CHICAGO —Iconic playing card brand Bicycle has hired Spool Marketing to handle its US PR business.

Spool’s remit includes PR, creative, social and paid media. Spool also is handling the launch of Bicycle’s new NFT collection, which features images of the brand’s cards 1,000 years in the future by artist Adrian Valenzuela.

Bicycle awarded Spool the business following a competitive review. There was no incumbent agency.

"We were impressed and hired Spool based on their unique agency model, which is a perfect blend of agility, flexibility and adaptive,” said Masha Levseieva, global brand director at Cartamundi, which owns Bicycle Playing Cards. “They also have a deep expertise in the NFT and crypto space, along with consumer earned engagement, so it has proven to be a great fit. They were able to jump in and move quickly and have been great partners at every step.”

Bicycle and Spool’s new partnership comes as the 130-year-old brand targets younger consumers with initiatives like producing the NFT collection, which is available for bidding on the platform Kolectiv, and its official app. Bicycle plans to further its expansion with the creation of new digital offerings, the company said.