KETCHUM COMMUNICATIONS FORMS HEALTHCARE NETWORK UNDER ROBERT BOTTO

KETCHUM COMMUNICATIONS FORMS HEALTHCARE NETWORK UNDER ROBERT BOTTO, who assumes the title of managing director of the new unit in addition to his present responsibilities as president and CEO of BRH&M. In a June 7 press release announcing the formation of the Ketchum Healthcare Network, the agency said that Botto will be responsible for "marshaling all the healthcare-related resources throughout the Ketchum system." Effective immediately, the new unit will pull together the resources of Ketchum Advertising, Ketchum Public Relations and Botto, Roessner, Horne & Messinger, the communications component, on an as-needed basis, a Ketchum spokesperson said. "Recently we've found that our clients' communications needs extend well beyond what most health care advertising agencies currently provide," Botto said. "Consequently, we've found ourselves teaming up with other Ketchum resources in order to resolve our health care clients' marketing issues. As a result, we have formalized the arrangement into a convergent communications capability under the umbrella of the Ketchum Healthcare Network," he explained. The new unit will draw on Ketchum's existing expertise from the agency's various divisions on a client-by-client basis. For each account, a "team" will be formed that will work under the auspices of the Ketchum Healthcare Network. Even though the Ketchum Healthcare Network was not formally in operation, Ketchum coordinated the three divisions in the past for such clients as Schering-Plough and Ciba Consumer, Botto noted. Ketchum's current OTC roster includes Ciba's Efidac, SmithKline Beecham's Aquafresh and Oxy 10, and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer's Maalox, Perdiem and Ascriptin. Ketchum Healthcare Network is in a "growth stage," Botto said, and is actively pursuing clients. None of Ketchum's current over- the-counter clients have been transferred to the new division. Botto said that the Ketchum Healthcare Network counts as its first success the assignment of U.S. Bioscience's Rx product Ethyol. New York based-Ketchum Communications, Inc., the corporate entity overseeing Ketchum Advertising, Ketchum Public Relations and BRH&M, is listed in the January 1993 Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies as billing approximately $ 1.03 bil. annually.