S4 Capital unites MediaMonks and Mighty Hive under Media.Monks name

Instead of smashing together existing names of companies, S4 Capital has taken a different route as it merges MediaMonks and MightyHive into Media.Monks – a name the industry is already familiar with. However, keeping the MightyHive spirit thriving, the new dynamic logo marks that features of MightyHive’s iconic hexagon. The single brand emphasizes on a shared heritage in creative content and roots in data and digital.

According to the company, the merger will unify a team of nearly 6,000 digital-first experts working as a single P&L across 57 talent hubs in 33 countries. As the operational brand, Media.Monks underpins S4 Capital’s agility, digital knowledge and efficiency and is the next step in delivering on its foundational promise to unify content, data and digital media and technology services, said the company in a press statement.

Meanwhile, S4 Capital will remain the financial brand, publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange and deployed amongst investor, financial and banking stakeholders and in reports.

“The traditional, analogue holding company model is over 70 years old, dating back to Marion Harper and IPG in the 1950s and cries out for disruptive change,” said Sir Martin Sorrell, S4 Capital executive chairman. He added that digital has altered the landscape permanently and brands need a different type of organisation to execute and show up for their customers at every moment in the journey––purely digital, with data-driven creative and content, faster, better, cheaper, and with a single P&L.

“So far, S4 Capital has brought together 24 companies that have each disrupted their industry in complementary ways, buying into our mission to create a new age/new era advertising and marketing services model and disrupting the old,” he added.

Earlier this year, the company launched its API-inspired organisational structure, designed to ignite collaboration and fuel innovation by connecting its different types of teams: countries, core, client, categories, capabilities and corporate. The hexagon, previously representative of MightyHive, has been adapted to symbolise this structure and the six components it connects. The API combines disciplines globally to provide Media.Monks clients access to subject matter experts, while creating ownable space for S4 Capital’s ambitious merger model and the entrepreneurs that join. 

“The single brand was not a boardroom decision. It involved input from a broad range of teams and talent, and many of our founders,” added Media.Monks co-founder Wesley ter Haar. "For our people, this means they’re all colleagues and can build amazing careers across the globe and keep going and growing. For our clients, it means they keep the same team and the day-to-day they love—but now have even simpler access to an amazingly deep pool of specialist talent.”

He added that consolidation “is an engine to innovate” and this makes it easier to help clients.

The API is reflected in the new dynamic logo mark that activates a flexible brand framework in which "media" becomes a variable. Teams within the six operational components can personalise and express themselves within the framework using a new internal tool, Brand.Lab. The addition of the dot represents a point of connection between diverse talent with different experiences and expertise, and encourages freedom of expression through a malleable framework.

“Integrating the MightyHive hexagon into Media.Monks is a great representation of our unitary team, but even more so it reflects our operational model,” added  Media.Monks co-founder Chris Martin. “We’ve built a structure where our people have clear, ownable space, to represent themselves and the work they do, but without the traditional fights and frictions that are built into more traditional models.”

Asia Pacific business

Michel de Rijk, CEO APAC, S4Capital added that with the new joint brand all the pillars in the agency now come under the same identity. “It’s how we’re bringing all our teams together, and how we’re introducing ourselves to the world as we keep challenging the industry with the entrepreneurial mindset that characterises every single one of S4Capital’s brands,” he said.

He added that based on a unitary structure, the strategy will provide brands across all industries with the capability to adapt and deliver with speed-to-market—which is ultimately what the new era calls for.

“Together with the world’s most innovative and forward-thinking brands, Media.Monks will push the boundaries and transform the market through a model that grants 100% access to the best talent with flexibility and speed.”

Kenny Griffiths, head of data and digital media APAC, Media.Monks added that the structure is unlike anything the market has seen, connecting the dots across the entire organization to operate as one single office.

“Both the dot and the hexagon align perfectly with who we are as a business—where we come from and where we’re headed,” he said. Griffiths added that the APAC team has a very strong focus on innovation, and is moving incredibly fast. “We’re ready to better serve clients with the flexibility of our new brand, changing how the work gets done as we always have,” he added.