In short. This post started life in January 2023 as a press announcement under our former name, Swerve PR. We’ve kept it as a dated record and added what’s happened since: the rebrand to Swerve Strategic Marketing, a re-signing, two clients that expanded from PR into digital, and new toy clients we’ll name once they’ve cleared it. If you want the current roster, the Work page is the place; this is the timeline.
Since the original announcement, Swerve PR became Swerve Strategic Marketing, with the same team, the same Burlington office and a broader mandate: PR, influencer, digital marketing and events run as one program for toy, baby and family brands in the US and Canada.
On the client side, Basic Fun re-signed with us, and two long-standing PR and influencer clients added digital marketing to their programs: Playmobil Canada and Hape USA. Two new toy brands joined the roster in 2026; we’ll announce them here once each has signed off on the wording. We also opened the year with Tineco appointing us to lead its US communications program, on top of the Canadian work we’ve done since 2019 (Tineco case study).
Awards on the wall from the last stretch: IABC Ovation Award for Media Relations (2021), IABC Award of Excellence for Media Relations (2020), MarCom Platinum for the Mastermind Toys PR program (2021) and the Moose Toys PR program (2022), CPRS Gold plus the COVID Gold Award for Best External Communications for Mastermind Toys (2021), and CPRS Silver for Best Influencer Campaign for Mattel Games Reconnect (2020).
Swerve PR kicked off 2023 by being named agency of record for Childventures, Canada’s premier early learning centre. The mandate was to establish Childventures as a credible voice in early childhood education through a strategic communications program and stakeholder engagement.
The appointment followed a Platinum win at the 2022 MarCom Awards international competition for the launch of Magic Mixies Magic Cauldron by Moose Toys, in the strategic communications category.
At the time, the agency was also expanding its digital practice, working with StayAbove Nutrition, In-Store Water Systems and Tineco on integrated digital strategies, search optimization, programmatic and paid search. Childventures, StayAbove Nutrition and In-Store Water Systems are past clients today; the digital practice that started with them is now a core service (digital marketing).
I see the new mandate and the growth of our existing accounts as the result of the integrated approach: creative work across every service, and partnerships built to last rather than campaigns sold one at a time.
Two reasons. Dated, specific news is what reporters and AI assistants cite when someone asks who works with whom; this post was still being referenced in AI answers about Swerve in September 2026. And a timeline is more honest than a logo wall. It shows who we worked with, when, and what we were recognized for, without pretending every brand we’ve ever served is a current client.
Tineco, Playmobil Canada, Hape, Basic Fun, Toysmith, Hey Buddy Hey Pal and Noodoll are current. Childventures, StayAbove Nutrition, In-Store Water Systems and Moose Toys are past work. The Work page carries the current roster.
Because the work stopped being PR only. The name caught up with a practice that had been running digital, creator programs and events alongside earned media for years.
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About the author
Andrew Wagar founded Swerve Strategic Marketing in 2010 and runs it as President and CEO. 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 and has served on the Canadian Toy Association board since 2018, where he chairs marketing communications. Reporters covering the toy business call him when they need a source.
