Dolphin Entertainment's Leading Influencer Subsidiaries, Be Social and Socialyte, Announce Merger to Form The Digital Dept.

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.