Production software
Krova
KrovaProduction software built by producers: crew, call sheets, schedules, timesheets and costs in one place.
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Mirror Mix
e.l.f. Mirror Mix: the launch film for e.l.f. Made's second album, seven artists and seven tracks on one Y2K desktop. Edit, motion design and animation by RIOT.
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in Hudson Yards
RIOT is a full service creative agency and production studio. We create, build and grow brands through campaigns, films, photography, design, animation, social, websites and the experiences that carry them. The creative, the strategy, the design and the shoot happen all in one place, so the idea survives and thrives from initial spark to final creation.
Trusted by
These are the creative worlds we know best: each with its own calendar, its own audience and its own way of doing things. Pick yours, or see the full list of industries we work with on our friends page.
A creative agency and production studio in New York
“RIOT is a symphony of divergent thoughts, a creative agency woven from daring ideas, and a beacon illuminating brands.”
Founder Mug5, on what RIOT is
A creative agency decides how a brand looks, feels, sounds and behaves, then makes the work that proves it: the name, the identity, the campaign, the audience, the films, the photographs, the content and the experience.
Some creative agencies only think. Some production studios only make. In reality, the best work happens when the same people do both, because an idea that has to be handed to someone else to shoot and edit loses something every time it changes hands. That is why we built RIOT like we did: strategists, creative directors, designers, directors, editors, animators and producers under one roof in Hudson Yards, New York.
Strategy sets the direction. Storytelling gives it pulse. Design makes it tangible. Production brings it to life. When those four sit in separate companies, the idea gets thinner at every handoff. When they sit in one room, it gets sharper.
Want the long version?
Read our guide to creative agencies.
Our New York creative agency builds brands and shapes culture through visionary storytelling: the campaigns, films and experiences that refuse to blend in.
01 / Core service ↗BrandingBrand identities, positioning and systems built to make businesses distinct, coherent and remembered.
02 / Core service ↗DesignVisual systems, campaigns and creative objects shaped with clarity, character and cultural intelligence.
03 / Core service ↗Video & ProductionConcept-led films, branded content and productions crafted from the first idea through final delivery.
04 / Core service ↗StrategyClear direction, cultural insight and creative thinking that turn ambition into decisive action.
05 / Core service ↗Creative StorytellingNarratives, messaging and language that give brands meaning, tension and emotional weight.
06 / Core service ↗PhotographyCampaign, product, portrait and editorial imagery created with intention, atmosphere and craft.
07 / Core service ↗Social & MarketingContent, campaigns and platform systems designed to build attention, relevance and momentum.
08 / Core service ↗Digital ServicesWebsites, interfaces and digital experiences built to perform beautifully and feel unmistakably yours.
09 / Core service ↗SEO ServicesTechnical, content and AI-search strategy designed to turn visibility into compounding organic growth.There are bigger creative agencies and there are cheaper studios. What is unique to RIOT is that all of it sits under one roof: a creative agency with production studios, a team that has made work for the brands that guard their image the hardest, and the same people from the first call to the final deliverable.
The people who come up with the idea are the people who shoot it and cut it. Nothing gets lost in a hand-off, because there is no hand-off.
We are a creative agency: full rebrands, identity systems, websites and campaigns, and the films that launch them.
Our studios are in Hudson Yards and Clifton, New Jersey, and we shoot wherever the work is: on the sideline, the runway, in the archive, in the store.
Heritage brands like Coach, Tiffany & Co., News Corp & Clinique that guard their image hand us the keys. That level of trust is the standard.
We choose the music before the first cut and license it properly. Sound design and the final mix happen in house, so the work sounds as good as it looks.
The hero film, the cutdowns, the verticals, the stills and the captions, sized, named and delivered on your date, with the source files if you want to license them.
When the moment will not wait, neither do we. Overnight edits, weekend work and last-minute versions, finished to the same standard as everything else.
“A crucible where creative spirits ignite: our creative agency and production studio sets the perfect stage for groundbreaking stories.”
You're in good company.
A few lines is enough to start. We read every brief the same day, then set up a call on Zoom or a meeting at the studio in Hudson Yards. From that conversation we tailor a plan and a bid.
Client testimonials, in their own words. What chief marketing officers, creative directors and brand teams at Coach, Tiffany & Co., Clinique, IWC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote to us the moment they first saw the work, straight from the inbox.
“How fantastic. Thank you so much for your patience and partnership throughout the process. I am completely thrilled with where this landed and cannot wait to get it out into the world!”
Grace BennettVP, Corporate Communications, News Corp“This is as perfect and magical as I wished it would feel.”
