Hawke Media has acquired Ketner Group Communications, a specialist in retail-technology public relations, and is relaunching the acquired business as Aster Agency. The company announced the deal on November 10, 2026, adding an established B2B communications practice to its broader performance-marketing operation.
The transaction puts earned-media strategy alongside paid search, SEO, web development and Hawke’s marketing analytics service. It gives clients a wider menu of services under one corporate owner. The practical question is whether the acquired public-relations team retains the relationships and editorial judgment that made it valuable while the parent company builds a common commercial and reporting model.
Key Takeaways
- Hawke Media acquired Ketner Group and has renamed it Aster Agency, retaining senior communications leadership.
- The buyer wants to combine specialist B2B earned media with performance marketing, search and GEO, but has not disclosed financial terms or integration results.
- Current clients should confirm who leads their accounts, which specialists remain available and how earned-media outcomes will be evaluated after the deal.
Table of contents
Jump to each section:
- What the acquisition changes
- Hawke is building through acquisitions
- The PR and AI search integration test
- What communications clients should check
What the acquisition changes
Ketner Group was founded in Austin in 1990 by former journalist Jeff Ketner and built a practice serving companies supplying technology to retailers and commerce businesses. Its work spans media relations, thought leadership, content and communications strategy. Hawke is buying that sector familiarity and the relationships around it, rather than announcing a new software product.
Catherine Seeds, who joined the business in 2002, now leads Aster as managing director. Kirsty Goodlett remains executive vice president and Jeff Ketner continues as senior adviser. Seeds said the combination means the team can offer clients a broader range of work while keeping its communications relationships intact. Her exact words in the announcement included, “Now we can say ‘yes’ to more of what our clients ask us for.”
That continuity matters to B2B technology companies whose public profile depends on a small number of industry reporters, analysts and trade communities. A client buying specialist counsel will want to know whether the same team remains responsible for pitching, reviewing technical claims and building executive credibility. The release does not specify contract retention, staff numbers or consideration paid.
The Aster name is an immediate rebrand, not a separate statement that every operating system, office or client agreement has been consolidated. Hawke’s announcement says the agencies will offer PR and generative engine optimization alongside existing paid and owned-media services. Those are prospective delivery capabilities rather than measured post-deal outcomes.
Hawke is building through acquisitions
This deal follows other recent expansion moves at Hawke. The company announced its acquisition of Rocket55 in October 2026, adding a Minneapolis digital-marketing practice with SEO, paid media, web development and revenue-operations expertise. In March 2025 it acquired Blue Light Media, a California creative and social-marketing agency.
The Ketner transaction addresses a different part of the service mix. Rather than buying another generalist digital team, Hawke is adding a communications practice known for a specific technology industry. It could make an integrated agency pitch more convincing to retail-tech clients that already need both earned coverage and measurable customer acquisition. Whether it does so in practice will depend on account staffing and the scope of common reporting.
There is a wider consolidation backdrop. O’Dwyer’s reported the Hawke deal on November 11 alongside Manifest’s purchase of Morning Walk, another move intended to widen an agency’s communications capabilities. The buyers and practices are different, but both announcements show agency owners preferring to acquire an operating specialist rather than build every capability internally.
The PR and AI search integration test
Hawke’s most consequential claim is about how earned-media coverage, search visibility and commercial reporting can support one another. Its announcement proposes integrating PR with generative engine optimization (GEO) and then connecting that activity with paid campaigns and analytics. This is a plausible direction for B2B communications, where category credibility and long buying cycles complicate last-click attribution.
It also creates a measurement challenge. News coverage can contribute to visibility and reputation without producing directly traceable sales. An AI answer citing a trade publication is a different outcome from a paid-search conversion, and clients should not be told the two are interchangeable. A combined dashboard may simplify reporting, but its usefulness depends on definitions, attribution windows, and whether the agency can distinguish earned placements from promoted content.
Clients should also ask how editorial independence is handled. A PR team has to make newsworthiness judgments that may conflict with a growth campaign’s appetite for immediate volume. Agencies that own both services can coordinate calendars and messaging, but their incentives need to remain transparent. The acquisition announcement offers no independently audited case study demonstrating higher AI-search share or improved pipeline results from the combined teams.
What communications clients should check
First, confirm the accountable lead. Existing Ketner clients should ask whether their strategist, media-relations lead and senior adviser are staying on the account, and how escalation works when a brief crosses into Hawke’s search or paid-media teams. The continued leadership roles are reassuring facts, but they do not establish every employee’s future assignment.
Second, define the handoff between PR and performance. A retail-tech company announcing a product launch could ask Aster to produce a proposed sequence covering journalist briefings, analyst outreach, SEO content and any paid amplification. It should be clear who approves technical claims and who decides when an earned-media pitch is worth making, even if a paid campaign has a different launch deadline.
Third, agree on outcome categories. Rather than asking for one blended return-on-investment figure, clients can separate earned coverage quality, target-account awareness, search visibility and attributable conversions. Review the planned evidence for each measure and who owns the underlying data. That would make Hawke’s promised integrated reporting testable.
The confirmed business move is an acquisition and rebrand with continuing leadership. Transaction economics, staffing integration and client benefits have yet to be demonstrated. For prospective buyers, that distinction is more useful than the new agency name alone.