Saylor and Mutiny are set to combine into a single creative agency platform built around fandom, the companies announced this week, with Mutiny becoming Saylor’s dedicated gaming division.
The two agencies announced the merger on Wednesday, September 30, noting their excitement around uniting Saylor’s background in entertainment and social-first approach with Mutiny’s gaming expertise. Mutiny is set to become Saylor’s designated gaming division, joined by their creator studio Fleet and their production studio Elevado. In the press announcement, Saylor highlighted the merger’s goal of applying gaming and entertainment’s audience-building playbooks to brands across other categories.
Will Trowbridge, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Saylor, will retain his post and oversee the newly merged company, overseeing the combined agency’s entire family of specialist brands. Geordie Larratt-Smith, Mutiny’s Chief Executive Officer, will transition to Chief Commercial Officer of Saylor, while continuing to directly oversee the Mutiny team. This internal restructuring will maintain both companies’ original leadership structures in place, even as their day-to-day roles evolve within the new unified platform.
Trowbridge framed the deal as a bet that fandom has become essential to how businesses approach marketing, rather than an optional add-on.
“We have the opportunity to build what we think of as an obsession engine for brands,” he said, describing the vision as an integrated creative company built for brands that want actual fans, not just followers. He also explained that Shamrock understood what makes Saylor distinct and is committed to helping it scale.
Larratt-Smith noted that gaming has long understood a dynamic other industries are only now catching up to. “Audiences don’t want to simply be marketed to; they want to participate,” he said. He added that Saylor’s team brings that same participatory mindset to entertainment and culture, and that the combined company plans to extend the model to brands in non-endemic industries beyond gaming and entertainment altogether.
Both Saylor and Mutiny were founded in 2021 and are based in Los Angeles. Saylor has partnered with large-scale brands including Hilton, Netflix, Disney, Paramount+, CarMax and Tubi, building campaigns at the intersection of culture, storytelling and strategy. The company has been recognized on Adweek’s Fastest Growing Agencies list for three consecutive years, as well as the Inc. 5000 list and Ad Age’s Small Agency of the Year honors.
Mutiny, meanwhile, has focused exclusively on gaming, collaborating with global publishers and brands through audience intelligence, proprietary data, and creative strategy aimed at connecting with players and gaming communities.
Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles investment firm specializing in media, entertainment, and communications, first acquired Mutiny in February 2026 through its Clover Fund I, and is making an additional investment through that fund to bring Saylor into the fold. Shamrock partners Sam Halls and Ryan Smiley said the deal pairs two of the most engaged, highest-spending fandoms in culture.
“Together they cover the two most engaged, highest-spending fandoms in culture with a combined capability set that offers brands a truly integrated solution no other agency can match,” Halls and Smiley said in a joint statement. Shamrock, founded in 1978 as the family investment company for the late Roy E. Disney, now manages roughly $7.4 billion in assets across a multi-fund strategy focused on private equity and media rights.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher served as legal advisor to Shamrock on the transaction, while Davis+Gilbert served as legal advisor and Palazzo as exclusive financial advisor to Saylor.
The newly united creative agency has positioned itself to pursue brand partnerships beyond gaming and entertainment, particularly with companies looking to build longer-term, deeper relationships with their fanbase and wider audience, rather than one-off campaigns.