S4 Capital's Monks Technology Services and Tagboard Announce Strategic Partnership to Revolutionize Broadcast Infrastructure for Media and Entertainment
NEW YORK, April 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Monks, the global, purely digital, data-driven, unitary operating brand of S4 Capital plc, and Tagboard, modern interactive graphics systems for live events and broadcast, are excited to announce a strategic partnership aimed at transforming the media and entertainment landscape. The partnership will leverage a joint go-to-market strategy, combining Tagboard's cloud-based live graphics system with Monks Technology Services' expertise in modernizing broadcast infrastructure as a leader in providing cutting-edge technology solutions for the media and entertainment industry.
Through this collaboration, Tagboard's advanced graphics capabilities will seamlessly integrate with Monks' next-gen broadcast infrastructure solutions within the company's proprietary AI solution Monks.Flow––enabling media companies to create dynamic, interactive content while streamlining their operational workflows. Both companies, backed by a deep Amazon Web Services (AWS) partnership, believe these key components represent the next generation of professional content creation for broadcasters, streamers, event and gameday storytellers.
"Monks' partnership with Tagboard helps us push the boundaries of what's possible in live content creation across the media and entertainment ecosystem," said Lewis Smithingham, SVP of Strategic Industries at Monks. "By combining Tagboard's innovative video graphics system with our broadcast infrastructure expertise, we can provide media companies with a holistic solution that not only enhances content creation, but also optimizes their technical operations to meet the demands of a rapidly changing landscape."
"We've built Tagboard to be a modern and flexible graphics platform, like an open field where creative minds can develop apps with ease for use by the world's top leagues and broadcasters," said Nathan Peterson, CEO of Tagboard. "Working with Monks is like fantasy drafting all number one picks to take the field with you, and our clients are going to get the W; I can't wait to build together!"
Together, Monks and Tagboard will bolster efficiency in professional content generation, while bringing net new content and revenue generation possibilities to the world's top media brands. Tagboard alone bolsters a roster of over 500 media IP who used the product to produce more than a quarter of a million shows last year alone. The two companies are a formidable force to drive innovation and evolution in media and entertainment.
Tagboard's technology will seamlessly integrate within Monks' AI-centric solution Monks.Flow, which leverages advanced AI models to transform businesses. By automating workflows and linking talent, software, and microservices, Monks.Flow orchestrates operations for the age of agentic AI, providing solutions for every stage of the creative lifecycle and offering a seamless journey from strategy to delivery across the media and entertainment industry. It begins with insights and strategy, where clients gain valuable data and develop targeted plans to guide their marketing efforts. This is followed by creation and adaptation, enabling the efficient production and customization of content to meet specific needs. Finally, Monks.Flow ensures delivery and performance, optimizing content to reach the right audience with maximum effectiveness.
For more information about Monks, visit www.monks.com. To learn more about Tagboard, visit www.tagboard.com.
About TagboardTagboard is the world's leading modern interactive graphics system designed to help production teams in news, sports, and entertainment elevate their digital and linear programming with unparalleled efficiency. Trusted by over 500 of the world's largest media brands, including FOX Sports, ESPN, NBC, and the NFL, Tagboard's innovative cloud studio integrates seamlessly into any production tech stack, allowing for effortless deployment of HTML5 graphics. With Emmy-winning success and a team of industry experts, Tagboard revolutionizes live production by enabling real-time content creation, audience engagement, and revenue generation.
About MonksMonks is the global, purely digital, data-driven, unitary operating brand of S4 Capital plc. With a legacy of innovation and specialized expertise, Monks combines an extraordinary range of global Marketing and Technology Services to accelerate business growth and redefine how brands interact with the world. From crafting tailored, outcome-focused campaigns to modernizing critical infrastructure for the ever-evolving digital landscape, Monks delivers solutions that engage audiences in real time, drive cultural relevance and sustain long-term impact—a tripartite approach that establishes it as a trusted partner to the world's most innovative brands.
Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services, ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-24) and remains the only partner featured in AdExchanger's Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). Named Adweek's first AI Agency of the Year (2023), Monks secured all three honors in Business Intelligence Group's 2024 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Awards: Individual, Organizational and AI Product. As a trusted partner to cutting-edge innovators in tech, Monks earned titles such as Optimizely Experimentation Partner of the Year (2024), runner-up for the Adobe Firefly Partner Award (2024), and Workato's AI Visionary Customer Impact Award (2024). Additionally, Monks was named Webby Production Company of the Year (2021-24) and achieved a record-breaking number of FWAs.
