Splendid Communications has acquired a 100% stake in Riot Communications who will be the second agency to join The Splendid Collective following Kingdom Collective, that joined in November 2021.

Riot will retain its identity as a culture and entertainment specialist, whilst benefiting from the support of a group leadership team led by Splendid Communications CEO Alec Samways.

Caitlin Allen, a director in Riot’s senior leadership team, will take over as MD from Preena Gadher, who co-founded the business with Anwen Hooson in 2009 and who now leaves the agency to become managing director of Penguin General, a division of Penguin Random House from September 2022.

Caitlin, who has been at Riot since 2015, will ensure Riot’s continued growth, much of which has been achieved through the successful acquisition and retention of clients across the culture sector including Aardman, Moomin Characters, The Nine Dots Prize and Penguin Random House.

She will be supported by fellow Riot director, Katy MacMillan-Scott, who has been at Riot since 2016. As creative & campaigns director, Katy will ensure that Riot continues to deliver exceptional, creative campaigns for its clients, while maintaining Riot’s unique culture and ethos – particularly around D&I – both internally and externally.

The Riot leadership team will be supported by a new hire, Jessica Jackson, as associate director. Jessica joins on 1st August with 15 years of culture PR experience. She has a particular interest in working on campaigns with purpose, her most recent project being the Imagine Anthology, a creative publishing collaboration for World Refugee Day.