S4 Cap. Regulatory News (SFOR)

30 June 2020

S4 Capital plc

("S4Capital" or "the Company")

Lens10 to merge with MightyHive 

Miles Young joins the S4Capital Board as a Non-Executive Director

MightyHive strengthens analytics capabilities in Australia, 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 data and programmatic media practice MightyHive intends to merge with Lens10, a leading Australian digital strategy and analytics consultancy, pending Foreign Investment Review Board and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. This is S4Capital's second merger during the covid-19 lockdown period, as the Company seeks to continue to expand its functional capabilities and geographical coverage, without compromising its balance sheet, which remains strong with no net debt.

Lens10, founded in 2010 by Michelle McGrath , Dean Gingell and Robin Jowett, provides a broad range of services around data. These include digital strategy, technical consulting, analytics audit and measurement strategy, analytics dashboards and data visualisation, data integration and digital optimisation. The company employs over 25 data specialists in Melbourne and Sydney working for clients including CottonOn, National Rugby League, Australian Ballet, and ME Bank. Lens10 is a certified Google partner in Google Analytics, Google Cloud and Google Marketing Platform and is an Adobe Analytics partner. 

In the MicroStrategy report "2020 Global State of Enterprise Analytics," over 90% of respondents reported that data and analytics is somewhat or very important to business growth strategy and digital transformation. 65% reported plans to increase analytics investments in the next year. MightyHive has the capability to fill the digital measurement and analytics gap for marketers around the world with its presence in 24 cities in 19 countries.

S4Capital Executive Chairman Sir Martin Sorrell said, "We are delighted to welcome Michelle, Dean, Robin and their colleagues to S4Capital. Covid-19 has clearly accelerated the existing digital transformation trends affecting consumers, media owners and enterprises. As a result, data analytics will be even more important as marketers seek to fast-track digital transformation plans and we have certainly seen that in the explosive demand from our clients for these services."

"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. Recent Google and Apple decisions around third party cookies have also enhanced the importance of first party data. The team at Lens10 and their stellar reputations across Australia naturally complement MightyHive's global consulting services as we continue to expand and prosper worldwide." 

Michelle McGrath, CEO and Co-Founder of Lens10 said, "Marketers' need for expert advice and services around analytics has never been higher. By teaming up with MightyHive, Lens10's existing bench of advanced analytics experts is now positioned to offer global capabilities, along with media consulting and media buying solutions, to clients." 

Merging Lens10 into MightyHive strengthens the existing S4Capital Data and Programmatic practices in Australia and joins S4Capital's Content practice which was established in 2019 with the BizTech (now MediaMonks) merger.

Appointment of New Non-Executive Director

Separately, S4Capital announces that Miles Young will be joining the board as a Non-Executive Director with effect from 1 July 2020. Miles is no stranger to the advertising industry, having spent almost 35 years at Ogilvy, ultimately as its global Chairman and CEO. He is currently the Warden of New College at Oxford University.

S4Capital Executive Chairman Sir Martin Sorrell said of the appointment, "We're delighted to be reunited with Miles. Obviously, I was disappointed when he chose to step down from WPP in 2016, as CEO of Ogilvy, albeit to take the prestigious role as Warden of New College, Oxford. But now at S4Capital, he has an opportunity to re-apply his deep understanding, in particular, of outstanding creative work and talent, new technologies and Asia Pacific, honed over almost 35 years at Ogilvy and WPP. His contacts with, and knowledge of, clients and people are amongst the best in the advertising and marketing services industry. He will be of great value in achieving our objective of conversion at scale. The Board of S4Capital is convinced he will add significant value."

Miles Young said, "I'm thrilled to be joining S4Capital as a Non-Executive Director. Sir Martin Sorrell's sense of focus is legendary, and under his leadership S4Capital has a highly focussed ambition to innovate and to solve problems in the digital economy. Its dramatic growth to-date shows that the demand for a new approach in marketing services is high indeed. I look forward to contributing to the venture, working with Martin and his team, hugely".

Enquiries

About MightyHive 

MightyHive is a new breed of data and 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 Lens10

Lens10 is one of Australia's most established digital strategy and analytics consultancies. The team helps clients to optimise the performance of their digital assets and channels, supporting business success through data-driven decision making.

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. In May 2020 MightyHive merged with Digodat, one of the leading Latin American data and analytics consultancies.

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 2,600 people in 30 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific and a market capitalisation of approximately £1.2 billion (c.$1.5 billion), and would rank in the FTSE 250. 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 £8 billion. Prior to that he was Group Financial Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Company plc for nine years.

About Miles Young

Miles Young was educated at Bedford School and New College, Oxford. He returned to the latter as Warden, in 2016. His career was spent in marketing services and spanned, in turn, Lintas, Allen, Brady and Marsh and Ogilvy & Mather, where he became Chairman and CEO. His early experience included a fertile time in the direct marketing and data businesses. From 1994 to 2008 he was responsible for growing the overall business in Asia Pacific. As Chairman and CEO, he drove the digitalisation of Ogilvy, both in terms of organic growth and acquisitions. In addition to his interests in higher education, he is currently President of the Oxford Literary Festival, Chair of the Voltaire Foundation and Chair of the Oxford Bach Soloists.