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.