McKenna Townsend celebrates 20 years of relentless results

McKenna Townsend is celebrating its 20th anniversary this week. Co-Founders and Managing Directors, Matt McKenna and Sarah Townsend established the Hampshire-based agency in June 2003 and since then McKenna Townsend has gone from strength to strength, continuing to win new clients, grow its team and add new services to its offer. During this time, the independent, owner-managed agency has grown from a small PR agency to a thriving full-service agency with a 15-strong team.

McKenna Townsend works with a number of international, national and regional clients across sectors such as marine, care, franchise, retail and charity, with clients including Sunseeker International, Subway®, AkzoNobel, Care South, D-Marin, Coeliac UK, Williams Jet Tenders and MarineMax.

Matt McKenna, Co-Founder and Managing Director of McKenna Townsend, said: “Twenty years of successfully running a business in any sector is something to be really proud of. When we were just starting up, whist we were really confident in what we were doing and were 100% 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!

“Over the years, we have carefully nurtured the agency, steering it through great times and also not-so-great times like the financial crash of 2009 and latterly COVID. However, by always ensuring we were an integral marketing partner to our clients and by adapting and evolving the agency over time, we have always been successful. 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. 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.”

Sarah Townsend, Co-Founder and Managing Director of McKenna Townsend, 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 very excited about the next stage in our ambitious growth plans. We have had many highlights over the past 20 years, but the ones that stand out the most for me are launching our sustainability division, the Marine Social Responsibility Consultancy, being named as 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.

“Aside from technological advancements, we have seen a big rise in businesses widening their CSR commitments, which was the backdrop to us launching the Marine Social Responsibility Consultancy, working with a collective purpose – to positively impact the health of our seas and oceans. 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.”

The agency will be marking this milestone throughout the rest of the year and will kick-off the celebrations with a team day out on the Isle of Wight, arriving in style on a rib with a celebratory lunch at iconic restaurant, The Hut to follow. McKenna Townsend’s social channels will be looking back on key achievements throughout the past 20 years as well as providing insights on the future of the industry.

Top 20 Highlights:

• 2023 – a year of celebrations to mark the agency’s 20-year anniversary
• 2022 – sponsoring the after-dinner party at the prestigious 2022 Boat Builder Awards at the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam – and even got to name our own signature cocktail, the McKenna Townsend Mojito
• 2021 – ranked agency of the month (November) by The Drum Recommends and, following the pandemic, being back at shows and events supporting our clients
• 2020 – celebrating the 10th annual Design a Sub challenge for Subway®, as part of the agency’s CSR remit
• 2019 – launching the Marine Social Responsibility Consultancy, McKenna Townsend’s sustainability division, with a purpose to positively impact the health of our seas and oceans by helping brands, companies and organisations connect with the issue of the planet’s marine health
• 2018 – celebrating the agency’s 15-year anniversary
• 2017 – scoring 93% from the Recommended Agencies Register, far above the industry standard of 70%
• 2016 – achieving ‘GOLD standard’ in the PRCA audit with 94%
• 2015 – winning the PRCA Dare Award for Media, Marketing & Measurement
• 2014 – winning the PRCA Dare Award for Consultancy of the Year
• 2013 – celebrating the agency’s ten-year anniversary
• 2012 – winning three GOLD awards and three SILVER awards at the Wessex CIPR PRide Awards
• 2012 – co-Managing Directors Matt McKenna and Sarah Townsend awarded Fellowships of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the Institute and industry
• 2010 – co-Managing Directors Matt McKenna and Sarah Townsend included in an elite list of the most powerful public relations people in the UK: The PR Week Power Book
• 2010 – winning four GOLD awards and four SILVER awards at the Wessex CIPR PRide Awards, including Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy
• 2009 – PR Week recognising McKenna Townsend as one of its ‘Ones to Watch’ and listing the agency amongst the fastest growing UK agencies
• 2009 – Winning Best Franchise PR campaign at the Franchise Marketing Awards for the agency’s campaign – ‘Subway® overtakes number of McDonald’s stores’
• 2008 – Presented with Subway® Partner of the Year 2008 Award, for the agency’s PR support in the UK & Ireland
• 2006 – ranked in the top 50 PR agencies in the UK outside of London, according to the industry publication, PR Week and was also the highest ranked PR agency in Hampshire and Dorset and the third fastest growing PR agency in the UK
• 2003 – Establishing McKenna Townsend, focusing on the Relentless Pursuit of Results for our clients

Throwback facts – June 2003

• Tony Blair was the Prime Minister
• A loaf of bread cost 58p
• The Matrix Reloaded was at number one in the UK box office charts
• The European Space Agency’s Mars Express probe launched from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan
• 2003 also saw the launch of Sycho Entertainment, Three UK, Tesco Mobile, Toolstation and Arla Foods

The team have also had the privilege of working with a number of famous faces throughout the years including, Simon Le Bon, Joanne Lumley, Lisa Snowdon, Gok Wan, Samantha Faiers, Lesley Waters, Suzie Perry, Hugh Bonneville, Gino D’Acampo, Matt Le Tissier and Sir Ben Ainslie.