What is Ketchum specialised in?

AI & innovation strategy, Brand strategy & positioning, Brand identity & design, Packaging design, Campaign concepts & big ideas, Campaign execution.

Around 13 full-time equivalents (financial year 2024).

Which sectors does Ketchum work for?

Finance & insurance, Industry & manufacturing, Food & beverage, Healthcare & pharma.

Who are the clients of Ketchum?

Among others Specsavers, Adobe, Philips, McDonald's, BetterHelp.

Review: Ketchum

Ketchum werkt ruim dertig jaar als pr- & communicatiebureau uit Brussel. Er werken ongeveer 13 mensen, uitgedrukt in voltijdse equivalenten. De opgegeven expertise is pr & communicatie en strategie. Publiek gekende klanten zijn onder meer Specsavers, Adobe, Philips en McDonald's.

1

How this agency makes money

Revenue, margin and what an hour of work brings in. Everything on the earning side sits together here.

Revenue trendgross margin per financial year

2021202220232024

Latest year: € 1,27 mln gross margin, growth -8,8% against a sector median of -4,9%.

Shrinking

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

2021202220232024

KetchumSector median

EBITDA margin 3%, sector median 21,8%. Value-added coverage 1,03 (median 1,22). Value-added coverage sits in the sector-wide grey zone (0.95-1.15): context, not an alarm.

Below sector level

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 95.451

Median (2025) € 83.630

Against a payroll cost of € 92.018 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 61

Median (2025) € 50

20.937 hours worked, 1.574 per FTE. Against that sits € 58 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 2 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Above the median

No hourly rate follows from this. Gross margin is already net of services and sundry goods, which mixes rebilled production with the agency's own overhead, and the accounts do not say how many hours were billable. Deriving a rate from this systematically understates it.

2

Can the agency take a hit

Buffer, cash position and payment behaviour side by side, so you can see where they disagree.

Bufferequity in months of payroll

Buffer: 29,3 months (median 7,9 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 2,99 mln.

Adequate buffer

Cash positionAvailable cash, and whether it covers short-term debt

Cash € 2,30 mln. Liquidity ratio 6,80: current assets cover short-term debt in full. Solvency 80,6%.

Amply covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 119 days of supplier credit, sector median 71. The accounts were filed 267 days after closing; the legal deadline is seven months.

Filed late

3

Signals and strengths

Events from the CBE and the Official Gazette over the past 24 months, plus positive markers derived from the figures.

Continuity

Points to ask about

Signals in the last 24 months

Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Nov 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Late filing · 1 Oct 2026 · NBB
The annual accounts were filed after the statutory deadline. Over a third of the sector does this, usually because of the accountant's calendar. Rarely a story in itself.
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Oct 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Sep 2026 · Google Autocomplete
Zichtbaarheid verschoven · 1 Aug 2026 · Google Autocomplete
+ 11 older signals within 24m

Click a signal for a plain-language explanation. Each signal is a fact from a public source, without the agency's own context. Best to ask them directly.

What this agency does well

Strong buffer: 29,3 months of payroll in equity
Healthy working capital (current ratio 6,80)
Comfortable cash position: 686 days of payroll

Each point is a fact from the filed annual accounts, measured against the same thresholds and sector medians as the signals above.

4

All the figures

Reference material, not a starting point. Expand it if you want to read the series yourself.

4 financial years, 2021 to 2024Result, staff and balance sheet

	2021	2022	2023	2024
Result
Gross margin	€ 1,74 mln	€ 1,66 mln-4,8%	€ 1,39 mln-15,9%	€ 1,27 mln-8,8%
EBITDA	€ 524.128	€ 147.393	€ -11.704	€ 38.419
EBITDA margin	30,2%	8,9%	-0,8%	3%
Staff
FTE	20,0	19,0-5%	17,6-7,4%	13,3-24,4%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 86.902	€ 87.112	€ 79.075	€ 95.451
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 60.209	€ 78.412	€ 78.790	€ 92.018
Balance sheet
Equity	€ 2,94 mln	€ 3,06 mln	€ 2,98 mln	€ 2,99 mln
Cash	€ 5,63 mln	€ 6,17 mln	€ 5,83 mln	€ 2,30 mln
Liquidity ratio	5,56	6,01	8,42	6,80

Payroll cost per FTE comes from the social report where available, otherwise from the Remuneration line. Both are gross costs including employer contributions.

