S4 Cap. Regulatory News (SFOR)

26 May 2020

S4 Capital plc

("S4Capital" or "the Company")

Digodat to merge with MightyHive

MightyHive strengthens analytics capabilities, adds talent and expands global footprint

S4Capital plc (SFOR.L), the tech-led new age, new era digital advertising and marketing services company, announces that its programmatic media practice MightyHive today merges with Digodat, a leading Latin American data and analytics consultancy. Despite the pressures of COVID-19, S4Capital believes that further expansion of its first-party data, digital advertising content, data and analytics, and programmatic capabilities should continue, as long as the strength of its balance sheet is not compromised. Digodat certainly fits the bill.

Digodat was founded in 2015 by Alan Daitch and Mauro Giordano and provides a broad range of services around data including digital analytics audits and implementation, site optimization, data visualization and insights, predictive modelling, data engineering, and training. The company employs over 50 data specialists across Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico, working for clients including Google, Telecom Argentina, Banco Galicia, Cencosud, BBVA, Grupo Falabella, and Intercorp. It is a certified Google partner in Google Analytics, Google Cloud, and Google Marketing Platform, and a consulting partner for Looker.

According to The Data Centric Organisation 2020 survey from the IAB, 94% of its respondents are taking steps to become a data-centric organisation but only 5% would describe their organisation as "extremely data-centric." Respondents also confirmed that analytics consultancies were the best placed partners to help organisations achieve their data goals. MightyHive has the capability to fill the digital measurement and analytics gap for marketers around the world with its presence in 20 offices in 15 countries.

S4Capital Executive Chairman Sir Martin Sorrell said, "Now is not the time to slow down, as we see covid-19 accelerating digital transformation - at all levels, consumer, media and enterprise. We are therefore delighted to welcome both Alan and Mauro and their colleagues to S4Capital. Data and analytics are at the heart of our tech-led new age/new era model and we look forward to working with our clients in Latin America as they invest in deeper first-party data-driven content and programmatic capabilities. In my view, Latin America has a particularly rich tech and creative talent pool, as Digodat and our previous mergers with Progmedia and Circus exemplify."

"First-party data is part of the S4Capital 'holy trinity' and these mergers support our strategic vision of creating the leading digital-only, new era marketing services firm," said Pete Kim, founder and CEO of MightyHive. "Marketing analytics expertise is a key part of marketers' foundational toolkit and critical to execute more agile and personalized campaigns. The team at Digodat and their stellar reputations across Latin America naturally complement MightyHive's global consulting services as we continue to expand and prosper worldwide."

Alan Daitch, CEO and Co-Founder and Mauro Giordano, CTO and Co-Founder of Digodat said, "Marketers need experts to help them adapt to new analytics standards, to remain compliant, and to gain valuable insights required to grow their business. Our existing analytics practices and consulting offerings will increase the depth and broaden the reach of MightyHive's analytics services. The ability to offer MightyHive's entire suite of consultancy services is an exciting move for Digodat and our clients."

Merging Digodat into MightyHive builds on the existing S4Capital analytics capabilities. It adds media buying and consultancy services for current clients of Digodat to access the full roster of capabilities MightyHive clients around the globe expect and enjoy.

Enquiries

About MightyHive

MightyHive is a new breed of media consultancy that partners with global brands and agencies seeking transformative marketing results in a time of massive disruption and opportunity. Recognized as a global leader in advanced marketing and advertising technologies, MightyHive provides consulting and services in the areas of media operations and training, data strategy and analytics. In 2018, MightyHive merged with S4 Capital plc (SFOR.L), a new age/new era digital advertising and marketing services company established by Sir Martin Sorrell in 2018.

About Digodat

The leading digital analytics company in Latin America that helps clients harness the potential of data to find insights, increase sales, and boost customer satisfaction.

About S4Capital

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

Its strategy is to build a purely digital advertising and marketing services business for global, multinational, regional, local clients and millennial-driven influencer brands. This will be achieved initially by integrating leading businesses in three practice areas: first-party data, digital content, digital media planning and buying, along with an emphasis on "faster, better, cheaper" executions in an always-on consumer-led environment, with a unitary structure.

Digital is by far the fastest-growing segment of the advertising market. S4Capital estimates that in 2019 digital accounted for approximately 47.5% or $275 billion of total global advertising spend of $550-600 billion (excluding about $400 billion of trade support, the primary target of the Amazon advertising platform), and projects that by 2022 this share will grow to approximately 55-60%.

S4Capital combined with MediaMonks, the leading AdAge A-listed creative digital content production company led by Victor Knaap and Wesley ter Haar, in July 2018, and with MightyHive, the market-leading programmatic solutions provider for future thinking marketers and agencies, led by Peter Kim and Christopher S. Martin, in December 2018. 

In April 2019, MightyHive merged with ProgMedia to expand operations into Latin America and MediaMonks acquired film studio Caramel Pictures to expand content studio capabilities. In June 2019, MediaMonks announced a planned merger with Australia-based BizTech, a leading marketing transformation and customer experience company. In August 2019, MediaMonks merged with Amsterdam-based digital influencer marketing agency IMA. In October 2019, MediaMonks merged with Firewood Marketing, the largest digital marketing agency based in Silicon Valley, that was recently ranked, along with MediaMonks, as one of the fastest growing agencies by Adweek, and MightyHive merged with award-winning UK-based digital analytics, biddable media and data science company ConversionWorks and South Korea-based data and analytics consultancy MightyHive Korea. In November 2019, MediaMonks merged with Delhi-based content creation and production company WhiteBalance and then with fully integrated digital agency Circus Marketing in January 2020.

Victor, Wesley, Pete, Christopher and Peter Rademaker (formerly Chief Financial Officer of MediaMonks, now Chief Financial Officer of S4Capital), all joined the S4Capital Board as Directors. The S4Capital Board also includes Rupert Faure Walker, Paul Roy, Daniel Pinto, Sue Prevezer, Elizabeth Buchanan, Scott Spirit, Naoko Okumoto and Margaret Ma Connolly.

The Company has a market capitalisation of approximately £1.2 billion (c.$1.5 billion) and 2,500 people in 30 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific. It has achieved Unicorn status in a little over one year, unique in the advertising and marketing services industry.

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. Today its market capitalisation is over £7 billion. Prior to that he was Group Financial Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Company plc for nine years.