Pets at Home appoints Krow and EGS

Pets at Home, UK’s biggest pet retailer, is understood to have appointed Krow and EdwardsGroomSaunders to handle its advertising and communications planning. The two agencies pitch together to win the account.

It is thought that Farm, Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest and Beattie McGuinness Bungay were also involved in the review, which was overseen by the AAR. Krow and EGS have been tasked with creating the pet retailer’s first nationwide campaign.

Pets at Home, which was set up in 1991, has almost 200 stores with plans to open 20 more over the next year. The majority of stores are located in out-of-town retail parks and several branches include veterinary surgeries and grooming salons.

The company was aquired by private equity group Bridgepoint for £230m in 2004. It announced earlier this year that it had drawn up a shortlist of investment banks ahead of a possible £600m sale or flotation of the chain.