Boston communications firm opens Worcester office

Photo/Grant Welker Slowey/McManus Communications has opened a new Worcester office at 20 Franklin St.

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By Grant Welker

Slowey/McManus Communications, a strategic communications firm based in Boston, has opened a small Worcester office in an effort to branch out to clients in Central Massachusetts.

The office opened last month at 20 Franklin St., a building that includes several office tenants and shared work space for entrepreneurs and start-ups. The office has just two workers to start but has plans to grow. It has 10 employees at its Boston office.

"That's our goal, to grow in Worcester," said Jim McManus, a principal partner at the firm and a Worcester native who graduated from Doherty High School and the College of the Holy Cross. "Things are picking up already."

Slowey/McManus specializes in media strategy, planning and outreach, crisis communications and digital marketing. The firm has clients throughout the country, McManus said, and serves as Walmart's communications firm for its New England stores.

The 12-year-old firm specializes in energy and environmental firms, health care and education, McManus said. Among other clients, it says, are the Association for Behavioral Health in Natick, Good Energy, an aggregation network that includes Massachusetts communities, and the Harvard Forest, a Harvard University wooded research property in Petersham.

The Worcester area fits well into those specialties, McManus said.

"The growth in the Worcester economy reflects the areas that we're strongest in," he said.