Tuesday, 13 October 2026 09:00 AM
Company Update
Agency Expands Purpose-Driven Portfolio with a Fast-Scaling Movement That Has Connected 100,000+ Neighbors Across 40+ Cities, Largely on Its Own
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESS Newswire / October 13, 2026 / Elle Communications, a subsidiary of Dolphin (Nasdaq:DLPN), has been named communications and thought leadership agency for The Longest Table. The Longest Table is a movement rebuilding trust and connection at the neighborhood level through one of humanity's oldest traditions, sharing a meal, and it is built on a free, open model that any resident can run without the organization in the room.
The Longest Table began in 2022, when co-founders Maryam Banikarim and Andrew Lerner set a single giant table on a Chelsea street and invited neighbors to a potluck. 500 people showed up, and the flagship event now draws more than 2,000. The movement has since supported more than 200 tables in more than 40 cities, across 26 states and Puerto Rico plus international locations, and connected more than 100,000 neighbors. What makes the growth notable is how organically it has happened. Someone sees a table, or sits at one, and wants to bring it home. Banikarim and a small band of volunteers and freelancers are there to tell them they can, then help them do it, with a toolkit and coaching so each table fits its own neighborhood. Demand has grown swiftly, with more than 2,000 people writing in asking to host their own, more than current capacity can serve. The Longest Table has built the tangible social infrastructure America is starving for.
The model has spread across an unusually broad cross-section of American life. Most tables are neighbor-led, organized by everyday residents who want to know the people on their block, from Harlem to Emporia, Kansas. Local groups of every kind have made it their own: the Brooklyn Heights Association, Army of Good in Memphis, the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, the Hudson Square BID, giving circles, churches and JCCs. Parks like The Underline in Miami and Gotham Park in New York have opened their space to it. Middle schoolers in Clinton, New York, have hosted it twice. It has reached campuses from the University of Akron to Vanderbilt to the University of Montana, and even the plaza in front of 30 Rockefeller Center. Tables have also gone up in San Juan, Paris and Buenos Aires. Institutional supporters include the Knight Foundation, Anew, Workday and Nextdoor Foundation.
"Maryam has done something remarkable," said Silvie Snow-Thomas, President of Elle Communications. "She spent thirty years as a five-time chief marketing officer building belonging for the world's biggest brands, and then she built the real thing in neighborhoods, one of the most efficient, scalable models in the country for rebuilding trust. At a moment when trust and belonging are what every leader and every brand is chasing, she is exactly the voice they need to hear, and we're proud to help amplify it."
Elle will lead a thought leadership program that positions Banikarim as a credible, optimistic voice on trust, belonging, community building and social connection. The program is aimed at the funders, corporate leaders and cultural conveners who can help scale the movement. It includes:
- Speaking: Elle will secure high-level stages that build Banikarim's authority and put her in rooms with funders, brands and cultural leaders.
- Business and marketing media: Drawing on Banikarim's 25+ years as a five-time CMO, Elle will position her to make the contrarian case that community is something brands spend billions chasing and cannot buy, and to show how real connection is actually built.
- Events: Elle will bring top-tier media, key opinion leaders, and decision-makers to tables in NYC and beyond to have the communal experience themselves.
The appointment strengthens Elle's position in the growing market for purpose-driven thought leadership, as brands, foundations and corporate leaders treat trust, community and social connection as strategic priorities. It also opens a clear path to brand and corporate partnership, as companies increasingly look for credible, measurable ways to build community with the audiences they are trying to reach. It builds on Elle's work with mission-driven organizations and founder-led platforms and connects The Longest Table to Dolphin's broader marketing consortium and its brand, cultural and live-event expertise.
"You don't have to wait to be invited. The Longest Table shows that each of us has the agency to rebuild community, one table at a time. Elle understands that this is serious work, and we're excited to bring this conversation to a much bigger stage," said Maryam Banikarim, founder and CEO of The Longest Table.
In an era where everything from our feeds to our interactions feels synthetic and performative, we've retreated behind our deadbolts. We aren't just isolated; we're guarded, anxious, and exhausted by manufactured connection. Eighty-five percent of us rarely or never share a meal with a neighbor or feel comfortable asking for a favor, and without that basic connection, our entire local safety net disappears. We don't need another app, a corporate wellness panel, or an algorithm telling us how to bond. We need something undeniable. That's what Maryam Banikarim delivers with The Longest Table. Stripping away the pretense, she took the overthinking out of being in community and treated it like a classic, unpretentious recipe: shut down the block, roll out a thousand feet of table on raw city asphalt, and give people the permission they've been waiting for to drop their defenses.
Banikarim is a C-suite executive with 25 years of experience in marketing and brand leadership. She has held senior marketing roles at Nextdoor, Hyatt Hotels, Gannett, NBCUniversal and Univision, and is co-chair of the WSJ CMO Council. She has delivered a TED talk, a commencement address at Columbia Business School and a baccalaureate address at Hamilton College. She also hosts Messy Parts, a podcast featuring candid conversations with leaders such as Samantha Bee and Mickey Drexler. During the pandemic shutdown, she co-founded NYCNext, mobilizing 700 volunteers. Its projects included "A Moment for Broadway," a live pop-up performance in Times Square, and an Emmy-winning music video-a star-studded 2021 rendition of Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind." She later helped lead the WE LOVE NYC campaign to celebrate the city and mobilize civic action.
About Dolphin
Dolphin (NASDAQ:DLPN) is where cultural creation meets marketing execution. Founded in 1996 by Bill O'Dowd, Dolphin operates as both a venture studio developing and investing in breakthrough content, products, and experiences and a marketing consortium, featuring leading agencies across every communications discipline.
At its core, the venture studio creates, produces, finances, markets, and promotes new businesses and cultural ideas - ranging from acclaimed film, television, and digital content to consumer goods, live events and partnerships that define entertainment and lifestyle. Surrounding this entrepreneurial engine, Dolphin's marketing prowess brings together best-in-class firms including 42West, The Door, Shore Fire Media, Elle Communications, Special Projects and The Digital Dept. Together, this collective delivers unmatched cross-marketing expertise and relationships across every vertical of pop culture - from film, television, music, influencers, sports, hospitality, and fashion to consumer brands and purpose-driven initiatives. Dolphin marketing has been the recipient of many accolades, including #1 Agency of the Year on the Observer PR Power List in 2025, The PR Net 100, and the PR News Elite 120.
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SOURCE: Dolphin Entertainment