What this factsheet does not know

How good the work is. Figures do not measure creativity, strategy or chemistry.
How the client portfolio is spread. Concentration is not in the accounts.
Freelancers and subcontractors are not in the FTE figures. An agency with 40 staff may in practice run with 70 people.
The figures cover financial year 2025, filed on 01/10/2026. At a fast-moving agency reality today may differ.

Based on publicly filed annual accounts (NBB) and official records (CBE, Belgian Official Gazette). An indication, not financial advice. Sector medians calculated on 2 Nov 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2025: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 31 services

Strategy & Insights

AI & innovation strategy Brand strategy & positioning

Branding & Design

Brand identity & design Packaging design

Advertising & Campaigns

Campaign concepts & big ideas Campaign execution Performance creative & DCO

Content & Production

Content strategy & editorial

Media

Digital & programmatic buying Media strategy & planning Search advertising (SEA)

Social, Influencer & Community

Influencer & creator marketing Organic social content Social strategy & platform mix

Digital Experience & Tech

Mobile apps & PWAs SEO & GEO Website development Website strategy & UX

CRM, Email & Loyalty

CRM & lifecycle strategy Direct marketing & lead management Marketing automation

Data, Measurement & Governance

Dashboards & reporting Data science & analytics (incl. predictive modelling)

PR & Reputation

Corporate communication PR strategy & media relations

Employer Brand & Internal

Employer brand strategy Internal communication Recruitment campaigns

Events, Sponsoring & Activation

Brand activation (incl. guerrilla) Events & experiences Sponsorship & partnerships

Sector focus

Health & pharmaFood & beverageRetail & e-commerceTechnology & software

Publicly known clients

SpecsaversAdobePhilipsMcDonald'sBetterHelp

Based on IKAg research and public sources. Incomplete or outdated? Let us know.

1

People 21 people mapped

Strategy weighs heavily here: 2 of 21 are strategists. Within that core, Strategie, Merkstrategie and Business Development stand out. The titles skew top-heavy: lots of seniority, few juniors — you're mostly buying experience. A wide leadership layer: 13 of 21 steer.

AB

Amanda Berenstein

Head of Latin America

DL

Dawn Langeland

President, North America

ER

Ellen Ryan Mardiks

Chairman

HN

Hortensia Nastase

Head of Continental Europe

JR

Jaimee Reggio

Managing Director, Health

JP

James Peters

President, Operations & MD, South

JB

John Bradbury

Managing Director, Corporate Affairs

MN

Matt Neale

Chief Executive Officer

MM

Michele Murray

Managing Director, Food, Agriculture and Nutrition

OW

Ondine Whittington

President, United Kingdom

RB

Rob Bernstein

Chief Innovation Officer

SS

Samantha Schwarz

Managing Director, Health

TN

Tamara Norman

President

AP

Adriana Pappa-Castillo

Senior Vice President, Talent Strategy

BB

Brian Beck

Chief Financial Officer

CV

Carrie von der Sitt

Chief Growth & Brand Officer

GB

George Bryant

Chief Creative Officer

JB

Jeff Beringer

Chief AI Officer

JB

Jonny Bentwood

Chief Data & Analytics Officer

ME

Maxine Enciso

EVP, Inclusion & Impact

PP

Paul Parton

Chief Strategy Officer

Based on public profiles. Something wrong? Let us know.

2

Seniors or juniors?

Payroll cost per FTE is the best public proxy for a team's experience level. Higher is not automatically better, but it says something about who sits at the table.

Payroll cost per FTE

€ 108.356

+76% versus the median

Team composition

10,4 FTE

51% women
49% men

€ 108.356

Median PR- & communicatiebureau (2025) € 61.577All agencies (2025) € 62.294

Read with care. Directors and partners invoicing through a management company are not in the payroll cost. At small agencies this skews the picture downwards considerably.

3

Will your team stay?

Inflow and outflow from the social report. This series only counts people on the payroll: freelancers who invoice do not appear in it. A low figure therefore means two very different things, a stable permanent team or a small core with heavy outsourcing. A high figure usually points to short contracts. Compare only within the same type of agency.

Exits 2025

13,5%

Median for this type of agency (2025): 35,1%

Inflow 2025

/

20212022202320242025

Source: annual accounts and social reports (NBB), collected by IKAg. Financial year 2025. Calculations by IKAg; an indication, not financial advice. Sector medians based on financial year 2025: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.