MK Public Relations

MK Things Happen is a national public relations agency based in Sheffield, UK.
History
MK was founded in March 2003 by British author Steve McKevitt and Stuart Ledger. Stuart left the company in February 2006 and was replaced as partner by Surriya Falconer. In January 2008 Caroline Woffenden became the third director of the company.
MK’s first clients were University of Bradford, Future Publishing and EMAP Performance. The agency added 8 new clients in 2010.
Significance
In December 2008 marketing industry magazine The Drum rated MK as number 70 in its list of the top 100 marketing agencies outside of London - something that was recognised by The Sheffield Star newspaper . The agency plays a significant role with the consumer and business press in Yorkshire and nationally by representing some of the largest private firms within the region such as the British Land owned shopping centre Meadowhall, law firm Irwin Mitchell, accountancy firm Grant Thornton, Harvey Nichols and various investments by Deutsche Bank across the country.
In November 2008 MK was one of six PR agencies appointed to the Central Office of Information PR roster for Yorkshire.
In 2010, the company added eight clients to its portfolio, including Scottish Widows Investment Partners, the retail arm of fashion brand Firetrap and property developer Urban Splash.
Personnel of note
MK managing director Steve McKevitt has enjoyed a varied career. After graduating from University of Sheffield in 1988 he became bassist with UK band The Bollweevils until its demise in 1993. He then moved into the world of PR becoming PR Manager at Gremlin Interactive in 1993 where he spent six years eventually becoming head of communications. Following a brief stint as head of PR at Infogrames in 1999, he became a founder director of Zoo Digital in 1999, where he launched the ZOOfootball website. He left Zoo Digital in 2003 to form MK. McKevitt also spent several years as a non-executive director of The Designers Republic and Creative Sheffield: the city’s economic development company. In addition to MK he is also the current chairman of design agency Golden with partners Rob Brearley and Frank Carolan, whose clients include Nike, Warner Brothers, NBC Universal, Harvey Nichols, Lurpak, National Health Service Umbro and Nandos.
McKevitt is a published author. His first book City Slackers was published in 15 countries. He received widespread critical acclaim for his second book Why the world is full of useless things which was one of The Guardian’s books for Christmas 2007.
He has written for many newspapers including The Guardian Bangkok Post, Kenyan Nation, The Australian Financial Review and South East Asia Times. His columns have appeared in IoD magazine, Management Issues and Business Insider. His literary career was managed by Paul Marsh, managing director of the Marsh Agency until Marsh's sudden death in June 2009. His agent is now Steph Ebdon at The Paterson-Marsh Agency
Director Surriya Falconer was previously head of PR at Sheffield marketing agency Paradigm prior to its merger with Scope to create Dig for Fire in 2001 .
Director Caroline Woffenden joined MK in 2008 from Hill & Knowlton . Caroline was featured in an article in The Star Business Monthly in May 2008 looking at residents of Sheffield who had left the city to pursue business dreams, but were being lured back by the opportunities in the city .
In April 2011, Falconer and Woffenden bought the company off McKevitt, who resigned as a director and left to concentrate on his writing career and other business interests.
Selected clients
*British Land
*Deutsche Bank
*Harvey Nichols
*Irwin Mitchell
*Grant Thornton

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