About Monks Technology ServicesTechnology Services is the technology and innovation arm of Monks. Formed from the combined strengths of TheoremOne, Zemoga, Formula Consultants, and Proof, Monks Technology Services brings together decades of expertise in AI engineering, cloud infrastructure, enterprise integration, and digital transformation. Monks Technology Services is a global leader in technology consulting, specializing in modernizing broadcast infrastructure for the media and entertainment industry. Backed by nearly 7,300+ Monks worldwide and powered by Monks.Flow, Monks Technology Services delivers scalable, human-centric solutions that bridge technology and creativity to drive business growth and cultural relevance.
About S4CapitalS4Capital 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 advertising and marketing services business for global, multinational, regional, and local clients, and millennial-driven influencer brands. This will be achieved by integrating leading businesses in two synchronised practices: Marketing services and Technology services, along with an emphasis on 'faster, better, cheaper, more' execution in an always-on consumer-led environment, with a unitary structure.
The Company now has approximately 7,300 people in 33 countries with approximately 80% of net 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%. At the Group's last full year results, Content accounted for approximately 60% of net revenue, Data&Digital Media 24% and Technology Services 16%. The long-term objective for the practices is a split of 50%:25%:25%.
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.
Media Contacts:
For Monks Technology Services:Sarah Murray sarah.murray@monks.com
For Tagboard:Sky Mullersky@tagboard.com
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/s4-capitals-monks-technology-services-and-tagboard-announce-strategic-partnership-to-revolutionize-broadcast-infrastructure-for-media-and-entertainment-302420247.html
SOURCE Monks
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
10 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
LA Times Studios Joins S4 Capital's Monks at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity
LA Times Studios, in partnership with global marketing and technology services company Monks, will make its Cannes debut at the 72nd annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, hosting engaging conversations and special programming at the Les Monks Café, June 16-19. Located at La Biererie, across from the Palais des Festivals, programming by LA Times Studios and Monks will welcome influential leaders and brand innovators to Les Monks Café for meaningful conversations about building, sustaining and refreshing brand identity through storytelling. 'Cannes Lions is a premier festival for the advertising and creative industries, and we're thrilled to be collaborating with Monks on this dynamic activation,' said Anna Magzanyan, president of LA Times Studios. 'We're bringing together some of the most visionary minds in technology, marketing and creative advertising to share their insights and to create an opportunity for networking among industry leaders.' 'We're excited to welcome LA Times Studios to Les Monks Café as we return for our fourth year,' said Kate Richling, chief marketing officer at Monks. 'Guests can expect an incredible line-up of programming centered around real industry transformation featuring our clients, technology partners and of course, Monks.' LA Times Studios programming highlights at Les Monks Café include: Monday, June 16 5:30 p.m. - 'Brand is Back: Brand Storytelling and Consumer Impact'This panel will explore how brands build narratives to connect with consumers and influence cultural conversations. 6:15 p.m. - 'Fusion Is the New F Word: Fireside Chat with Commonwealth Fusion Systems'Hear from the leaders of Commonwealth Fusion Systems about how they're rebranding a complex technology to be relevant and accessible to consumer audiences. Thursday, June 19 5:30 p.m. - 'Timeless, Not Static: Evolving Brand Identity with Purpose'How do you refresh brand identities? Unpack the blueprint for maintaining relevance and continuing to evolve as an organization without sacrificing authenticity. 6 p.m. - 'Digital Alchemy: Transforming Experiences Through AI'This conversation will focus on how AI and next-generation tools are reshaping modern brand-building. Learn more about the discussions at Les Monks Café and register to attend here. Keep up with LA Times Studios business content and events here and on Instagram. Find Monks on LinkedIn, Instagram and
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
S4 Capital's Monks Crowned The One Show's First-Ever AI Pioneer Organization
