Dolphin Entertainment Expands Marketing Group with Acquisition of Viewpoint Creative

MIAMI, Nov. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dolphin Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLPN), a publicly-traded independent producer of premium feature films and digital content, and the parent company of PR powerhouses 42West and The Door, today announced a strategic addition to its suite of marketing-services companies with the acquisition of Viewpoint Creative, a full-service boutique creative branding and production agency that has earned a reputation as one of the top producers of promotional and brand-support videos for a wide variety of leading cable networks, media companies and consumer-product brands.

Viewpoint's roster of media and entertainment clients includes A&E Networks, AMC Network, Discovery Networks, ESPN, HBO, National Geographic Channel, and Showtime, among others. Consumer-brand clients have included Applebee's, Gillette, JC Penney, Hershey's, Microsoft, Reebok, Staples, and Wendy's.

Pursuant to the terms of the transaction agreement, Dolphin has agreed to pay an aggregate purchase price of $2 million, before adjustments, comprising $750,000 in cash and $500,000 in shares of Dolphin common stock at closing, together with an additional $750,000 in cash payable in three equal payments of $250,000 on the six, twelve and eighteen-month anniversaries of closing.  The purchase price is based on Viewpoint being free of debt and having normalized levels of cash and working capital.

"We believe that the acquisition of Viewpoint offers us tremendous strategic opportunities," said Dolphin Entertainment CEO Bill O'Dowd.  "We intend to immediately capitalize on operating synergies with 42West and The Door, both of which have identified the ability to create content for clients as a top priority and an increasingly critical competitive advantage in the entertainment- and lifestyle-marketing space. 42West, by way of example, has already made a big splash in Hollywood with the extremely successful promotional piece it did last month for the Lionsgate release 'A Simple Favor,' and is in the process of lining up several similar projects. With its full-service capabilities, Viewpoint gives us the ability to rapidly scale this business and service our clients directly, without having to outsource the physical production and post-production work."

Viewpoint's capabilities run the full range of creative branding and production, from concept creation to final delivery, and include: Brand Strategy; Concept and Creative Development; Design & Art Direction; Script & Copywriting; Live Action Production & Photography; Digital Development; Video Editing & Composite; Animation; Audio Mixing & Engineering; Project Management; and Technical Support.

"We believe that this is the perfect opportunity to grow our business," said Carlo DiPersio, Founder and President of Viewpoint.  "We already like to think of ourselves as a "go-to" shop for our solid foundation of television network clients, but we now have the opportunity to work for the movie studio and streaming services clients of 42West and the lifestyle and hospitality brand clients of The Door.  And, as a creative and production agency, we find that incredibly exciting.  We couldn't be more thrilled to join the Dolphin family."

As part of Dolphin Entertainment, Viewpoint will continue to operate under its own name and be led by its existing management team, including Carlo DiPersio as President and David Shilale as Executive Vice-President.

Scott Leff of TobinLeff, LLC advised Viewpoint.  Greenberg Traurig LLP served as legal counsel to Dolphin Entertainment and Davis Malm & D'Agostine, P.C. for Viewpoint.

This press release does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale.  The shares of common stock to be issued in the acquisition have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements.

About Dolphin Entertainment, Inc.
Dolphin Entertainment is a leading independent entertainment marketing and premium content development company. Through our subsidiaries 42West and The Door, we provide expert strategic marketing and publicity services to many of the top brands, both individual and corporate, in the entertainment and hospitality industries. The Door and 42West are both recognized global leaders in PR services for their respective industries and, in December 2017, the New York Observer listed them, respectively, as the third and fourth most powerful PR firms of any kind in the United States. Bringing together premium marketing services with premium content production creates significant opportunities to serve our respective constituents more strategically and to grow and diversify our business. Dolphin's content production business is a long-established, leading independent producer, committed to distributing premium, best-in-class film and digital entertainment. We produce original feature films and digital programming primarily aimed at family and young adult markets.

About Viewpoint Creative
Founded in 1988, Viewpoint Creative is a full-service boutique creative branding and production agency headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts. The company occupies 12,000 square feet in the Chapel Bridge Complex, which serves as home base to a staff of more than two dozen creatives, including creative directors, writers, designers, animators and producers, as well as a full array of production assets, including seven edit rooms, multiple seats of After Effects and Cinema 4D, an internal cyc'd production studio and a surround-sound mix studio.

Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
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's 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
[email protected]

SOURCE Dolphin Entertainment, Inc.

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