NEW YORK | September 9th, 2021 – S4 Capital (SFOR.L), the tech-led, new age/new era digital advertising and marketing services company, announced a merger between Cashmere and Media.Monks, which significantly expands the capabilities of both its content practice in the USA and global cultural strategy.
Cashmere is the premier culture and creative marketing agency, founded in Los Angeles in 2003, by Ted Chung and Seung Chung. With over 150 team members, Cashmere specializes in creating authentic, culturally relevant content and campaigns for clients like Google, Instagram, Facebook, BMW, WarnerMedia, adidas, Netflix, Disney, Amazon and Apple. In August, Cashmere was appointed as the first ever “Culture Agency of Record” by Taco Bell.
Sir Martin Sorrell, S4 Capital’s Executive Chairman, said, “We are delighted to welcome Ted, Seung, Ryan and their colleagues to Media.Monks. Their ability to translate contemporary culture into compelling content and reach diverse audiences is a rare talent and something we want to integrate at the heart of our content practice. It is particularly relevant, given the changes we see taking place around diversity and purpose, not only in the United States, but beyond.”
Ted Chung, Cashmere Chairman and Co-Founder, said, “Cashmere is excited to bring an international vision of Culture, fluidity, and brand loyalty to our clients and a broader set of new colleagues. From the first interactions with everyone at Media.Monks, we were impressed with their responsiveness, ambition, and disruptive approach which aligns with our philosophy of evolving the status quo.”
“We are thrilled to bring our blend of creativity and cultural insight to the team at Media.Monks,” echoes Cashmere President and Chief Creative Officer Ryan Ford. “Our unique ability to positively impact Culture and more importantly, passion to push The Culture forward, merges seamlessly with Media.Monks’ tremendous track record of producing innovative high-quality work. Together, we will continue to produce Undeniably Dope campaigns on behalf of our clients and colleagues... with even more global impact.”
Wesley ter Haar, Media.Monks Co-Founder and S4 Capital Executive Director, said, “Cashmere’s creative chops and their ability to tap into contemporary culture for their clients are qualities we have long admired, which is why it’s so exciting to welcome them to the family.”
Ted Chung and Seung Chung commented: “As founders and entrepreneurs focused on running our business, we welcomed the relationships Juan and the Drake Star team brought to the table, including S4, as well as the guidance they provided during the process, from negotiating the sale price all the way through to the working capital adjustment. Their transactional fee was nominal compared to the philosophical and financial benefit of the company and our teams—we would do it again with Juan.”
“I have known Ted and Seung for years and have followed the evolution and impressive growth of their business during that time. I am grateful for having been engaged by them for this life-changing transaction,” said Juan Mejia, Partner at Drake Star Partners and financial advisor to Cashmere. “I’m looking forward to seeing what the combined Media.Monks / Cashmere will do in the years ahead.”
Inquiries
For more information, please contact
Gregory Bedrosian
Managing Partner & CEO | Drake Star
gregory.bedrosain@drakestar.com | + 1 203 524 5652
ABOUT CASHMERE AGENCY
Cashmere is an award-winning lifestyle-marketing company comprised of a diverse collective of minds from the worlds of entertainment, advertising, and new media. Cashmere identifies trends to create and execute campaigns that resonate drive culture. Cashmere utilizes social media, creative strategy, digital trends, experiential, influencer and public relations strategies to provide full-service support for campaigns and brands. Cashmere builds brands who truly matter in culture.
Cashmere’s diverse client roster includes top brands and entertainment companies, including: Google, Instagram, Facebook, BMW of North America, Taco Bell, Danone North America, Heineken, DoorDash, Warner Media, Amazon, Hulu, Disney, AppleTV+, Netflix, Universal Pictures, FX, CBS, and more. Cashmere has been recognized as a leading force within the creative industry and a recipient of multiple awards including: Cannes Lions Creative Award, The Clio Awards, AdColor, A100, named Ad Age’s Multicultural 2019 Agency of the Year and recognized on Ad Age’s 2020 A-List Agencies To Watch list and Ad Age’s 2021 A-List Standout Agencies and Founder, Ted Chung the recipient of ADCOLOR’s 2019 Legend Award.
For more information, please visit cashmereagency.com
ABOUT MEDIA.MONKS
Media.Monks is a digital-first marketing and advertising services company that connects content, data, digital media and technology services across one global team built from the bottom up. Inspired by the connectivity and flexibility of technology APIs, Media.Monks’ single-P&L model offers clients seamless access to a nearly 6,000-strong team of multidisciplinary digital talent organized across 57 talent hubs in 33 countries. Media.Monks partners with some of the world’s most innovative companies, top tech brands and up-and-coming DTC and B2B brands, helping them own their data and build out customer ecosystems to elicit smart, efficient, high-impact engines for growth. That translates to connected customer journeys and seamless access to talent for platform partners like Google, Facebook and Amazon; marketing pipeline transformation and personal interactions at scale for leading global brands including BMW and Mondelēz; and scalable channel development and performance-driven decision making for brands like T-Mobile, Bayer and Visa. In 2021, the Media.Monks brand integrated by merging MediaMonks and MightyHive, bringing together the best entrepreneurial and innovative companies worldwide, named to Adweek’s Fastest Growing lists (2019, 2020, 2021), AdExchanger’s Programmatic Power Players (2020, 2021) and numerous “best places to work” lists. In addition to holding a record number of FWA and other industry awards, Media.Monks has been regularly recognized at the Cannes Lions and Webby Awards, in 2021 as Webby Production Company of the Year. Media.Monks is owned by London-based S4Capital (SFOR.L), the publicly-traded new age, new era advertising and marketing services company established by Executive Chairman Sir Martin Sorrell in 2018.
For more information, please visit media.monks.com
ABOUT S4 CAPITAL
S4 Capital plc (SFOR.L) is a 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 two practice areas: Data & digital media and Content, along with an emphasis on "faster, better, cheaper" executions in an always-on consumer-led environment, with a unitary structure.
For more information, please visit www.s4capital.com