Media.Monks, the operating brand of S4 Capital, Announces Strengthened Offerings Reflecting Accelerating Industry Transition to AI-powered Creative and Technology and Refreshes Brand to Become Monks

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• USA - English

LONDON, July 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Media.Monks, the operating brand of S4 Capital and leading digital-first, data-driven, advertising, marketing and technology services company, today announces streamlined and more effective offerings. They are designed to arm CEOs, CMOs and CTOs with fully integrated services, architected to drive sustainable, profitable growth and innovation across their enterprises and the tools to leverage AI and unlock cost-efficiencies accelerating transformation at scale.

Starting today, Media.Monks will transition its services into two fully synchronised Practices: Marketing services and Technology services, both powered by Monks.Flow, the industry leading, AI-powered, intelligent marketing and workflow platform. These offerings will be underpinned by a consulting group that will offer end-to-end services ranging from strategy to implementation. Effective immediately, Media.Monks also becomes simply Monks, marking a significant milestone in its evolution as a business and setting the stage for future growth and innovation beyond media.

"Many of today's agencies are wrestling with the pace of change in a world profoundly transformed by technology. It's always been our ambition to disrupt the legacy model and today marks another important milestone in that journey," says Sir Martin Sorrell, S4 Capital Founder and Executive Chairman. "With this shift in the way we deliver our services to market, we are better able to help clients transform the economics of their businesses and are well-positioned to develop and define the future of our industry."

Monks' nine capabilities will remain in place, now focused in just two Marketing and Technology offerings, enabling clients to accelerate revenue growth, transformation and automation, while outpacing their competition:

• Marketing services will encompass a comprehensive suite of creative, content, media, social and data-driven marketing solutions, leveraging the Monks' award-winning capabilities in storytelling, audience engagement and performance marketing to deliver outcomes that resonate with consumers and drive measurable results.
• Technology services will concentrate on the company's technology, user experience, product engineering, data, digital transformation and consulting services. It will focus on robust digital infrastructures, next-gen digital products and consumer experiences and advanced data and analytics solutions that empower clients to navigate and thrive in the digital age.

A number of our senior Practice, capability and regional leaders wanted to comment on these important changes:

"This evolution reflects our unified cross-discipline teams, who bring the grit and the diversity of thought needed to help our clients accelerate growth and navigate the transformation of operating models," says Scott Griset, EVP Consulting.

"Our aim is to simplify and accelerate the possibilities of technology and creativity for our clients and that starts with streamlining our offerings and identity," says Brady Brim-DeForest, CEO, Technology services.

The new Monks brand emphasises the cross-vertical and end-to-end capabilities offered by an integrated portfolio of services designed to maximise client revenue growth, innovation and reach.

"By dropping 'media' from our name, the new operating brand more accurately represents our integrated global team, unified expertise and diverse communities," says Kate Richling, Chief Marketing Officer.

"Our refreshed brand embodies our team's synergy and versatile skills, committed to crafting impactful solutions for our clients' challenges," says Michelle McGrath, SVP Data.

"Our most innovative, impactful work has been powered by the intersection of our core teams and technology. Now, we have a brand that is reflective of that core ethos to carry us and our clients, into the next phase of evolution," says Victoria Milo, SVP Media Solutions and Emerging Technology.

The Monks brand also emphasises the dedication of our approximately 7,600 people to their craft.

"Placing a focus on the talent behind the work, the evolved Monks brand is designed for transparency and people—particularly in the age of AI—signalling the importance of having ambitious innovators in your corner for seamless implementation of emerging technologies," says James Nicholas Kinney, Chief People Officer.

"Our new name puts a spotlight on our talent, who excel in blending diverse specialisations and cultures with a shared ambition to change the world," says both Deborah Heslip and Laura Davis, Co-Chief Client Officers, Marketing services.

"To be a Monk is to champion empathy, transparency, and diversity, driving us to create human-centric solutions for clients who are eager to authentically carve their place in culture," says both Wesley ter Haar and Bruno Lambertini, Co-Chief Executive Officers, Marketing services.

Organisational and reporting structures to support the new services model will launch in 2025.

Stay up to date on the latest at Monks on Monks.com, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.

About Monks
Monks is the global, purely digital, unitary operating brand of S4Capital plc. With a legacy of innovation and specialised expertise, Monks combines an extraordinary range of global marketing and technology services to accelerate business possibilities and redefine how brands and businesses interact with the world. Its integration of systems and workflows delivers unfettered content production, scaled experiences, enterprise-grade technology and data science fueled by AI—managed by the industry's best and most diverse digital talent—to help the world's trailblazing companies outmanoeuvre and outpace their competition.

Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services. It has remained a constant presence on Adweek's Fastest Growing lists (2019-23), ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-23) and is the only partner to have been placed in AdExchanger's Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). In addition to being named Adweek's first AI Agency of the Year (2023), Monks has been recognized by Business Intelligence in its 2024 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Awards program in three categories: the Individual category, Organizational Winner in AI Strategic Planning and AI Product for its service Monks.Flow. Monks has also garnered the title of Webby Production Company of the Year (2021-24), won a record number of FWAs and has earned a spot on Newsweek's Top 100 Global Most Loved Workplaces 2023.

About S4Capital 
S4Capital plc (SFOR.L) is the tech-led, new age/new era digital advertising, marketing and technology services company, established by Sir Martin Sorrell in May 2018.

Our strategy is to build a purely digital services business for global, multinational, regional and local clients. This will be achieved by integrating leading businesses across categories including: marketing, data, digital media, and technology, along with an emphasis on 'faster, better, cheaper, more' execution in an always-on consumer-led environment, with a unitary structure.

The S4Capital Board includes Rupert Faure Walker, Daniel Pinto, Sue Prevezer, Elizabeth Buchanan, Margaret Ma Connolly, Miles Young and Colin Day as Non-Executive Directors.

The Company now has approximately 7,600 people in 32 countries with approximately 80% of revenue across the Americas, 15% across Europe, the Middle East and Africa and 5% across Asia-Pacific. The longer-term objective is a geographic split of 60%:20%:20%. Marketing services will account for approximately 75% of net revenue and Technology services 25%. The longer term objective is a practice split of 60%:40%.

Sir Martin was CEO of WPP for 33 years, building it from a £1 million 'shell' company in 1985 into the world's largest advertising and marketing services company, with a market capitalisation of over £16 billion on the day he left. Prior to that Sir Martin was Group Financial Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Company Plc for nine years.

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