S4 Capital Rebrands, Merges MediaMonks and MightyHive

After meetings and high-level discussions, Martin Sorrell and his leadership team said their holding network will fold all companies under the Media.Monks umbrella. “We are giving you a dot in the name and the hexagon,” Sorrell, executive chairman of S4 Capital, joked to Adweek. View this post on Instagram A post shared by MediaMonks (@mediamonks) Since launching his so-called "peanut" in 2018, he has been on a global buying spree snapping up digital and production shops to build what he feels is the future content provider. This multitude of agencies gobbled together can be confusing to clients and internally, with separate emails and messaging platforms. While nearly all agencies will fall under this new grouping, there are a few holdouts due to contractual matters at this time, specifically with Raccoon Group and JAM3. ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’: S4 Capital’s Sir Martin Sorrell on Digital Growth “The single brand was not a boardroom decision,” Wesley ter Haar, co-founder of MediaMonks, told Adweek about the nine-month makeover. This “fancy naming council” decided it made more sense to combine the two foundational pillars within S4, both for the flexibility and the ecosystem of talent and to group all of these deals in a more digestible manner. “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," ter Haar said. Ter Haar concedes that at the end of the day, this announcement is not about the logo on the door but what the internal teams have done over the last 18 months with all of the work to make sure everyone can collaborate. "The last thing our leadership team needs to give team members is the same logo shirts. This is about our being able to communicate the same vision.” Sorrell, for his part, believes the industry needs to evolve away from his previous creation at WPP. “The traditional, analog holding company model is over 70 years old, dating back to Marion Harper and IPG in the 1950s and cries out for disruptive change. Digital has altered the landscape permanently and brands need a different type of organization 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,” Sorrell said. Leadership without ego S4 Capital is designed from the foundation to be different than the traditional holding companies, Sorrell explained. Every acquisition receives half cash and half shares in the company to ensure a “vested interest” in the long-term success. Sorrell’s leadership team states everyone “assumes positive intent” and leads “without ego.” Sorrell’s colleagues are already expressing their amusement at his big announcement, developing memes and social media clips combining word jumbles to illustrate this momentous occasion. Yet Sorrell dismisses his (many) critics complaining he is merely "frankensteining" brands together. While he does not feel he is receiving undue attention merely for his name recognition, ter Haar does recognize his added visibility. At the very least, both seek to avoid the nonsensical forced marriage that resulted in the oddly paired VML and Y&R. Agency founders themselves claim to have no regrets in losing their selected company names. Firewood co-founder and president Lanya Zambrano and Circus’ founder and CEO Bruno Lambertini both fully support the simplification of the streamline as they recognized a stronger, more profitable company would benefit their investments. It makes more sense to clients, they state. Similarly, MightyHive’s chief operating officer and co-founder Chris Martin understood this transformation represents more than building a logo. There are limits to this makeover. As the operational brand, Media.Monks underpins S4 Capital’s services. The parent company (SFOR.L) will remain the financial brand, publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange and deployed among investor, financial and banking stakeholders and in reports. Sorrell Eyes Expansive Digital Growth

Leadership & Talent

Why Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital Is so Excited About a Period

Company makes big name change to Media.Monks

Larissa Faw

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Larissa Faw