NEW YORK: Ketchum has hired the founder of virtual marcom agency
Vanguard Communications to lead a new multicultural unit.
SVP Esther Novak will serve as director of the Ketchum Vanguard Cultural
Marketing Specialty. Through her six-year-old company, Novak served
clients including Gillette, Sprint PCS, and Tropicana/Dole. She brings
with her project work for Perdue Farms and New Jersey's Public Service
Electric & Gas. Novak said she also expects to continue working with her
network of 10 freelancers.
The new unit will also fold in Ketchum's African American Markets Group
led by VP Betsy Helgager in Atlanta, who has been leading Ketchum's
outreach to African Americans since 1998. Campaigns have included campus
tours for Tampax and other Procter & Gamble products.
Meanwhile, VP Jose Villasenor, based in Ketchum's Dallas office, will
head up the Hispanic Markets Group.
"The recent census results reinforce the enormous power and potential of
these markets," Novak explained.
A native of Peru, Novak previously worked in various positions at AT&T,
founded Rutgers University's Center for Hispanic Arts and Culture, and
served as director of interdisciplinary programs at the National
Endowment for the Arts.
