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• Pioneering influencer firm Gleam Futures is shutting down its talent-management arm.
• Gleam was founded in 2010 by Dom Smales, and was fully acquired by ad giant Dentsu in 2020.
• Over a decade, Gleam had built a reputation as a company representing top UK and US digital talent.

It's the end of an era: the pioneering influencer agency Gleam Futures has sunset its talent-management arm, the company confirmed to Business Insider. It will continue to provide influencer-marketing services.

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Gleam was founded in 2010 by Dom Smales, and built a reputation as the talent-management firm representing some of the top digital talent in the UK, like lifestyle creators Zoe Sugg (5 million YouTube subscribers) and Tanya Burr (4 million Instagram followers).

The "Brit Crew," as these creators became known, was the first generation of influencers to break into the mainstream, launching their own brands, signing book deals, and starring in their own TV shows.

Ad giant Dentsu Aegis acquired a majority stake in Gleam in 2017 and took over as sole owner in 2020. In 2021, Dom Smales stepped down.

The company said in a statement that the decision came from the need to continue operating with efficiency "for both our own and our clients' businesses."

"In 2022 this saw us unite Dentsu's creative agencies globally, to simplify and modernise our offer. At the end of 2023 this also involved sunsetting the talent management arm of Gleam, so we no longer manage our own roster of talent," the statement said.

On the talent side, Gleam Futures had been undergoing changes for some time. In 2022, it shut down its US operations and laid off six employees.

"Dentsu have been reducing the number of brands as much as possible over the past few years to reduce complexity as a network," a former Dentsu exec told BI.

In 2023, Gleam Futures managers slowly began an exodus toward other UK talent firms, including InterTalent, Insanity, and HLD, bringing their talent with them. Former managing partner Melanie Kentish left in mid-2023 to start her own firm, Dopamine Studios, after just a year at the company.

The company's website went from showing a roster of over 60 talent in 2022 to just 20 in late 2023.

Gleam's influencer-marketing offering will continue to exist and be integrated with Dentsu Creative UK's Social and Earned team, led by joint managing director Julie Chadwick, according to Dentsu's statement.

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