the acquisition of New York management consulting firm Stromberg Consulting in 2001, the launching of influencer marketing and community building firm Emanate in 2006, and the acquisitions of clinical trial patient recruitment agency MMG in 2008, Moscow-based Maslov PR in 2010, Indian agency Sampark PR in 2011, Capstrat in North Carolina in 2012, and German lifestyle and social media PR agency Brandzeichen in 2013. Ketchum took a majority stake in Newscan's China operations in 2011, expanded Ketchum Sports & Entertainment practice into Brazil in 2012, and acquired ICON International Communications in Singapore in 2013. In the US, Ketchum partnered with luxury and lifestyle agency Harrison & Shriftman in 2011, and launched music marketing service Ketchum Sounds in 2012. In 2009, Ketchum merged with Europe-based Pleon in one of the industry's largest mergers. Ketchum merged with South Korea-based firm InComm Brodeur in 2013. Rob Flaherty became CEO of Ketchum in 2012. In 2016, Ketchum created "Cultivate", a new branch to help companies and organizations in organic food markets. In November 2017, Ketchum announced that then Partner and President Barri Rafferty would assume the role of president and chief executive officer, effective January 1, 2018. Rafferty is the first woman to lead a top five global public relations firm. Major work Ketchum's major clients include MasterCard, Chase, IBM, IKEA, Philips, and Pfizer. In 1985, Ketchum launched the Acura line of cars for American Honda Motor Company. Ketchum also worked on the rebranding of Orville Redenbacher's popcorn in the 1990s to appeal to a younger demographic, developed Doritos' 2006 crowdsourced "Crash the Super Bowl" contest, which won a Golden World Award from the International Public Relations Association, and created a campaign for Delta Air Lines during US Airways' 2008 bid to take over the airline after it had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. US Airways later dropped the bid and the campaign won a Silver Anvil. The agency has also worked with Kodak in 2010, the Committee to Preserve Olympic Wrestling (CPOW)'s campaign to keep wrestling in the Olympic program, and Wendy's on the launch of the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger in 2013, for which they were nominated as a 2014 Shorty Award finalist. In 2011, Ketchum faced backlash for a promotion for ConAgra, in which the agency hosted a dinner for food bloggers that was billed as serving food prepared by George Duran, but diners were served ConAgra frozen foods instead. Ketchum filmed each