Swerve Strategic Marketing is an integrated marketing agency for toy, baby and family brands across Canada and the United States. Founded in 2010 by Andrew Wagar and based in Burlington, Ontario, the 15-person team runs public relations, influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, digital marketing and events as one program, so a launch, its press and its creators pull in the same direction.
Founder
Andrew founded Swerve in 2010 and still runs it. He’s spent more than 30 years in PR and marketing, including PR Manager roles at Spin Master and the Canadian Standards Association.
He’s an Accredited Public Relations Professional (APR) with the Canadian Public Relations Society, holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing from Toronto Metropolitan University and a post-graduate diploma in Advertising from Sheridan College. He has served on the Canadian Toy Association board since 2018, where he chairs marketing communications.
When reporters cover the toy business, Andrew is one of the people they call, most often speaking for the Canadian Toy Association. CBC, CTV News, BNN Bloomberg and The Canadian Press have all interviewed him on holiday supply chains, kidult buyers and the state of toy retail. See the full press list.
That access is part of how Swerve earns coverage for its clients, and part of why we think PR now matters more than SEO for showing up in AI answers.
The VPs and our COO run the day to day. Andrew sets the direction and takes the media calls.
VP Digital
Leads paid search, paid social, programmatic and analytics that tie client campaigns to sales, plus the creative behind them.
VP Business Dev
The first conversation for new brands, and the person who scopes a program before anyone sells it. Start there.
VP Business Dev, USA
The first call for US brands, with brand-side years at LEGO and Panasonic behind her. See how we work with US brands.
COO and Partner
Andrew’s partner in the business since 2011. She runs operations, so the account teams can stay focused on clients.
Fifteen people, 150 years of experience between them, based in Burlington, Ontario, with our US lead in New Jersey. Behind the VPs sit two account directors, two account managers and two account coordinators working across PR, influencer and events, plus two digital marketing specialists. Small enough that the people who pitch your program are the people who run it.
Read how we work, see it on the Tineco case study, or browse all our work.
We start with the brand's numbers, its competitors' share of voice and what the media already says about the category. If the gap is retail, we say retail. If it's awareness, we say that.
PR, influencer, digital and events are scoped together so the launch date, the press window and the creator calendar line up. Tineco is the clearest example: one agency of record across all four, one set of results.
Weekly reporting, not a deck at the end. Digital clients get a live dashboard they can open any time; share of voice against four competitors is an add-on. Clients tell us the reporting is the thing they'd miss most.
Every program ends with a number the client can take upstairs: coverage reach, creator engagement, sell-through, retail placement. Those numbers are the case studies.
Jazwares, Fisher-Price, Playmobil Canada and Hape USA, plus a board seat at the Canadian Toy Association.