SOCIAL media consultancy Battenhall, named after the area of Worcester where its founder grew up, has won best small agency in the UK Social Media Awards.

Run by former King's School student Drew Benvie, Battenhall has also been named "agency of the future" by the company's industry association the PRCA and was also a finalist in the PR Week awards for best new agency.

It has been remarkable progress for the entrepreneur who until a year ago was chief executive of an international PR agency in London. "I then saw an opportunity to bring together sought-after technical and social media skills with mainstream PR, advertising and marketing consultancy," he explained. "The idea behind Battenhall was born and I have never looked back."

After leaving King's School Worcester in 1996 for university, Mr Benvie lived and worked in Cardiff, Bristol and London. He now lives in Droitwich with his wife Beatrice and two children.

"The PR agency working model, which I used to work in, is in desperate need of shaking up and that's what we're aiming to do at Battenhall," he said. "These awards are testament to the progress we're making so soon in our journey. We're involved in far more than social media and PR, which is our roots. We're running global ad campaigns, building websites and apps, and working with YouTubers. It's a hugely excising time to be launching a business."

Battenhall's services are now in demand across the globe, with clients as far afield as Singapore, Scandinavia and New York, having landed contracts with brands such as Vodafone, The Financial Times, Iceland and Diageo. Back in Spring 2013 when Mr Benvie launched Battenhall, he opened up for business with a laptop, a single desk in a converted Shoreditch office block, a website and a small amount of client work to keep him going. As Battenhall grew, he had to move to larger offices, and is now based in Angel, Islington and employs 21 staff.