Mary Elizabeth leads Ketchum’s research, measurement and analytics sector, Ketchum Analytics. Since joining the agency in 2001, she has been instrumental in growing the business from a handful of team members to well over 60 in 12 cities globally today. With more than 20 years of experience as a marketing and communications researcher, Mary Elizabeth counsels clients on how to make the best use of data and analytics and derives insights to develop, measure and optimize strategic communication programs. Her work spans all stages of the communications process – from planning to testing to evaluation. She is responsible for the development of a variety of Ketchum’s proprietary tools, including those used for measurement, audience profiling, strategy and creative testing, optimization, as well as the agency’s strategic planning process among others. Her remit is to infuse data and analytics across all aspects of the Agency’s work. Her background is in the area of corporate reputation research. When she first joined Ketchum, she launched and managed Ketchum Reputation Lab which back in the day, was a proprietary specialization of the group. In the Lab, the team used analytics as the basis for the development of corporate reputation programs. Work in this space includes the following clients: Takeda, Janssen, Novartis, NBCUniversal, Kohler, Hilton Worldwide, Michelin, Dow, ConAgra, White Wave Foods, Best Buy, Newmont, Genentech, Sears, Nokia, and Cox Communications.
Most recently, working in tandem with the chief innovation officer at Omnicom Public Relations Group, Ketchum’s parent company, and a team of leaders across the OPRG network, Mary Elizabeth co-developed omniearnedID™, a patent-pending precision communications platform that is transforming the industry. Ketchum considers it the missing link, which is elevating PR and earned media to its rightful place of prominence in the C-suite and leap-frogging Ketchum ahead of its competition, many of whom are still lagging in meaningful incorporation of data and analytics in a consistent framework. Mary Elizabeth is a thought leader within the research space, and regularly speaks about data and it’s use within communications at various conferences and events. She is a global board member of AMEC and leading industry group that focuses spotlighting the role of data in PR/Comss. She recent speaking engagement include speaking and moderating panels at AMEC’s Global Summit, regular speaking engagements with PRSA, including PRSA ICON, PRWeek and Ragan Communications Conferences among others.
Prior to joining Ketchum, she was a Senior Project Manager at Roper Starch Worldwide. While at Roper she worked in the Public Affairs division managing custom research for a variety of clients. She was also responsible for the design, analysis, and reporting of the Fortune/Roper Corporate Reputation Index. She also worked as Senior Project Director at Capstone Research where she managed sales tracking studies for tobacco and food companies. These studies looked at how various promotions and point of sale/purchase materials affected overall sales.
She received a B.A. in Psychology and History from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.