Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital buys influencer agency IMA
Sir Martin Sorrell’s advertising company S4 Capital has bought IMA, Europe’s largest influencer marketing company, for €10m (£9.3m) and will merge it with its existing content arm, Mediamonks.
Amsterdam-based IMA, which was founded in 2010, selects influencers to create tailored online marketing campaigns for brands including Microsoft, Heineken, and Samsonite.
Sorrell founded S4 Capital last year after leaving WPP, the world’s largest advertising agency. S4 acquired Mediamonks, which is based in the Netherlands, in July 2018 for $350m (£290m).
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“This merger is yet another example of our focus on top line growth,” said Sorrell. “Influencer marketing is an important subset of the digital content marketing industry and is predicted to double in size over the next three years.”
Victor Knaap, chief executive of Mediamonks, said: “IMA has been at the forefront as this industry has started to come of age. We look forward to working with its entrepreneurial team in developing how powerful influencers can be as part of a digital marketing strategy.”
Shares in S4 Capital were up 1.4 per cent in morning trading to 144.50p.