Christopher YoungVP, Creative Director, Global Creative Visual Merchandising, Tiffany & Co.“We LOVE the sizzle video. It's fantastic, thanks so much.”
Elizabeth NolanSVP, Global Creative Director, Clinique“Thank you again for your around-the-clock work. The video is incredible and just what we wanted.”
Gregory MonizSenior Manager, Media & Digital Marketing, IWC Schaffhausen“Our CEO reviewed it this morning and he is very happy with the edit!”
Patti DayVP, Marketing & Creative Operations, Tiffany & Co.“Nice work. This is exactly what I was envisioning, the right amount of weirdness. Really cool.”
Roman ShumanSenior Creative Director, Washington Commanders“SUCH a fab sizzle reel. It was a pleasure working together.”
Danielle HolbertSenior Director, Marketing, Haircare, Moroccanoil“SO good! Really well done, Chris and team. The videos are AMAZING.”
Colleen StokesExecutive Creative Director, Bogg“You guys absolutely killed it. Appreciate the hard work and the quick turnarounds!”
Dylan GivensSenior Integrated Producer, Day One Agency, for e.l.f. Cosmetics“It's amazing! Truly so much more compelling than I thought was possible! Incredible job!”
Joon SilversteinChief Marketing Officer, Coach“Looks hot! Still obsessed with those plexiglass shots.”
Liam JamesSenior Producer, The Trust, WSJ | Barron's Group“We loved the type treatments on the Sephora videos so much, we want the same treatment across our videos moving forward.”
Rachel ParkSenior Creative Producer, Nutrafol“Wow! The video is incredible! My jaw is on the floor.”
Moira Gallagher FergusonAssistant Curator, Archives, Tiffany & Co.“This is epic! Love the coloring, it is going to look insane.”
Blaise BasileSenior Manager, Content Visuals, Washington Commanders“You've really helped us bring this story to life!”
Emma CiufoSenior Copy Director, Concept & Editorial, Coach“It really has been fantastic working with RIOT.”
“This looks amazing and everyone has approved!”
Megan LoopDirector, Video Production, Coach暴動
New York
Established 2015
A creative agency and production studio born in New York's East Village, making extraordinary stories since 2015.
RIOT was born in the summer of 2015, high above the Orpheum Theater in the East Village, a neighborhood of punk venues, late nights and walls layered with history: St. Mark's Place, CBGB, Mars Bar, Clockwork Bar. What began as a bold idea in a neighborhood full of them grew into a creative agency the most guarded brands in the world call first.
Today our studios are in Hudson Yards and Clifton, New Jersey, and our partnerships have outlasted every trend: more than a decade with Coach, and years alongside Tiffany & Co. and the Washington Commanders. We work inside a brand the way its own team would, sharing the vision, fueling the ambition and making work that lasts.
Our heartbeat is unmistakably New York, but our work travels. Wherever you are, we are ready to take the brief and make something unforgettable together.
Rooted in NYC.Trusted worldwide.
RIOT Creative Agency40.7559° N, 73.9970° Wriot.nyc
“We are the mavericks, the dream weavers, relentlessly pursuing the extraordinary.”
A creative agency decides how a brand looks, feels, sounds and behaves, then makes the work that proves it: the name, the identity, the campaign, the films, the photographs, the content and the experience. RIOT is a full service creative agency and production studio, so the people who have the idea are the people who shoot it, cut it and ship it. The longer answer is in our guide to creative agencies.
An advertising agency plans and buys media and writes the ads to fill it. A production company shoots what someone else has written. A creative agency builds the brand and makes the work, from the idea to the finished film, site or campaign. RIOT is a creative agency and a production studio, so we do the thinking and the making.
Branding and rebrands, design, market research and data analytics, strategy, creative storytelling, video and production, photography, social and marketing, websites and digital products, and SEO. In practice that means identities and positioning, campaigns, brand films and documentaries, sizzle reels, animation, product and tabletop, art and creative direction, music, commercial directing and the content that keeps a brand moving between launches. See every service.
It doesn't, but an idea loses something every time it changes hands. Our strategists, directors, designers and editors sit side by side in Hudson Yards and Clifton, New Jersey, so a concept goes from the whiteboard to the set to the edit without being diluted. It's faster, every asset speaks the same language, and the budget goes transparently where it needs to go for the benefit of the product. When the brief changes, and it always does, we change with it the same day.
We are a full creative agency, so we start with strategy and identity rather than a shot list. We make the work ourselves, in our own studios (or wherever we need to be), with our own crews. The brands that guard their images most closely keep coming back: Coach for more than a decade, Tiffany & Co., Cartier, the Washington Commanders and Clinique. Plenty of agencies can think and plenty of studios can shoot. Doing both at this level is rare.
