• by Fern Siegel , February 9, 2026

New Engen will acquire Grapevine.AI, a creator-powered network that helps brands activate at scale through whitelisted paid social campaigns.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The move underscores the trend toward increasing budgets for creator vs. traditional ad placement. Since the pitch comes from the influencer, rather than a brand site, the ad gains authenticity.  The acquisition expands New Engen’s existing creator-focused performance capabilities within its broader digital-marketing offerings.

“Paid social has reached a point where scale no longer comes from spending more,” Justin Hayashi, CEO of New Engen, told Agency Daily. “As consumers spend more time with vertical, creator-led video, brands need a faster, more systematic way to produce and activate content that actually performs. Grapevine brings that capability, helping turn short-form creator content into a scalable growth lever.”

Grapevine works with a curated roster of more than 700 performance-minded creators, manages pre- and post-production and optimization in-house. It distributes creator-produced, advertorial-style content.

“New Engen and Grapevine already share clients, such as 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,” added Caroline Levere, Grapevine CEO.

New Engen's digital media work includes Oreo, Ocean Spray, Mondelez and Saratoga Spring Water. Grapevine.AI's brand work includes WeightWatchers, Keeps, Prose and Fabletics.