AN independent PR firm has celebrated 20 years of trading as it continues to grow its portfolio and work force.

Established in June 2003, full-service PR, social media and marketing agency McKenna Townsend has reflected on two decades of business – during which time it survived a financial crash and a pandemic.

Ringwood-based McKenna Townsend works with a number of international, national and regional clients across sectors such as marine, care, franchise, retail and charity.

Clients include Sunseeker International, Subway, Care South, Coeliac UK, and MarineMax.

Co-founder and managing director Matt McKenna said: “20 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 confident in what we were doing, to actually take the decision to go for it and launch the agency was a huge and life-changing point.

“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.

“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.”

Fellow co-founder Sarah Townsend added: “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, being named as Subway’s partner of the year, 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 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.”

The agency will be marking the two-decade milestone throughout the rest of the year and kicked-off the celebrations with a team day out on the Isle of Wight.

Visit mckennatownsend.com for more information.