Ketchum opens Chengdu branch

The Chengdu office is the seventh Ketchum Newscan branch in Greater China, with others operating in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Taipei and Hong Kong.

Ketchum Newscan chiefs said the move reflects the company's China-focused business strategy, which is aimed at capturing a rapidly growing body of local and multinational clients. A hundred of the world's top 500 companies are currently operating in Chengdu. The agency will focus its efforts on corporate/financial communications, brand marketing, food and nutrition, and technology, but Kenneth Chu, partner and CEO of Ketchum Newscan, said MNCs would form just one part of the business. "At the same time we are also looking at local companies who may want to expand, or do more, by using a professional, international agency to help them," he said. Sam Xiang, founder of Chengdu's Sichuan New Age Advertisement, will oversee operations in the new branch. "In a certain respect we'll come to him for advice, for counseling on government relations, on understanding the market nuances, to make the programme more successful in a western market," said Chu.