The Merger Creates One of The Largest Creator Management and Marketing Companies in the U.S. and the Only Offering 360° Strategy, Earned Media, and Production Services Via Dolphin's Network of Agencies

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 19, 2023 / Dolphin Entertainment (NASDAQ:DLPN), the leader in entertainment marketing, today announced that their recently acquired influencer subsidiaries, Be Social and Socialyte, have merged to create The Digital Dept., immediately forming a best-in-class management and marketing company for the creator economy. Working alongside category-defining PR powerhouses 42West, Shore Fire Media and The Door within the Dolphin family, The Digital Dept. provides its clients unrivaled access to trend-setting pop culture and entertainment across the film, television, music, gaming, fashion, beauty, hospitality, tech and consumer products industries.

According to the State of Influencer Marketing 2023, Benchmark Report:

• Influencer marketing has grown into a $21.1 billion industry.
  • This is a significant increase of 29% from $16.4 billion in the previous year.
• More Than 80% of respondents intend to dedicate a budget to Influencer Marketing in 2023
• 67% of respondents intend to increase their influencer marketing spend in 2023
• 23% of respondents intend to spend more than 40% of their marketing budget on influencer marketing

"In building this group of world-class marketers over the past six years, we have continuously held that the future of marketing is in creating and influencing culture, sparking two-way conversations and earning a place in consumers' lives," said Bill O'Dowd, Dolphin Founder & CEO. "That is impossible to achieve today without access to the best leaders, tastemakers and relationship builders in the creator economy - and the merger of Be Social and Socialyte provides just that, by creating an influencer relations powerhouse."

Led by Co-CEOs Sarah Boyd and Ali Grant, The Digital Dept. expects to revolutionize the influencer industry by building the largest full-service provider of talent management, brand campaigns (both strategy and execution) and influencer events. With a portfolio of over 200 exclusively managed creators already, that boast a combined social reach of over 200 million, the merger represents a unified firm that will facilitate brand partnerships and creative strategy across diverse social media verticals.

The Digital Dept.'s business development funnel is already unique in the industry, given the synergies and scale to mine opportunities from the roster of thousands of clients across the Dolphin subsidiaries. Conversely, all Dolphin companies, their employees and clients now have access to The Digital Dept.'s expertise in socializing new trends in media as well as direct connections to the biggest influencers with the most engagement across all lifestyle sectors.

"Uniting our teams will deliver continued growth and immediate value to our creators and brands," said Sarah Boyd, The Digital Dept. Co-CEO & CRO. "Together, we will have even greater capabilities such as comprehensive organic and paid influencer strategy for brands, coupled with the very best production, marketing, earned media and crisis management services across the Dolphin family. Match that with a diverse talent management roster and additional experiential and event capabilities to continue to reinvent the approach to digital awareness and advance our overall company agenda and mission."

"By coming together, we are creating and extending new opportunities in the way of brand relationships, connections and reach for our collective partners and creators," said Ali Grant, The Digital Dept. Co-CEO & CMO. "Our growing team and roster paired with our Dolphin portfolio of agencies allows us to better serve our client's needs in ways that simply haven't existed before, from the creation of broad awareness campaigns at the largest of scales to the smallest details of product development and sales growth."

Boyd and Grant recognized the power of digital creators early on and have worked with an impressive list of global brands curating a network of strategic partnerships aimed at amplifying and elevating brand storytelling.

The company has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, and Miami. Learn more at TheDigitalDept.com and follow on instagram @thedigitaldpt.

About Dolphin Entertainment, Inc.

Dolphin Entertainment is a leading independent entertainment marketing and production company. Through our subsidiaries 42West, The Door and Shore Fire Media, we provide expert strategic marketing and publicity services to many of the top brands, both individual and corporate, in the film, television, music, gaming and hospitality industries. All three PR firms have been ranked among the most recent Observer's "Power 50" PR Firms in the United States. Viewpoint Creative, The Digital Dept. complement their efforts with full-service creative branding and production capabilities as well as social media and influencer marketing services. Dolphin's legacy content production business, founded by Emmy-nominated CEO Bill O'Dowd, has produced multiple feature films and award-winning digital series, and has recently entered into a multi-year agreement with IMAX to co-produce feature documentaries. To learn more, visit: https://www.dolphinentertainment.com.

About The Digital Dept.

The Digital Dept. is a leading full-service influencer marketing and talent management firm providing brand strategy and creator representation. Born from a merger between the two top influencer companies, Be Social and Socialyte, The Digital Dept. is your source for all things influencer. The Digital Dept. represents 200+ exclusively managed creators with a social footprint of over 200 million across a number of verticals. From traditional celebrity talent to digital-first creators, the company facilitates brand partnerships and creative strategy to build influencer businesses on and offline. The Digital Dept. provides influencer marketing strategy for brands through the concept ideation, casting, and execution of influencer marketing campaigns. Through live experiences, such as captivating events and creative mailers, we effectively harness the power of social influence. Led by Co-CEOs Sarah Boyd and Ali Grant, The Digital Dept. is the go-to for all things influencer. To learn more, visit: TheDigitalDept.com.

This press release contains 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward-looking statements may address, among other things, Dolphin Entertainment Inc.'s offering of common stock as well as expected financial and operational results and the related assumptions underlying its expected results. These forward-looking statements are distinguished by the use of words such as "will," "would," "anticipate," "expect," "believe," "designed," "plan," or "intend," the negative of these terms, and similar references to future periods. These views involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and, accordingly, Dolphin Entertainment's actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in its forward-looking statements. Dolphin Entertainment's forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this press release. Factors or events Dolphin Entertainment cannot predict, including those described in the risk factors contained in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, may cause its actual results to differ from those expressed in forward-looking statements. Although Dolphin Entertainment believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved, and Dolphin Entertainment undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

Contact:

James Carbonara/Hayden IR
(646)-755-7412
james@haydenir.com

SOURCE: Dolphin Entertainment