LONDON — Hill & Knowlton has won a six-figure retainer with online contact lens retailer Vision Direct, part of ophthalmic multinational EssilorLuxottica Group, after a competitive pitch.

Vision Direct has tasked H&K with leading PR and social media across the UK, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and Ireland, including integrated communications campaigns and social channel strategy to support the company’s ‘See More Life’ platform.

The brief also includes working on building Vision Direct’s new brand identity. There was no incumbent agency.

Vision Direct brand and communications manager Cal Smith-Sheerin said: “We are at an important moment in our brand’s evolution and wanted an agency partner that understood our challenges. H&K’s capabilities particularly stood out to us; their social and cultural credentials were just what we were looking for. We were impressed by the team’s creative response in the pitch.”

At H&K, consumer packaged goods team director Amaya Alvarez added: “We are excited to support Vision Direct on its mission to ensure it is the brand most recognised for offering everyone who needs it, access to quality, affordable, contact lenses. The duality of the product’s functional benefit and the brand’s higher purpose of enabling clearer vision is an ideal challenge opportunity for our team to flex its brand building expertise.”

The appointment follows a number of new client wins for H&K London this year, including Costa Coffee and Hill’s Pet Nutrition. The agency also recently won the global corporate brief with Versuni, owner of the Philips domestic appliances brand.