Be Social and Socialyte have merged to create The Digital Dept.
The two influencer agencies were acquired by Dolphin Entertainment — a marketing, publicity and production company headquartered in Florida — in 2020 and 2022, respectively. The new branch will be overseen by co-chief executive officers Ali Grant, founder of Be Social, and Sarah Boyd, formerly the president of Socialyte.
“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 chief executive officer Bill O’Dowd, who founded Dolphin Entertainment in 1996. “That is impossible to achieve today without the best leaders, tastemakers and relationship builders in the creator economy — and the merger of Be Social and Socialyte does just that, by creating an influencer relations powerhouse.”
In unifying, the aim is to “facilitate brand partnerships and creative strategy across diverse social media verticals,” according to Dolphin Entertainment, connecting pop culture and entertainment across industries.
With PR houses 42West, The Door and Shore Fire Media as subsidiaries, Dolphin Entertainment services brands in film, television, music, gaming and hospitality. The Digital Dept. will be able to tap into Dolphin Entertainment’s network. Meanwhile The Digital Dept., which now has a portfolio of more than 200 creators with a combined social reach of more than 200 million, provides Dolphin Entertainment with access to influencers and know-how in social media.
“Uniting our teams will deliver continued growth and immediate value to our creators and brands,” said Boyd. “Together, we will have even greater capabilities such as organic and paid influencer strategy for brands, coupled with production, marketing, earned media and crisis management offered by many of the Dolphin subsidiaries. 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,” added Grant. “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.”
The Digital Dept. has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville and Miami.
