Ketchum Sheppard's Rittner says there are generally three motivations for a company to engage an agency's services to improve internal communication:
1.They've tried to do it themselves and it didn't work;
2.They recognize a deficiency, and they don't know how to fix it; and
3.They know what they lack, they know what they need to do, but they don't have
the resources to do it.
"I don't think corporations today are hesitant to go outside for support, particularly among communications professionals," Rittner says. "There's an old adage that the CEO
will believe what a consultant tells him before he'll believe what [a subordinate] tells him, even when it's the same thing."
Ketchum Sheppard
HQ: Glendale, CA
No. of employees: Approx. 95
No. on SCE account: 5
Offices: Portland (Ore.), Minneapolis, Chicago, Atlanta, Stamford, Houston,
London, Beijing.
Notable clients: BP Amoco, 3M, Arthur Andersen, USBancorp,
Eastman Kodak, Toyota Financial Services