PLMR, the Westminster-headquartered communications agency, has acquired Social Communications Group for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.
Published 12th Oct 2026, 11:14 BST
The deal creates a communications company with annual income of around £12m and 110 staff working from offices in Westminster, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Coventry, Ipswich and Glasgow.
Social was founded by University of Leeds graduate John Quinton-Barber in 2012 in Sale, on the outskirts of Manchester, and its clients include infrastructure providers, housing associations, developers, local authorities and universities.
Mr Quinton-Barber will continue to lead Social and has committed to stay with the business for a minimum of four years. He also joins the PLMR Group Operational Board.
A spokesman said: “The deal comes as the centre of gravity in British government shifts from Whitehall to the English regions, just 10 weeks after the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, set out the biggest transfer of power out of Westminster in a generation.”
Under a Cabinet statement issued in July, mayors will keep a share of locally raised income tax and business rates and take greater control over transport investment, the spokesman added. New strategic authorities are also due to be operating by the end of 2028.
The spokesman continued: “That model of government was built in Greater Manchester. Social was founded there and has since expanded into Yorkshire and the Liverpool city region.
"Its clients across these regions are working in close partnership with directly elected mayors, combined authorities and devolved settlements that the rest of England is now being asked to follow.”
Social has worked with every mayoral combined authority in the North and supported the Convention of the North group of northern mayors, civic and business leaders for six years.
Mr Quinton-Barber said: “I started Social because I believed our industry could do communications in housing, placemaking and regeneration better, and because I wanted to build a business rooted in people.
“Fourteen years on, I could not be prouder of what we have built and, most importantly, the brilliant team who have built it with me.
“Greater Manchester showed the country what happens when decisions are taken by people who know the place, and the devolution agenda has had a significant impact across the North in recent years.
"Our clients have been embracing place-based working for years. The rest of England is now catching up, and with PLMR we can take what we have learned here to clients wherever devolution reaches.
“For some time, I have been thinking about what the next chapter for Social should look like. I didn’t want a deal for the sake of doing a deal. It had to be with the right people, with a business I genuinely respected, and it had to create opportunities for our clients and our colleagues that we simply couldn’t create on our own.”
“That is why I believe this is such a brilliant deal for Social. I have great respect for PLMR. This feels like a genuine partnership and a coming together of two businesses that can make each other stronger.”
Kevin Craig, founder and CEO of PLMR Group, said: “Every agency in this country is facing a market that is changing faster than its business model. Some will wait to see what happens. We have chosen to build something with the scale and the range to shape it.”