Champion Petfoods Building Consumer Marketing Muscle with Onboarding of Three New Agencies

Maker of iconic ORIJEN and ACANA Brands Announces Relationships with Crossmedia, Finn Partners, and IBM iX

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Aug 15, 2018, 08:00 ET

AUBURN, Ky., Aug. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Champion Petfoods, manufacturer of premium pet food brands ORIJEN and ACANA, reached a new phase in the company's ongoing efforts to enhance its business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing efforts with the announcement of its new relationships with three award-winning agency partners. Over the last two months, Champion has signed agreements with global experience design and digital marketing consultancy IBM iX, global public relations firm Finn Partners, and North American media agency, Crossmedia.

The announcement follows Champion's recent hiring of Chief Marketing Officer, Julie S. Washington, who was brought in to drive the strategic development and implementation of the company's brand and communication initiatives. The agencies will develop and execute integrated content to directly reach Pet Lovers on behalf of the ORIJEN and ACANA brands.

The three agencies will work in a collaborative manner to develop Champion's future marketing strategy, with IBM iX helping to lead the work relative to consumer campaigns. As part of its work, Finn Partners will oversee traditional and digital communications, including managing the brands' public relations, social media and influencer initiatives. Crossmedia's contribution will focus on media planning and buying.

"Our three new agency partners have immediately added value while working in an integrated and collaborative manner that has already resulted in a number of exciting insights and ideas that will enhance our marketing presence," said Julie S. Washington, Chief Marketing Officer at Champion Petfoods. "We are confident that these three agencies are the right partners to take Champion Petfoods and our ORIJEN and ACANA brands to the next level."

Brenda Lynch, senior partner at Finn Partners Los Angeles added, "The Finn Partners Los Angeles team is passionate about supporting clients that we believe in across the consumer and food and beverage industries. As it concerns our beloved pets, this sentiment rings especially true and we are excited to champion a company whose products benefits their lives."

"We are excited to help elevate Champion Petfoods' ORIJEN and ACANA brands by developing new marketing campaigns, creating new digital experiences and designing creative assets that will inspire pet lovers everywhere to feed their cherished companions the best and most biologically appropriate pet food available," said Jennifer Henley, Partner and Columbus Studio Leader at IBM iX.

Crossmedia's Executive Director, David Heimlich also commented, stating that: "We are thrilled to be part of this talented, global team. The work thus far has been collaborative, strategic and integrated, three things we value highly at Crossmedia. We are believers in the brand promises of both ACANA and ORIJEN and are excited to help bring that to pet lovers in the US and Canada this year."

About Crossmedia
Crossmedia is an independent, international full-service communications planning and media services agency with offices in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Dusseldorf, and Hamburg. It has earned two Advertising Age Best Small Agency awards and was named by Adweek as a pioneering "New Model Agency" and an Adweek Agency 3.0. As the only fully transparent alternative to traditional holding company media agencies, Crossmedia is pushing the boundaries of modern media services by delivering a non-siloed, holistic, highly collaborative approach driven by creativity and integrated, real-time media analytics. Crossmedia clients include U.S. Bank, The Hartford Insurance Group, HomeAway, MINI USA, Supercuts, New Era Caps, NASCAR, Nordstrom Rack, Tillamook, Jägermeister, and White Castle.

About Finn Partners
Founded in 2011 on the core principles of innovation and collaborative partnership, Finn Partners has more than tripled in size in six years, becoming one of the fastest growing independent public relations agencies in the world. The full-service marketing and communications company's record setting pace is a result of organic growth and integrating new companies and new people into the Finn Partners world through a common philosophy. With 600 professionals, Finn Partners provides its clients with global access and capabilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia, in addition to PROI worldwide. Headquartered in New York, Finn Partners' other offices are in Chicago, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Frankfurt, Jerusalem, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Nashville, Paris, Portland, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore and Washington D.C. Find us as finnpartners.com and follow us on
Twitter and Instagram at @finnpartners.