McKinney Launches a Consumer PR Practice to Drive Integrated Marketing Communications

Jae Siercks hired to lead the practice as Executive Director of Consumer PR

DURHAM, N.C., Feb. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Full-service creative agency McKinney announced today the launch of a consumer PR practice within its company. Led by Jae Siercks, former Weber Shandwick SVP, the offering aims to redefine integrated marketing communications.

To stay ahead in today’s attention economy, brands need to show up consistently across all paid, earned and owned channels. As brand leaders increasingly look to consolidate agency partnerships to avoid disconnect between teams, McKinney’s new consumer PR practice will allow the company to offer clients a more holistic view of paid, earned and owned channels to better serve brand needs.

Why Integrated Marketing Matters for Brands
“So often, brands are working with multiple agencies to cover paid, earned and owned channels, with everyone trying to thread the needle and create value individually, missing an opportunity for integrated marketing communications and meaningful impact,” said Siercks. “When you focus on collaboration through the lens of efficiency and effectiveness and start from the beginning with a singular strategy that has a clear narrative and inherent value across platforms, you can take a creative idea further than you ever expected — maximizing efficiency and results along the way.”

McKinney is known for bold, culturally resonant work that garners unfair attention for clients, and their consumer PR practice will extend and amplify that momentum in the earned space. Predicated on a growth mindset and collaborative environment, McKinney’s ideas will be engineered to travel even further through seamless storytelling.

“As McKinney has done for 57 years, we continue to evolve the agency to meet the needs of clients today,” offered Joe Maglio, CEO of McKinney. “As we partner with clients to navigate an even more fractured ecosystem, launching a consumer PR practice allows us to use earned media to break through a landscape that’s increasingly difficult to buy your way into.”

The Antidote to AI Content Overload
“Right now attention is at a premium, AI enables infinite volume in the form of huge amounts of content and creator culture has turned every consumer into a broadcaster. In this landscape, brands can’t just ‘buy’ their way in, they have to earn it, and that can’t be an afterthought,” said Gretchen Walsh, president, McKinney. “Now that McKinney has an integrated consumer PR practice, with Jae at the helm, we can create holistic campaigns designed from day one to break through and earn unfair attention for our clients.”

In her time at Weber Shandwick, Jae and her team leveraged the opportunity for integration for a number of clients, including General Motors, ALDI and more. When General Motors relaunched the Suburban, Jae and her team’s early strategic involvement for PR landed the iconic vehicle its own Hollywood Walk of Fame star for its role as the “longest working actor in Hollywood.”

“Jae’s commitment to her people and her craft were clear from our first meeting,” added Walsh. “She really cares for people and for finding that balance of where to push and pull as a leader, and you can tell that the work is better for it.”

“From a culture standpoint, the agency is a perfect fit. Their commitment to ‘smarts & hearts’ was evident right away, and I could see why they’re regularly honored as a best place to work,” said Siercks. “Their creative excellence, the resources available through the Cheil Agency Network and their commitment to offering a holistic client and consumer centric experience are going to make this new PR offering valuable to the agency and most importantly our clients.”

About McKinney
McKinney is a full-service creative agency that gets unfair attention for brands. In 2024 and 2025, McKinney was named to both Ad Age’s A-List and its list of Best Places to Work – two years in a row – and was recognized as one of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators list in 2024, reinforcing the agency’s commitment to providing an exceptional workplace culture where employees thrive and creativity flourishes. McKinney Health, the agency’s Pharma and Wellness practice launched in 2022, was named Manny’s Agency of the Year in 2025 and appeared on MM+M Magazine’s 2024 & 2025 Agency 100 lists. McKinney is part of the Cheil Agency Network and has offices across North America, including Durham, New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Toronto. McKinney has been recognized by Cannes Lions, Effies, The One Show, D&AD, ANDY, CLIO, LIA, the Shortys and The Webby Awards, among others. Client partners include brands such as Popeyes, Blue Diamond Growers, Little Caesars, Pampers, Henkel, Samsung, Alcon, Sherwin-Williams, Biogen and the Ad Council. For more information, visit mckinney.com.