Fashion, luxury, sports and fitness, beauty and wellness, music and entertainment, business and technology, amongst others. Fashion with Coach, luxury with Tiffany & Co., sports with the Washington Commanders, fitness with SoulCycle, wellness with Nutrafol, technology with AWS, and music on our own channels and bands like The Xcerts and Luke Sital-Singh. Every industry has its own calendar and its own audience; we know both.
Yes, and most of ours are. New York is where fashion, luxury, finance, media and sport meet, so that keeps us close to culture, but the work travels: campaigns for Tiffany & Co. and Coach run across continents, and we're happy to shoot wherever the story is. Wherever you are, we brief, review and create together.
RIOT was born in the summer of 2015, high above the Orpheum Theater in the East Village, among the punk venues and late nights of St. Mark's Place, CBGB, Mars Bar and Clockwork Bar. That instinct, having something to say and saying it loud, still runs through the work. Today our studios are in Hudson Yards and Clifton, New Jersey: punk roots, precise future.
As a tool for craft, never a replacement for it. In the studio that means a motion-controlled Cinebot Mini robot arm for repeatable, cinematic moves, RED V-RAPTOR XL cameras, ARRI Orbiter and SkyPanel and Aputure lighting, vintage cameras, lenses and VHS rigs for textures we would rather shoot than fake, and a sound room with analog preamps and a full backline. We also build our own software, from production tools to the platforms behind AltSounds and Muvvoo.
Because algorithms reward what already exists, and brands are remembered for what did not exist before. That does not mean ignoring the data. We study it closely, what people watch, where they stop and what they share, and combine it with our experience and instinct to make work that stands out and resonates. Lew Frankfort, who built Coach into a global brand, called it magic and logic. The best work needs both.
Collaborative, quick and direct. No silos and no layers of account managers: you work with the people making the work, from the first call to the final deliverable. We build it with you, rather than presenting it at you. We say what we think, and we move when the brief does. Our best partnerships are part creative lab, part trusted alliance.
As a standard, not a checkbox. Recycled and responsibly sourced materials, energy-efficient lighting and post-production, suppliers who share the same values, and vintage gear and furniture that keeps working instead of going to landfill. We would rather repair a tape machine than replace it, and yes, our 90s Pepsi vending machine still has a place in the studio.
Probably. We take on great projects at every budget, from a startup's first launch film to a global rebrand, because a good idea matters more to us than the size of the check. What changes with the budget is the scope, never the standard. A focused edit from footage you already own is a fraction of a rebrand with a launch campaign and a shoot, and work at that scale is priced for the team, the time and the craft it takes. We don't work from a rate card: send a brief and within a couple of business days we'll come back with a plan and a number that fits.
A social package can take days. A campaign usually takes four to eight weeks around the shoot. A rebrand runs a few months from strategy to launch. Tell us your date and we plan backwards from it.
Look at the work before the pitch, ask who will actually make it, and check how long their clients stay. A good creative agency partner shows you its thinking, its craft and its references, and is straight about cost and timing. Our guide to choosing a creative agency partner goes through it step by step.
Send a few lines through the brief. We read every brief the same day, set up a call or a meeting at the studio, and come back with a plan and a bid shaped around what you are making.
For the love of it
The RIOT journal: long reads on the artists, designers, musicians, architects and rebels behind how we think and how we make, from Alexander McQueen and Banksy to Hayao Miyazaki and Frank Lloyd Wright. Read one, then tell us yours.
Art & ExpressionAlexander McQueen: The Visionary Behind Fashion’s Dark Romanticism
Art & ExpressionDamon Albarn: The Relentless Creative Shaping Music and Culture
AI & Machine LearningRobert Del Naja (3D): Bristol, Massive Attack & the Beautiful Resistance
ArchitectureHow Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture Revolutionized Creativity
Art & ExpressionInto the Infinite: The Awakening of Alex Grey
Art & ExpressionThe Visionary World of Hayao Miyazaki: Crafting Dreams Through Animation
AI & Machine LearningDigital Prophet: The Max Headroom Phenomenon
Art & ExpressionThe Banksy Paradox: How Anonymity Built the Biggest Brand in ArtWhat we make when we're the client.
More is on the way, including software for business, music and filmmaking, and tools that bring order to data.
KrovaProduction software built by producers: crew, call sheets, schedules, timesheets and costs in one place.
Join the waiting list →
Just addedSONEMIA – Out of my mind
The music video channel we designed, built and run. New videos land every day, so leave it on.
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Fonts, film grain, presets, threads and books for independent creatives. Tools for cultural mischief.
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Cataloguing every music video ever made: credited, dated and connected.
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