WARRENVILLE, IL: International Truck and Engine has picked Ketchum to handle PR for its truck group. Annual spending will be between $500,000 and $1 million.
"Ketchum was really able to demonstrate great strategic insight into our business," said Linda McGovern, director of marketing communications for the truck group.
The company wants to better align its PR efforts with its corporate goals, she explained. "We want a more strategic approach, aligning our business goals and objectives with public relations. That hasn't always been done in the past," McGovern said.
Ten agencies bid on the account. The review had been going on since mid-summer.
International works with Hill & Knowlton for corporate PR and Grant Jacoby, a Chicago shop, for its engine group. While other companies have been consolidating PR with one agency, International feels having various agencies for different parts of the company makes sense because of the different audiences, said McGovern.
The engine group aims its communications at a consumer audience, while the truck group targets businesses and the trade press, McGovern explained.
The company's corporate PR work focuses on major business publications and the investment and finance communities.