NEW YORK, May 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In an industry first, S4 Capital's operating brand Monks – the unitary, digital only, data-driven marketing and technology services company – has been named the AI Pioneer Organization by The One Show, which has been recognizing creative talent in advertising and design for over 50 years. This newly created category honors companies pushing boundaries and shaping the future of artificial intelligence. This distinguished achievement highlights Monks' innovative approach, leadership, and commitment to advancing AI-driven solutions across the industry. Kevin Swanepoel, CEO of The One Club for Creativity, shares the reasoning behind the accolade: "In a year defined by transformative creativity, Monks has not only embraced the future – they're building it. Winning the AI Pioneer award at The One Show cements their position at the forefront of intelligent storytelling, where human insight meets machine ingenuity. Monks aren't just using AI – they're redefining what's possible with it." Wesley ter Haar, Chief AI Officer of Monks, added: "Pioneer, we like the sound of that. It's honestly thrilling, and sometimes a little anxiety-inducing, to be at the front lines as a new version of our industry forms. New commercial models, new operating structures, new client expectations, new talent needs. It's full stack, end-to-end and high stakes. To have an organization like The One Show put a spotlight on those efforts means a lot." The One Show's decision to establish the AI Pioneer category reflects the growing importance of AI in creative and strategic domains. Monks has demonstrated exceptional leadership in this space, already having earned recognition like Adweek's first-ever AI Agency of the Year, Business Intelligence Group's 2025 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Awards in both the Organizational and AI Product categories, runner-up for the 2024 Adobe Firefly Partner Award, and Workato's 2024 AI Visionary Customer Impact Award. These recognitions, in addition to other initiatives – such as WesleyBot, which overhauls the traditional job application process – underscore their commitment to transformative AI innovations. their AI-powered professional managed service, exemplifies how innovative technology can drive impactful results, enabling businesses to streamline operations, overcome creative and operational bottlenecks, and scale personalization. For Hatch, a wellness brand, facilitated the rapid development of niche consumer personas and personalized ads in just six weeks – half the typical time – resulting in a 80% higher click-through rate, a 46% increase in engagement, and a 31% lower CPA, all while reducing ad production costs. Additionally, utilizing for Headspace, the team generated 460 custom assets tailored to 20 use cases for a holiday campaign, which was recently shortlisted for "Best Use of AI" at The Drum Awards for Marketing Americas. The campaign achieved a 62% higher conversion rate, with 13% more signups and a 13% lower cost-per-signup – demonstrating how combining human creativity with AI-driven insights creates measurable impact at scale. Supporting these innovations, Monks places a strong emphasis on internal education and growth. Their "School of AI" program provides ongoing, tailored training to ensure every employee understands AI principles and can actively contribute to AI-driven strategies. Monks' weekly "15 Minutes of Now" sessions deliver brief, targeted learning on the latest AI tools and trends, encouraging experimentation and collaboration, with standout ideas recognized across teams. The company's expertise is further strengthened by their Agentic Advisory team that consults the Monks Foundry, a team of engineers fully dedicated to building and deploying custom generative AI models tailored to enterprise data and domain-specific knowledge. This focus on innovation and expertise enables Monks to deliver highly specialized solutions for their clients, reinforcing its position at the forefront of AI innovation. In addition to earning the title of AI Pioneer Organization, Monks has achieved numerous other awards at The One Show this year, including Silver and Bronze Pencils for AB InBev's Beer Retirement Account in the B2B and Good categories respectively, a Bronze Pencil in the Creative Use of Artificial Intelligence category, and eight Merit Awards for various campaigns. Notably, Monks' cultural experts at Cashmere earned Best of Discipline in the Brand-Side/In-House category, as well as Gold, Silver, and Bronze Pencils and four merits for the "Heinz Mustard x Mustard" campaign. Discover more about Monks' work in artificial intelligence at and follow along on LinkedIn and Instagram for more updates on the company's work. About MonksMonks is the global, purely digital, data-driven, unitary operating brand of S4 Capital plc. With a legacy of innovation and specialized expertise, Monks combines an extraordinary range of global Marketing and Technology Services to accelerate business growth and redefine how brands interact with the world. From crafting tailored, outcome-focused campaigns to modernizing critical infrastructure for the ever-evolving digital landscape, Monks delivers solutions that engage audiences in real time, drive cultural relevance and sustain long-term impact—a tripartite approach that establishes it as a trusted partner to the world's most innovative brands. Monks was named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: Global Marketing Services, ranks among Cannes Lions' Top 10 Creative Companies (2022-24) and remains the only partner featured in AdExchanger's Programmatic Power Players list every year (2020-24). Named Adweek's first AI Agency of the Year (2023), Monks was also awarded Business Intelligence Group's 2025 Excellence