Be Social

What Be Social does

Be Social (legal name: The Digital Department) is a private digital communications company founded in 2012 and headquartered in Los Angeles, with an additional office in New York. The firm operates an influencer marketing agency branded The Digital Dept., offering brand strategy, talent management, experiential marketing (via its BRANDEdit format), and affiliate services to consumer brands across beauty, footwear, entertainment, eyewear, and beverage categories; its website lists case-study engagements with Polite Society, Vans, Magnolia Pictures, Eyebuydirect, and Happy Thursday.

In parallel, Be Social markets a technology product called be Retail Social, an AI-powered virtual try-on platform that uses animated, personalized human avatars to enable customers to virtually try on beauty and fashion products before purchasing. The technology is positioned as a B2B integration solution embedded directly into retailer e-commerce platforms, with stated plans to extend from beauty into fashion and apparel categories.

The company's go-to-market operates across two channels: B2B brand engagements via the influencer marketing agency and enterprise technology integrations via the virtual try-on platform. Debenhams is the single disclosed enterprise technology customer (announced April 2025), with the retailer's CEO noting tangible early benefits. Pricing for both business lines is not publicly disclosed, revenue is not reported, and no funding rounds, acquisitions, or leadership changes are documented in the available sources.

Name

Be Social

Legal name

The Digital Department

Website

https://besocialpr.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Be Social (The Digital Department) is a Los Angeles-based digital communications company operating an influencer marketing agency (The Digital Dept.) and an AI-powered virtual try-on platform (be Retail Social) for retail e-commerce in beauty and fashion.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Influencer Marketing Services

NAICS

Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418), Public Relations Agencies (54182)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Social Media & Community Management (BPAFAAAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Social Media Creative Agencies (Content & Community) (MPAAAAAE), Social & Digital Insights (Social Listening, Online Community Research) (MPAAALAK)

Keywords

• Influencer marketing
• Brand strategy
• Talent management
• Experiential marketing
• Affiliate marketing

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

Be Social (operating through The Digital Dept.) is a digital communications and influencer marketing agency delivering brand strategy, talent management, experiential marketing, and affiliate services to consumer brands. The company also offers be Retail Social, an AI-powered virtual try-on platform that integrates animated personalized human avatars into retailer e-commerce sites to enable virtual product try-on for beauty and fashion categories.

Product overview

Be Social operates as a virtual fitting room technology platform, branded as be Retail Social. The company offers a single core product—a virtual try-on platform—that enables retailers like Debenhams to integrate AI-powered virtual try-on solutions into their beauty and fashion segments. The technology leverages animated, personalized human avatars to enhance customer experience and enable seamless product visualization across platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brand Strategy Services

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• DebenhamscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 April 2025British online department store Debenhams has partnered with Be Social (be Retail Social) to integrate AI-powered virtual try-on solutions into its beauty segment. The partnership aims to enhance customer experience using animated, personalized human avatars for product visualization. Plans include expansion from beauty to fashion and apparel categories. Debenhams CEO Daniel Finley expressed confidence in the partnership with tangible early benefits noted.

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• HireInfluence: HireInfluence is an influencer marketing agency serving consumer and retail brands, comparable to the agency services reflected in The Digital Dept.'s website. It illustrates the broader competitive set for the influencer services side of Be Social's identity.
• Lalaland.ai: Lalaland.ai uses AI-generated human models for fashion e-commerce, a directly adjacent approach to Be Social's personalized human avatar try-on. It is more narrowly focused on fashion model imagery but shares the avatar-for-retail thesis.
• Aspire: Aspire operates an influencer marketing platform plus agency services for consumer brands, comparable to The Digital Dept.'s blend of brand strategy, talent management, and experiential campaigns. It shows the agency model at greater scale.
• Wannaby / AR try-on category players (e.g., Sephora Virtual Artist): Wannaby built AR-based virtual try-on for shoes and accessories before being acquired by Google, illustrating both the validated demand for Be Social's category and the consolidation risk from well-capitalized acquirers.
• IZEA: IZEA runs a creator marketing platform and agency services, broadly comparable to The Digital Dept.'s influencer marketing and brand strategy offering. It represents a publicly traded analog of the agency's business model.
• Obviously: Obviously is a full-service influencer marketing agency serving beauty and fashion brands, comparable to The Digital Dept.'s brand and experiential offering. It represents the agency-side overlap rather than the AI tech overlap.

Direct peers

• Perfect Corp: Perfect Corp builds AI- and AR-powered virtual try-on solutions for beauty and fashion retailers, the same core use case Be Social targets with Debenhams. It is a direct competitor in AI-driven product visualization for online retail.
• Obsess: Obsess builds immersive virtual store and virtual try-on experiences for fashion and beauty retailers. It competes with Be Social on the OEM/embedded integration model into retailer e-commerce sites.
• ModiFace: ModiFace (acquired by L'Oréal) provides AR/AI virtual try-on technology for beauty brands, overlapping directly with Be Social's be Retail Social platform. It is a deep-pocketed incumbent in the same technology category.
• Vue.ai: Vue.ai sells AI tools for fashion and apparel retailers, including virtual try-on and product visualization. It targets the same enterprise e-commerce buyer as Be Social.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/besocialpublicrelations
• Instagraminstagram.com/thedigitaldpt
• TikToktiktok.com/@thedigitaldept
• Xx.com/besocialgroup

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Be Social