Comvita specialises in products based on New Zealand Manuka honey, which is marketed as aiding digestion. The honey is also used in skincare, cough syrups and antiseptic creams.

Tavy Mogridge, MD of Boudoir, will lead the ­acc­ount. She said: ‘Our brief is to make it more mainstream and less wacky.' She added that Gwyneth Paltrow uses Comvita honey products.

Mogridge reports to Simon Pothecary, general manager of Comvita UK. He said: ‘Boudoir gives us an avenue into a more style-conscious market.'

Pothecary, who has previously held senior marketing roles with GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, said that PR spend will ‘increase tenfold' - although he declined to give figures.

However, the agency's ­focus will be on the firm's dressings products, such as ApiNate. This will be promo­ted as providing antibacterial protection for chronic leg ­ulcers at next month's Euro­pean Wound Management Conference in Glasgow.

Comvita UK started trading in November 2005 as a subsidiary of its New Zealand-based parent. Its products were previously sold in the UK through a distributor, New Zealand Natural Foods.