in Artificial Intelligence Award in both the Organizational and AI Product categories. As a trusted partner to cutting-edge innovators in tech, Monks earned titles such as Optimizely Experimentation Partner of the Year (2024), runner-up for the Adobe Firefly Partner Award (2024), and Workato's AI Visionary Customer Impact Award (2024). Additionally, Monks was named Webby Production Company of the Year (2021-24) and achieved a record-breaking number of FWAs. About S4 CapitalOur strategy is to build a purely digital advertising and marketing services business for global, multinational, regional, and local clients, and millennial-driven influencer brands. This will be achieved by integrating leading businesses in two synchronised Practices: Marketing services and Technology services, along with an emphasis on 'faster, better, cheaper, more' execution in an always-on consumer-led environment, with a unitary structure. The Company now has approximately 7,000 people in 33 countries with approximately 80% of net 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 accounted for approximately 90% of net revenue, and Technology Services 10%. The longer term objective is a practice split of 75%:25%. 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. Media Contact:Sarah View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Monks Sign in to access your portfolio
Boston Globe
06-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Robert Monks, who championed shareholder activism, dies at 91
Mr. Monks lost in the Republican primary - and again in another Senate bid in 1976 - yet he continued to mull what he saw on the campaign trail: the environmental scars from the paper plants and the lack of pressure for change from investors. Advertisement One day at a meeting of the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company, where Mr. Monks was board chairman, he noticed that the bank's portfolio included a company linked to the 'industrial sludge' on the Penobscot. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up An idea took shape. Rather than taxpayers footing the bill for cleanup efforts, perhaps there was a way to force companies to change from within, he wondered. 'Informed shareholders could use their proxy power to force management's hand to clean up the industrial pollution,' wrote Mr. Monks, who died April 29 at his home in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, at 91. 'But none of us was doing it.' He set aside his corporate roles and, in a bold switch, helped restructure the rules of engagement in American capitalism. Mr. Monks is widely credited with devising how to harness shareholder activism for a greater voice on issues such as company board membership, strategic priorities, and executive pay. Advertisement The consultancies he founded, starting with Institutional Shareholder Services in 1985, remain a major force in guiding shareholding blocs - pension holdings, index funds and others - to influence how companies are run and who directs them. Others took notice, too. Mr. Monks's vision of shareholder power indirectly opened the way for Wall Street insurgents such as Ivan Boesky and other corporate raiders of the 1980s. Yet many market watchers and business scholars portray Mr. Monks as a transformative figure in modern commerce, helping bring greater accountability and investor confidence. Later, shareholder activism expanded to causes such as social justice, climate change, and workplace diversity - now setting a collision course with the Trump administration and its allies. '[Mr. Monks] changed the entire relationship between the shareholders and companies,' said Charles Elson, founder of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. 'He didn't just move the needle. He turned the needle into a wholly different instrument.' Mr. Monks often described his goals in quasi-political terms, trying to stir 'democracy' in publicly traded companies that were long accustomed to setting their own agendas. A poorly run company has built-in myopia, he asserted. It will seek 'unlimited life, size, power and license for itself' in the short term but pay little heed to long-range value and social good, he wrote in 'Watching the Watchers: Corporate Governance for the 21st Century' (1996), co-authored with his longtime associate, Nell Minow. One of Mr. Monks's first major corporate duels was with one of the venerable titans of American retail, Sears. Mr. Monks contended that the Sears board was letting the chain stall in the early 1990s and questioned the company's non-retail acquisitions such as buying the Dean Witter brokerage. Advertisement He mounted a shareholder campaign seeking to shake up the Sears board. Mr. Monks put himself on the slate of candidates. Sears, under chairman Edward Brennan, spent about $2.8 million in a publicity blitz against Mr. Monks, who held just 100 shares. 'What Mr. Monk is really trying to do is change the whole corporate world,' Brennan said. At the Sears annual meeting in 1991, Mr. Monks's bid for a board seat was rejected. He mounted another attempt in 1992. In The Wall Street Journal, he took out a full-page ad with the title 'Non-Performing Assets' under the outlines of the nine members of the board, which included Donald H. Rumsfeld, who had returned to private business after serving as defense secretary under President Ford. Mr. Monks again was turned down for a board seat. 