S4 Capital merges MediaMonks and MightyHive into Media.Monks

S4 Capital is launching its unified brand by merging its content arm, MediaMonks, and data and digital media arm MightyHive into what will now be called Media.Monks. Its logo features MightyHive’s hexagon. The 24 companies previously under the dual-brand will now all be unified under Media.Monks, adopting the Media.Monks name and operating under one P&L. This unified brand was the plan for S4 from “day one,” Sir Martin Sorrell, executive chairman of S4 Capital, told Ad Age. “The traditional holding company model which was an earn-out model, we think it is no longer fit for purpose because it creates too many verticals,” says Sorrell, citing Publicis Groupe, which has "a Power of One mantra but a sign [in its lobby] touting nine different companies." While the brand name is being introduced now, the integration of the agencies has been in progress for a while. “Integration was really important,” co-founder of Media.Monks Lanya Zambrano says. “I would say before we even changed the name we've been working on shared clients for, I'd say a year now, it's really this point of inflection where now we have a complete name that we're under. From my perspective having our shared values, our people- first sort of mindset, is critical for this new brand.” Media.Monks will be led by about 50 co-founders. These "co-founders" are made up of the founders of the companies S4 has partnered with since inception, given that all of its deals include compensation of 50% stock and 50% cash. S4 will continue to seek out mergers, like its partnership with Salesforce specialist Destined, announced in July. Founders of companies Media.Monks merges with down the line will also become co-founders of the agency. “We've created what we call an API model based around six foundational structures,” Media.Monks Co-founder Wesley ter Haar told Ad Age. “We call them the six Cs. We have our client teams, country teams, capability teams, core teams, our corporate teams, which is corporate services like best-in-class HR and legal and finance, and then our category teams. Each of these teams have leadership and they define their interface to the rest of the organization.” The unification means the agency’s nearly 6,000 employees across 33 countries will adopt the same email domain and join the same Slack channel. However, the agency also encourages individuality through its “flexible brand framework.” According to a Media.Monks spokeswoman, the agency is made up of “brand expressions” which are “limitless,” and “can represent an individual's values and personality, a team within the organization or a location in the world.” Some examples include We are hiring.Monks and Los Angeles.Monks. This also includes categories such as Data.Monks, which will be led by Chris Martin, co-founder of Media.Monks, previously co-founder of MightyHive and Social.Monks, led by Bruno Lambertini, co-founder of Media.Monks and founder of the previously named Circus Marketing. “We believe that what builds a brand in this era isn’t its logo or a prescriptive style guide; it’s a platform to express the company, team and products in a wide variety of content and touchpoints, with the flexibility to adapt and show up in the right context,” Jouke Vuurmans, chief creative officer of Media.Monks, says. S4 Capital will remain the financial brand, publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange and deployed among investor, financial and banking stakeholders and in reports.

S4 Capital merges MediaMonks and MightyHive into Media.Monks

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