Pfeiffer Consulting — the bicoastal marketing and events agency launched in 2013 by tastemaker expert and indie film aficionado Darin Pfeiffer — has announced a rebrand and new moniker to match the company’s expanded services. The firm will be known as The Impact Agency, effective immediately.

Pfeiffer and his firm are known for producing red carpet and hybrid events and curating guest lists for auteur-driven films and tastemaker screenings but he and his team have expanded their work recently, largely to better navigate the changing landscape of media and the increasing importance of social media, mailers, influencers and word-of-mouth campaigns. Though part of the shift, or at least the timing of it, is due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended the events industry and the way studios, streamers and marketers have promoted content.

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The Impact Agency’s expanded services include word-of-mouth social media activations; promotional mailers and gifting services such as inspired boxes, premium meal deliveries and other promotional materials; celebrity, influencer and press list curation to curate lists that elevate the profile of events, activations and launches; event production and red carpet management; and celebrity support for social causes. The Impact Agency also offers strategic counsel for content launches with impactful social media engagement and nonprofit word-of-mouth campaigns.

“As much as I always wanted to make sure that our events were as cool and exclusive as possible, the goal of them was not to just have a great party but to have great word of mouth for films and TV shows. Historically, that was accomplished through the red carpet,” Pfeiffer explained. “Traditional media has changed so much over the years and it has not been delivering the results that it used to.”

As their work expanded in an organic way to evolve with the landscape, the pandemic accelerated the shift as Hollywood was forced to adapt with virtual premieres while also relying on social media engagement, custom mailers and other initiatives. During this latest phase of the pandemic as in-person events are becoming more popular, Pfeiffer says his Impact team is primed to deal with the current reality: “Those elements that we were already teeing up are more relevant now than ever.”

Pfeiffer was quick to point out that while the landscape has changed and his firm will continue to have an impact through its menu of services, “nothing will ever replace seeing a film on the big-screen, handshakes in the room and introducing actors to a director they’ve never met. That is still the core of what we do. That’s why I started the company and that’s our soul. We’re just adding layers on top of that. All of it is based on our love of quality content and our relationships with filmmakers and showrunners.”

As part of the shift, Pfeiffer has hired several new staffers and promoted Alana Yankowitz from director of events and publicity to vp of marketing and events, charged with overseeing event management of red carpet premieres and tastemaker screenings as well as social publicity strategy and execution. She’s based in L.A. He’s also upped Kayla Weinman to director of events for New York and Carly Grant to director of operations for L.A. and New York.

“It is an incredibly exciting time for us, as a team, to usher in this new model of screening and hybrid events and help our clients adapt to the evolving media and social publicity landscape. As The Impact Agency, we are able to fully utilize our long-standing filmmaker and talent relationships in a way that provides increased ROI through both red carpet events and online marketing campaigns,” said Yankowitz.

Through Pfeiffer Consulting, Pfeiffer and his team have in the past hosted exclusive events for Moonlight, The Shape of Water, Parasite, Nomadland, Killing Eve, I Am Not Your Negro, Life, Animated, O.J. Made in America; producing IFC Films annual Independent Spirit Awards parties since 2015, curating lists for holiday, Oscar and anniversary parties for A24, Amazon Studios and Bleecker Street, and producing the launch and anniversary events for NYC’s Metrograph.

They’ve curated lists and events for films from leading indie directors like Sofia Coppola, Terrence Malick, Gaspar Noé, Harmony Korine, Lars von Trier and Richard Linklater, and worked with such companies as AMC, Focus Features, Fox Searchlight, HBO Max, Hulu, Magnolia Pictures, Neon, Paramount+, Showtime, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and others.

Prior to founding his firm, Pfeiffer worked for actress, producer and renowned awards season insider Colleen Camp at her Los Angeles office. He then moved cross country to New York where he further cut his teeth on the film and events scene there.