Boomerang Kids, an Ottawa-based chain of children’s resale items, has hired Hill + Knowlton Strategies to handle public relations.
The retailer, which has four stores in Ottawa, recently expanded into the Greater Toronto Area with a location in Vaughan, Ont. It also opened its first location in Quebec (Gatineau) and will open a Montreal store in March.
Krista Thompson, president of Boomerang Kids, previously handled PR on her own and said entering new markets necessitated hiring a firm. “Now that we’re all over the place, we need to handle multiple regions. It’s one thing when you’re getting to know all the media organizations in one city, it’s another thing altogether to do that in the GTA and Quebec.”
Boomerang Kids didn’t issue an RFP, but met with select agencies and independent PR professionals.
“I think what swayed my opinion in the end was [H+K] has retail experience that I didn’t see in others, and they have Andrea Craig,” said Thompson. Craig is an account director at H+K Strategies in Toronto and runs the review site MommyGearest.com.
“Our target market – moms between the ages of 27 and 45 – are extremely social media savvy,” said Thompson. “They do most of their communication that way and I wanted [PR] people who really got that and were right there with me.”
H+K will handle strategic counsel, media and blogger relations, and other promotional activations for Boomerang Kids, which also has an e-commerce site. “We’re also looking for a celebrity mom who can become the face of Boomerang Kids in Canada,” said Thompson.
