The Hive has been named AOR for Toronto-area pet treats company The Crump Group, with strategic and creative responsibility for its Caledon Farms and Crumps' Naturals brands.
Started by the husband and wife team of Joe and Margot Crump in 2006, the company specializes in single-ingredient pet treats. It has grown from a small 400 square-foot space in the Crumps' garage to a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Mississauga, Ont. as well as a new manufacturing facility in North Carolina.
"It's really a Canadian success story that nobody's talking about," said Dustin Rideout, chief strategy officer at The Hive.
The company's emphasis on single-ingredient products is very "on trend" as consumers look to make healthier food choices not only for themselves, but also their pets, he said.
The Crump Group has embarked on an ambitious $40 million "transformational growth agenda" under president Paul Sproule, a former sales leader with Mars' petcare division who joined the company as VP of strategy in 2021, and was promoted to president in 2022.
Sproule has said that the U.S. represents an "important market" for the company, which opened its North Carolina facility in 2023 to process the sweet potatoes that comprise one of its flagship products, Sweet Potato Chews.
"They're very well poised for some serious growth in North America," said Rideout. "I think this is the beginning of their broader marketing journey, because they're reaching that size."
The Hive is doing what Rideout described as "a pretty good deep dive" on The Crump Group's current and future consumers, with the agency's first work for the brand expected in the second half of the year.
The Crump Group is competing for awareness and attention against deep-pocketed brands like Mars and Nestlé Purina, but Rideout said that the key is lean into attributes that aren't strengths of global giants, such as personality and personal relationships with consumners.
"We really want to understand the origin story intimately, and how that can be relevant," said Rideout. "The other thing is how they can do things differently, and there are some differences in how they actually make their product."
Rideout predicted that the relationship will be a "special one," between two independent companies with amibitious growth plans for Canada and the U.S. and a shared ethos.
"As an independent Canadian agency, we want to do right by them as an indepdent Canadian company," he said.
