Aussie nursery retailer appoints Republik for NZ expansion

AUCKLAND, Today: Australian specialist baby retailer Baby Bunting has appointed full-service Freemans Bay indie Republik to manage its media planning and buying here in New Zealand, effective immediately.

There was no pitch, and no incumbent.

Baby Bunting is the biggest baby retailer in Australia and is opening its first store in Albany, Auckland on Saturday 13 August.

Established in Melbourne as a family-owned business in 1979, Baby Bunting is now Australia’s largest specialty nursery retailer, catering to parents with children from new-born to four years of age.

They now have 65 stores across Australia with and have a growing online business. With an online-only presence, they started delivering to New Zealand in June 2020.

“The first campaign launches today on OOH, street furniture, radio, partnerships and a variety of digital placements.”

Baby Bunting NZ operations manager Danielle Beh said. “We have a huge range of products to support families, as well as services such as car seat minstallation, capsule and breast pump hire.

“We needed an agency that would quickly understand the breadth of our offering, how it will benefit the NZ market, and then could build a plan to communicate that.

“The Republik team have been so good to work with. We’ve been impressed with the speed at which they’ve put together a comprehensive plan that ticks all our boxes. I’m confident that we’ve made a smart decision onboarding them.”

Republik media manager Diane Besim said: “I have no doubt that Baby Bunting will set the bar for specialist baby and infant retailing here in NZ.

“The first campaign launches today [Friday 22 July] and will be visible through OOH, street furniture, radio, partnerships and a variety of digital placements.”

• www.babybunting.co.nz