with Grupo
Consultores. The winners of the local competition, Jordi Guitart Clermont of
DANONE and Mariana E. Trevino Sanchez of IKEA Iberica, were announced on May
31, 2011. The two will go on to represent their country and compete at global
Young Marketers Competition at Cannes.

About Ketchum

Ketchum is a leading global communications firm with operations in more
than 70 countries across six continents. Named 2010 Large PR Firm of the Year
(Holmes Report and PR News) and the winner of an unprecedented three
consecutive PRWeek Campaign of the Year Awards, Ketchum partners with clients
to deliver strategic programming, game-changing creative and measurable
results that build brands and reputations. For more information on Ketchum, a
unit of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC), visit http://www.ketchum.com.

58th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, June 19-25, 2011,
Cannes, France

The International Festival of Creativity - Cannes Lions - is the world's
leading celebration of creativity in communications. As the most prestigious
international annual advertising and communications awards, over 24,000
entries from all over the world are showcased and judged at the Festival.
Winning companies receive the highly coveted Lion trophy honouring the most
creative film, print, outdoor, interactive, radio, film craft, design, sales
promotion & activation and integrated advertising, as well as the best media,
direct marketing, PR, titanium and creative effectiveness ideas. The Festival
is also the only truly global meeting place for advertisers, advertising and
communication professionals. Over 8,000 delegates from 95 countries attend
seven days of exhibitions, screenings, as well as over 50 high-profile
seminars, 30 workshops and master classes presented by renowned worldwide
industry leaders. As the networking and learning opportunity of the year,
Cannes Lions is the must-attend event for anyone involved in brand
communication.

Source: Ketchum Ltd

Contact: Robyn Massey, +44-(0)-20-7611-3658, robyn.massey@ketchum.com; Alicia Stetzer, +1-646-935-3910, alicia.stetzer@ketchum.com

-------
Profile: intent