Feather & Black hires Porta agencies

Bedroom furniture retailer Feather & Black has appointed Porta Communications sister agencies Publicasity and Thirteen Communications to handle its consumer, trade and corporate PR, following a competitive pitch.

Previously known as the Iron Bed Company, the business re-branded to Feather & Black in 2004 and has been led by MD Daniel Wade since March 2013.

Next year the business plans to embark on a series of store renovations and re-openings. It has 25 stores across the UK, with a high street presence in cities such as London, Bristol, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The appointment of Thirteen and Publicasity marks the start of an integrated marketing push designed to increase brand awareness, store footfall and in-store sales into 2017 and beyond.

Publicasity will handle all consumer media and home interest press for Feather & Black, with Thirteen tasked with telling the corporate and trade story of the brand.

Feather & Black recently unveiled a re-designed website and both agencies has been briefed to boost web traffic and contribute to an uplift in online sales.

The brand has the slogan ‘Perfect Bedtimes’ and the PR and marketing effort will aim to highlight the quality of the products, while outlining the future direction of the business.

Paul McCaffrey, director, will lead the team at Publicasity while Thirteen’s activity will be headed up by CEO Andrew Baiden.

Both teams will report to Nicola Lovell, retail and PR marketing manager, at Feather & Black.