Ketchum Continues Award-Winning Year as Ketchum Pleon is Named PRWeek's International Consultancy of the Year

LONDON, October 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Ketchum Pleon and Allergan Win Healthcare PRWeek Award

Ketchum Pleon, the leading public relations consultancy in Europe, accepted the International Consultancy of the Year honour on behalf of the global firm Ketchum at last evening's PRWeek Awards ceremony held in London. The agency and its client Allergan also received a PRWeek Award for campaigns in the Ethical and OTC Consumer Healthcare category.

Of the agency's International Consultancy of the Year win, PRWeek wrote: "Two years have passed since one of the largest mergers in PR history, between Ketchum and Pleon. But the agency has not rested on its laurels."

"Behind every great award are people - on both the client side and agency side - who've put in a tremendous amount of work," said Avril Lee, partner and CEO, Ketchum Pleon London. "We take great pride in partnering with our clients to help them reach their business goals by keeping our focus on best-in-class counsel, creative ideas and measurable results. We have much to celebrate today."

In addition to winning International Consultancy of the Year, Allergan with Ketchum Pleon and the Royal College of Surgeons won a PRWeek Award for the "Shedding the Pounds" campaign in the Ethical and OTC Consumer Healthcare category.

Ketchum Pleon and its clients were also shortlisted for work in several categories, including P&G Professional's Flash and Febreze brands, which was a finalist in the Business Marketing Communications category for "Profiting from Freshness: Helping Hospitality Operators Realise the Benefit of Fresh First Impressions," and Philips' "Parallel Lines" campaign (as part of OneVoice), which was shortlisted in the Technology category.

"Built over 25 outstanding years, the PRWeek Awards reward absolute excellence," said PRWeek editor Danny Rogers. "A distinguished panel of judges evaluate the very best our industry has to offer and look for campaigns that demonstrate creativity, delivery against specified objectives and understanding of the audience, and an appreciation of the role of PR in the wider business strategy."

In 2011, Ketchum was named a Top Place to Work in PR by PR News for the second straight year, was the winner of two Global SABRE Awards, and was named to the InformationWeek 500 for the third year in a row. Earlier this year, Ketchum won a Cannes PR Lion, nine PRSA Silver Anvil Awards, and 18 SABRE Awards; was named Greater China Consultancy of the Year by the Holmes Report; and earned a third consecutive PRWeek Campaign of the Year. In addition, Ketchum Pleon London was named a Top Place to Work in the United Kingdom by the Great Places to Work Institute, which marks the office's sixth appearance on this prestigious list.

Note to Editors

OneVoice is an alliance of Omnicom Group PR agencies led by Ketchum and Fleishman-Hillard, retained globally by Philips to work on its lighting, consumer electronics and healthcare business units.

About the PRWeek Awards

The PRWeek Awards reward absolute excellence and are widely accepted by the PR and communications sector to be the equivalent of the film industry's 'Oscars'. The 25th Anniversary PRWeek Awards event was held 25 Oct. 2011 at Grosvenor House on London's Park Lane - the home of all the United Kingdom's great award ceremonies - and is the PR industry's biggest night of the year.

About Ketchum Pleon

Ketchum Pleon is one of the largest, most geographically diverse communications consultancies and the established European market leader. Worldwide, Ketchum has more than 2,400 employees in owned operations and operates in 70 countries with more than 100 owned and affiliated offices. Ketchum is a unit of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC). Additional information on Ketchum Pleon and its award-winning work can be found at http://www.ketchumpleon.com.

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.