S4 Capital acquires Australian analytics company Lens 10
Sir Martin Sorrell’s presence in Australia is increasing, with S4 Capital’s data and programmatic media practice Mighty Hive set to merge with Australian digital strategy and analytics consultancy, Lens 10, pending approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board and the ACCC.
S4 Capital is the digital advertising and marketing services company established by Sorrell in May 2018, following his departure from WPP.
S4 Capital’s Mighty Hive will merge with Lens 10
Lens 10 was founded in 2010 by Michelle McGrath, Dean Gingell and Robin Jowett, and offers services in digital strategy, technical consulting, analytics auditing, data visualisation and digital optimisation.
McGrath said the merger would make the business a market leader in analytics services.
“Marketers’ need for expert advice and services around analytics has never been higher. By teaming up with Mighty Hive, Lens 10’s existing bench of advanced analytics experts is now positioned to offer global capabilities, along with media consulting and media buying solutions, to clients,” she said.
Mighty Hive founder and CEO, Pete Kim, said: “First-party data is part of the S4 Capital ‘holy trinity’ and these mergers support our strategic vision of creating the leading digital-only, new era marketing services firm.
“Marketing analytics expertise is a key part of marketers’ foundational toolkit and critical to execute more agile and personalised campaigns. Recent Google and Apple decisions around third party cookies have also enhanced the importance of first party data. The team at Lens 10 and their stellar reputations across Australia naturally complement Mighty Hive’s global consulting services as we continue to expand and prosper worldwide.”
Sorrell welcomed the Lens 10 team to S4 Capital.
“We are delighted to welcome Michelle, Dean, Robin and their colleagues to S4 Capital. 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,” he said.
In May, Mighty Hive merged with Digodat, one of the leading Latin American data and analytics consultancies.
In June last year, S4 Capital acquired Melbourne marketing company Biztech and merged it into its global content arm Mediamonks.
In that same month, Elizabeth Buchanan, founder of The White Agency (now part of WPP AUNZ’s White Grey), joined the S4 Capital board as non-executive director.
