New Engen Expands Creator-Powered Offering with Acquisition of Grapevine
Deal reflects shift toward creator-led paid social, expanding New Engen’s capabilities for scalable, measurable creator content and whitelisted distribution
SEATTLE, Feb. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New Engen today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Grapevine, a creator-powered performance content network that helps brands produce authentic creator content and activate it at scale through whitelisted paid social campaigns.
The acquisition reflects a broader shift in paid social, as brands increasingly move budgets toward creator-produced content and whitelisted distribution, blurring the lines between creative, influencer, and media execution. With Grapevine, New Engen expands its creator-focused offering and addresses a key constraint in paid social: scalable, authentic creator content at volume.
“As media buying becomes increasingly automated, creative and audience access are emerging as the primary growth levers in paid social,” said Justin Hayashi, CEO at New Engen. “Creator-led content isn’t just a format shift—it’s becoming growth infrastructure. Grapevine strengthens our ability to help brands scale that infrastructure with measurable impact.”
Grapevine works with a curated roster of more than 700 performance-minded creators, provides strategic briefing and guidance aligned to business objectives, manages pre- and post-production and optimization in-house, and distributes creator-produced, advertorial-style content through creator and publisher whitelisting on paid social channels. This model enables brands to move beyond brand-handle-only advertising while maintaining strong CPA and ROAS. In addition to paid social, Grapevine supports brands with high-performing editorial, blog, and long-form creator content.
“This partnership gives Grapevine the scale and infrastructure to expand what we can offer brands while continuing to focus on creator-led performance,” said Caroline Levere, CEO and co-founder of Grapevine. “New Engen and Grapevine already share clients like Arrae and Rugiet, and this is a natural next step that allows us to accelerate our vision and deliver more creative, media, and measurement capabilities to our clients.”
This acquisition expands New Engen’s existing creator-focused performance capabilities within its broader full-funnel digital marketing offering, complementing its creative, influencer, media, and measurement capabilities. Donut Studios delivers high-volume creative from brand handles, Grapevine scales creator-produced content through whitelisted creator accounts, and New Engen’s influencer capability drives brand and retail partnerships.
Nick Shah, CEO of Artisan Ventures, co-founded Grapevine and will support Grapevine’s transition into the New Engen creator ecosystem. Grapevine was represented by PALAZZO in the transaction.
About New Engen
New Engen is a digital marketing agency driving impact for brands across every phase of the customer journey – maximizing it, measuring it, and repeating it. Through a genuine passion for building brands, a relentless desire to challenge the status quo, and deep digital expertise across hundreds of brands and verticals, we put our clients on the cutting edge of what’s possible in digital marketing. Managing over $1B in annual ad spend, New Engen maintains top-tier partnerships with major digital platforms. The agency has earned numerous recent accolades, including the U.S. Agency Awards’ Marketing Agency of the Year and Independent Agency of the Year (2025), the Digiday Awards’ Most Innovative Agency (2025), Inc. 5000's Fastest Growing Companies (2021—2025), and Adweek's Fastest Growing Agencies (2023—2025). Learn more at www.newengen.com.
About Grapevine
Grapevine is a creator-powered performance content network and full-service creative partner for paid social. The company works with leading consumer brands to produce and activate creator-driven creative at scale through whitelisted campaigns. Grapevine partners with a curated roster of more than 700 creators and combines strategic briefing, in-house production, optimization, and paid activation to help brands scale creative output and improve paid social efficiency. Learn more at www.grapevine.ai.
Media Contact Alyssa Gay agay@newengen.com
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