'No one wanted him on their board,' Minow told The Washington Post in an interview. 'He asked too many questions.' Under continued shareholder pressure, however, Sears restructured into a leaner operation and sold off assets such as its Coldwell Banker real estate division. In 1999, Mr. Monks and Minow led another shareholder mobilization at the refuse and recycling firm Waste Management. A shareholder class-action suit alleged that company officials issued false and misleading financial statements to give a rosier picture of the company's fiscal health. Waste Management agreed in 2001 to a $457 million payment to settle the suit. High-profile corporate meltdowns, such as the collapse of energy giant Enron in 2001, brought demands for greater corporate transparency and oversight. In Congress, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 strengthened rules on financial recordkeeping and reporting for publicly traded companies. Advertisement Mr. Monks largely dismissed the measures. 'Nothing is going to happen unless you involve yourself,' he told The New York Times. 'Democracy isn't going to work without involved citizens and corporations won't work without involved owners.' He often paraphrased a comment from former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis that there were no 'innocent shareholders.' Mr. Monks had at least one high-profile misjudgment. At the diversified electronics company Tyco International, Mr. Monks had gained a board seat and became a supporter of a rising star, Dennis Kozlowski, who became chief executive. Kozlowski spearheaded a $4 million donation to endow a school of management professorship at the University of Cambridge, which Mr. Monks once attended. Then in 2002, Kozlowski and a former chief financial officer, Mark H. Swartz, were indicted on federal charges of artificially inflating the company share price and siphoning off $170 million to buy properties and throw lavish parties. They were convicted and sentenced in 2005. Kozlowski was released on parole in 2014; Swartz was paroled in 2013. Mr. Monks had been voted off the Tyco board years before the scandals. But he said the wider lesson at Tyco was not recognizing the trends toward what he called 'the imperial CEO.' 'The CEO of an American company today has absolute power,' he told the Financial Times in 2005. 'As a director, you've really got to be alert and attentive to the potential for abuse of the situation.' Mr. Monks also lamented the inability to rein in chief executive pay, which can often run into tens of millions of dollars with salary and stock compensation. Advertisement 'What is most objectionable and alarming is the failure of governance,' he wrote in his book 'Corpocracy' (2007). 'The illusion is that we have a system of checks and balances that oversees executive compensation and allows market forces to flow through fairly to the paycheck.' Robert Augustus Gardner Monks was born in Boston on Dec. 4, 1933, and raised in Lenox in the Berkshires. His father was a priest in the local Episcopal church and became founding headmaster at the private Lenox School. His mother tended to the home and the family's many properties. Robert's paternal family line was intertwined with prominent Boston clans such as Peabody, Lowell, and Gardner, including Isabella Stewart Gardner. Mr. Monks graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in history in 1954 - the same year he married Millicent Carnegie Sprague, a granddaughter of Thomas Carnegie, the younger brother of Gilded Age industrialist Andrew Carnegie. While at Harvard, Mr. Monks spent his summer breaks on work crews at an oil rig and a rail yard in the Midwest. Those jobs, he said, gave him a first glimpse into labor activism as workers demanded better safety measures. He did postgraduate studies at the University of Cambridge - where he squeezed his 6-foot-6 frame into a racing shell as part of the crew team in events against rival Oxford. He returned to Harvard for a law degree in 1958. He joined a Boston law firm and then moved into family-affiliated businesses that included an energy firm, C.H. Sprague & Son, started by the grandfather of his wife. Mr. Monks later gained ownership of the company. Advertisement During the Reagan administration, he served as director of the government-run Synthetic Fuels Corporation and as head of pension and welfare programs for federal employees. He made a third run for Senate, losing to Susan Collins in the 1996 Republican primary. Among his shareholder initiatives, Mr. Monks co-founded Lens Investments and the analytical groups Corporate Library and GMI Ratings. His books on corporate governance include 'Citizens DisUnited' (2013) and 'The Emperor's Nightmare' (2022). He also wrote a novel, 'Reel and Rout' (2004), whose plot features shady corporate dealings. 'I've tried to expose the illusion of corporate democracy,' he told The New York Times in 2013. 'It's a cost to all of us.' Mr. Monks's wife died in 2023. His death, from pancreatic cancer, was confirmed by his son, Bobby. He also leaves a daughter, Melinda Monks; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
