Dolphin Entertainment Acquires Influencer Marketing Powerhouse Socialyte

MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / November 14, 2022 / Dolphin Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLPN) has brought leading influencer marketing agency Socialyte into its family of best-in-class entertainment marketing agencies in an immediately accretive acquisition. New York-based Socialyte joins Los Angeles-based influencer marketing agency Be Social within Dolphin, alongside preeminent Entertainment PR firms 42West, Shore Fire Media and The Door, and creative agency Viewpoint.

Launched in 2011, Socialyte is an influencer marketing powerhouse, with teams in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Nashville representing some of the most sought-after creators, from digital-only to celebrity-level talent. Socialyte has a client roster of more than 125 market-leading influencers, including Jana Kramer, Lauren Bushnell Lane, Catt Sadler, Mary Fitzgerald and Wendy Nguyen of Wendy's Lookbook, to name a few. Socialyte secures thousands of campaigns for its talent each year with such leading brands as Amazon, American Express, Bose, Cartier, Dyson, Honest, Olay, Target and more.

Lytehouse, Socialyte's sister agency, represents some of the world's most iconic brands, providing the full suite of services for influencer campaigns, from strategy and casting, through execution and delivery, with in-depth analytics and reporting. The company delivers hundreds of campaigns annually, with current and recent clients including Airbnb, Amazon, American Express, Ann Taylor, Armani Beauty, Audi, Boll & Branch, Clarisonic, Conde Nast, Etsy, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Michael Kors, Nutribullet, Perrier, Prada, Ralph Lauren and W Hotels.

"Socialyte's client roster speaks for itself, and we are so thrilled to welcome the company into the Dolphin family," states Dolphin CEO Bill O'Dowd. "Led by an absolutely terrific senior management team with deep industry experience, Socialyte enjoys a sterling reputation for white-glove customer service. From Socialyte's base in New York and Be Social's base in Los Angeles, we believe we have established the absolute bi-coastal market leader in influencer marketing."

The influencer marketing industry has experienced strong double-digit CAGR growth over the past 5 years, increasing from global brand spend of less than $2B in 2016 to over $10B in 2021, with estimates of more than $14B in 2022, according to GrandView Research. In 2021, Fashion and Lifestyle was the largest segment with 29% of total spend (the specialty of Socialyte, Lythouse and Be Social), with Food & Entertainment as the second largest segment with 23% of total spend (the specialty of Dolphin's 3 market-leading PR firms). Furthermore, many influencers have become celebrities in their own right, and have launched a wide array of consumer products and business ventures.

"Influencer marketing is a strong growth area for the industry in general, and for Dolphin in particular," continued O'Dowd. "We now have tremendous scale in this incredibly fast-growing marketing vertical, which provides clients greater choice in influencer partners, unmatched expertise across the fashion, beauty, lifestyle and entertainment industries, and the ability to expand quickly into new platforms and influencer groups across a dynamic, evolving marketplace."

Evan Luzzatto, Chairman of Socialyte, adds: "The group of marketing companies that Dolphin has under one roof is astonishing, each of which is a leader in their respective vertical. The depth and breadth of their relationships across every major area of lifestyle and entertainment is unparalleled. We ultimately decided to join Dolphin because we know it will unlock the greatest potential for Socialyte and Lytehouse, benefitting the creators we represent, as well as our marquee brand clients. For over a decade, Socialyte's work has helped shape influencer marketing, and the overall creator ecosystem. This partnership will enable us to shape the industry for many, many years to come."

Socialyte will work alongside new sister agency Be Social, a leading influencer marketing agency in its own right, based in Los Angeles. Be Social manages nearly 100 top creators, including Remi Ishizuka, Becca Tilley, Witney Carson, Christine Le, and The LadyGang, and runs influencer campaigns for a variety of leading brands, including Canva and Lulu's. Together, Be Social + Socialyte represent over 200 leading creator talent with hundreds of millions of followers on social media. Socialyte and Be Social operating under one roof immediately creates an unrivalled bi-coastal combination within the influencer marketing industry.

By joining Dolphin's Super Group of Entertainment Marketing agencies, Socialyte now has access to the resources and relationships of industry leading PR firms 42West (Film + Television), Shore Fire Media (Music) and The Door (Culinary, Hospitality and Consumer Products), as well as award-winning creative agency Viewpoint. Collectively, the Dolphin companies represent over 1,000 clients, including global celebrities, feature films, television series, streaming services, musicians, venues, festivals, video game publishers, eSports teams and leagues, culinary celebrities, hotels, toy companies, consumer product brands and Web3 projects, as well as awards campaigns for nominees in over 100 Oscar, Emmy and Grammy categories in 2022 alone.

"I'm beyond excited to be working alongside the incredible businesses at Dolphin Entertainment, including Ali and the team at Be Social as well as the very best PR firms in the entertainment industry," stated Socialyte President, Sarah Boyd. "Not only will the synergies between our companies set us and our clients up for continued success, but with the power of the full Dolphin team behind us, we can now best deliver on our talent's limitless creative ideas and ambition."

Socialyte and its 40-employee team will continue to operate under its own name out of Dolphin's New York and L.A. offices, with Sarah Boyd remaining as CEO, and its entire senior leadership team and full staff welcomed into the Dolphin family of agencies. Furthermore, Socialyte Chairman Evan Luzzatto will continue as an advisor to Dolphin CEO Bill O'Dowd.

K&L Gates LLP served as legal counsel to Dolphin Entertainment. FTI advised Socialyte on the transaction, and Rooney Nimmo served as legal counsel to Socialyte.

About Dolphin Entertainment

Dolphin Entertainment is a leading independent entertainment marketing and production company. Through our subsidiaries 42West, The Door, Shore Fire Media and B/HI (a division of 42West), 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 and Be Social 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. In early 2022, Dolphin launched WCIP (pronounced We Come In Peace), its new marketing, consulting and communications agency focused solely on developing and marketing blockchain, metaverse and Web3 projects and initiatives, for both current and future clients, as well as wholly-owned project investments. To learn more, visit: https://www.dolphinentertainment.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.

About Socialyte

Socialyte is a digital influencer & celebrity talent management agency that has been at the forefront of influencer management since its inception in 2011. Socialyte exclusively represents over 100 sought-after creators from digital-only to celebrity-level talent, facilitating sponsorships, brand licensing, and creative strategy to build influencer partnerships in the digital space. Lytehouse is a creative, full-service influencer marketing agency that helps brands achieve and surpass business goals through the power of digital influence. Comprising leading casting directors, talent strategists, brand partnership managers, and creative producers, Lytehouse works with brand partners at every stage of the influencer marketing campaign process to deliver a 360-degree digital strategy that achieves brand goals.

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

SOURCE: Dolphin Entertainment, Inc.