Ketchum Expands Open Innovation Platform, Mindfire, to Accelerate Flow of Ideas for Clients

Leading Public Relations Firm Uses Brightidea's Innovation Software to Tap University Students for Real-Time Brainstorming.

June 2, 2011 -- Brightidea, the global leader in cloud-based innovation management, today announced that Ketchum, one of the largest public relations agencies in the world, is using the Brightidea Innovation Suite to power its thriving open innovation platform, Mindfire.

Mindfire is Ketchum's proprietary online community platform built on Brightidea software that engages more than 300 students from nearly 30 universities around the world to post ideas to creative challenges for top brands. Ketchum provides career opportunities and training to students who participate, and prizes are awarded when an idea is selected by a Ketchum client. More than 50 challenges have already been conducted through Mindfire, generating hundreds of valuable insights and creative idea starters for brands like Wendy's, Hertz and Frito-Lay.

"Mindfire has been used for Ketchum clients from China to the UK to every major market in the U.S., generating new creative directions for our teams to consider in as little as 24 hours," said Karen Strauss, Chief Innovation Officer at Ketchum. "Brightidea provides flexible, customizable software that allows us to manage a robust online community where imaginative contributors share solutions to expand our idea pipeline for clients," added Andy Roach, Chief Information Officer, Ketchum, and a co-developer of Mindfire.

Ketchum is utilizing several social features of Brightidea's enterprise-level software to create this private "facebook-style" community and the success of the program has already led to its expansion to Asia, South America and the Middle East.

"Mindfire is a game changer," said Matt Greeley, CEO of Brightidea, Inc. "While most agencies are still helping clients build fan pages, and collect 'Likes,' Ketchum's social network taps into young talent from around the world -- in a private setting -- where creativity, innovation and co-creation can flourish. Brightidea is proud to be a part of this industry-leading initiative."

The Brightidea Innovation Suite is a complete, end-to-end solution designed exclusively for the sourcing and development of ideas to fuel continuous innovation. For more information on pricing and features on Brightidea software contact a Brightidea Representative.

About Ketchum Ketchum is a leading global communications firm with operations in more than 70 countries across six continents. Named 2010 Large PR Firm of the Year (Holmes Report and PR News) and the winner of an unprecedented three consecutive PRWeek Campaign of the Year Awards, Ketchum partners with clients to deliver strategic programming, game-changing creative and measurable results that build brands and reputations. For more information on Ketchum, a unit of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC), visit www.ketchum.com.

About Brightidea

Brightidea is the market leader in Cloud-Based Innovation Management. Over 300 businesses around the world use its Software-as-a-Service suite to transform their employee, partner and customer ideas into a reality. Brightidea's one-of-a-kind 'Facebook-style' software platform allows Global 2000 businesses to monitor the social process of innovation from concept to cash. The company's software has been successfully deployed at: Adobe, Bosch, Cisco, GE, Harley-Davidson, American Express, Emerson, British Telecom, Bristol-Myers Squibb, among others. Founded in 1999, Brightidea is closely held and headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

For more information, please visit http://www.brightidea.com/. Join us @brightideahq or innovation leaders group on LinkedIn.

Press Contacts:

Janelle Noble
Brightidea Inc.
(646) 502-7916
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