Monks is a digital-first marketing, technology services and consulting company that connects content, data and digital media and technology services and provides solutions in the consulting, enterprise software, gaming, film, social, digital advertising, data, and measurement ecosystems. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of S4 Capital, Plc.
History
Formation and early years
The company's head office is based in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Monks was founded in the Netherlands in January 2001 as MediaMonks by Wesley ter Haar, Erçin "Gin" Roberscheuten, and Terrence de Kat.
Victor Knaap joined the company in 2003 as "Sales Monk" and would manage it as CEO from 2004 until 2018, at first acquiring a 15% share in the company, but later an equal 25% to the other three owners.
Monks joined the Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) in 2012, with Ter Haar serving as chairman of that collective today. Monks won 23 Lions at Cannes, including one for the
Universal Typeface Experiment in 2014.
Acquisition by S4Capital
In July 2018,
S4Capital plc purchased Monks for $350 million.
In August 2019, the former "Head Creative of Film", who quit and sold his shares in the company at the end of 2017 (more than 6 months before the acquisition by S4Capital), sued the company. He argued that had he known about the upcoming acquisition, he would not have decided to quit. The lawsuit was settled in December 2019.
In 2018, S4 Capital acquired data and digital media firm, MightyHive for $150 million. Monks and MightyHive were later merged under the combined Media.Monks brand.
Post Acquisition
In January 2021, S4Capital merged Decoded and Metric Theory into Monks. Jam3 joined Monks in March 2021, and, in August of the same year, all 24 S4Capital companies, plus culture agency Cashmere, became part of Monks. Further mergers include TheoremOne, and XX Artists, both in 2022.
Monks was the fastest growing company in The Netherlands in 2021 and 2022.
On July 18, 2024, Media.Monks was rebranded to Monks, with a focus on
AI.
''Campaign US'' noted this occurred in the midst of the introduction of new AI products, an earnings miss, and multiple acquisitions.
Awards
In January 2020, Monks was the first company to be awarded 200
Favourite Website Awards.
Monks was awarded a 2022
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...
in the Immersive & Interactive category for
The Uncensored Library
The Uncensored Library is a ''Minecraft'' server and map released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and created by BlockWorks, DDB Berlin, and .monks as an attempt to circumvent censorship in countries without freedom of the press. The libr ...
project. The project's profile page describes the library as "a monument to press freedom and an innovative back door for access to censored content."
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.monks.com/
International information technology consulting firms
International management consulting firms
Mass media companies of the Netherlands
Advertising agencies of the Netherlands
Digital marketing companies
Film production companies of the Netherlands
2001 establishments in the Netherlands
B Lab-certified corporations