Advertising, Marketing & PR
Published: June 1, 2023 | Updated: 6th June 2023
In the summer of 2003, Matt McKenna and Sarah Townsend joined forces to co-found a small PR agency in the heart of Ringwood.
McKenna Townsend has since gone from strength to strength, growing to offer a full suite of PR, marketing and social media services.
Now twenty years on, Matt and Sarah are still at the helm as managing directors of a 15-strong team, whose clients range from regional to international and include names like Sunseeker, Care South, and Subway.
Reflecting on the journey so far, Matt said: “Twenty years of successfully running a business in any sector is something to be really proud of.
“When we were just starting up, whilst we were really confident in what we were doing and were 100 per cent focused on running our own business, to actually take the decision to go for it and launch the agency was a huge and life-changing point for both Sarah and me.
“From the moment we opened our doors we won new clients, we grew the business and we delivered relentless results.
“And best of all – we’ve had a lot of fun along the way!
“When we set out on our journey, we were very much a pure PR agency, but as we quickly became more integral to our clients, our briefs widened to encompass the entire marketing mix.
Sarah and Matt at METSTRADE in Amsterdam last year
“Over time, we have evolved to bring in new service offerings, from our own in-house studio to social media to media buying – thus becoming the integrated agency we are very proud of today.
“At the heart of our agency is our highly talented and hard-working team who relentlessly deliver results for our amazing clients.
“They are nothing short of superb and we are very grateful to them for their continued support to McKenna Townsend and to our clients.
“We are really excited for the future of McKenna Townsend and are very much looking forward to continuing to be an integral part of our clients’ brands and businesses.”
The upcoming celebrations will kick off with a celebratory lunch out on the Isle of Wight, and the company will be reflecting on key achievements throughout its history over the next 12 months on social media.
Sarah added: “I would like to thank our brilliant team for their continued hard work and our clients for their amazing support over the past 20 years.
“Reaching our 20th anniversary is a significant achievement – we’re looking forward to celebrating this and are very excited about the next stage in our ambitious growth plans.
Sunseeker is a client of McKenna Townsend
“We have had many highlights, but the ones that stand out the most for me are launching our sustainability division, the Marine Social Responsibility Consultancy; being named Subway’s Partner of the Year, selected from all of the restaurant chain’s European suppliers; and becoming a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
“We are proud to still be working with Subway, a client we had the honour of working with from day one and, through an integrated franchise development programme, have helped grow its store count from 30 to over 2,500.
“Impressively, our average client retention from our existing clients is eight years, again something we are all proud of.
“Our team has many years of marine experience having worked with some of the biggest and most high-profile brands, organisations and charities within the marine sector.
“For us, it’s all about helping brands, companies and organisations connect with the issue of the planet’s marine health by consulting and developing bespoke, intelligently-crafted marine social responsibility marketing communications programmes.
“We very much see this part of our work increasing significantly over the next five years.”
