BBDO Canada has been named the agency of record for Kijiji in Canada, selected after a competitive review.

The assignment will have the agency leading a push to grow Kijiji’s business, both for its namesake website and Kijiji Autos. Though the brand is already the leader in classifieds in Canada, “they’re very ambitious,” says Chris Andrews, president and CEO of BBDO.

“We see a real opportunity to continue to accelerate the growth of their business by building on the strength and potential of both the Kijiji and Kijiji Autos brands, while being very attuned to individual audiences’ needs,” says Andrews. “Connecting the dots among their varied audiences to accelerate their growth and build brand affinity will be key. The challenge of doing that in a highly-targeted way while driving brand affinity across both brands is an exciting one.”

The assignment will challenge BBDO “to reach wide-ranging consumer and B2B audiences across both Kijiji and Kijiji Autos,” he adds.

Though Andrews couldn’t offer specifics, he says the account is “a sizable win” for BBDO. It will be led out of the Toronto office with support from the agency’s Montreal team. Max Geraldo, who was hired as CCO by the agency in March, will be directly involved in leading the assignment.

The agency is familiarizing itself with the brands and business and new work is expected to launch later this year.

CloudRaker, which had worked with Kijiji for the past 11 years, parted ways with the company and did not participate in the review process, according to Thane Calder, the agency’s CEO.