CHICAGO: Ketchum has started a new freelancer-based writing service with headquarters in its Chicago office.
The Ketchum Professional Writers Group will use freelance writers, the majority being former Wall Street Journal (WSJ) staffers, to handle client writing projects, such as books, speeches, white papers, and op-ed pieces.
Tim Schellhardt, a Ketchum SVP and director of editorial services, has put together a stable of six freelancers to work in the new group. Schellhardt is a former WSJ bureau chief who joined Ketchum in 2001, when it purchased Chicago-based tech PR firm CTC, where he had started an editorial-services operation.
Ketchum account teams will market the services of the new group, and the agency plans to contact all clients about it directly, Schellhardt said.
One member of Schellhardt's new writers group already has produced a corporate history for LexisNexis, he said.
Using freelancers allows staffing flexibility. It also makes talent available from writers who aren't interested in full-time positions, Schellhardt explained.
