S4 Capital’s operating brand Media.Monks has promoted Robert Godinho to the managing director of content in India, to focus on creative innovation, fuelled by AI and its talent hub. Media.Monks is a digital-first, unitary, advertising and marketing services company.
Godinho has been elevated from his role heading the Media.Monks India production hub and will now oversee all operations as managing director – content in India to reflect an expanded scope. It comes as the company expands its India talent base, increasing existing capabilities in AI and creative technology to service and transform brands in India and around the world.
Media.Monks India director Poran Malani, who was core in setting up the team in India will leave the company.
“As one of the fastest growing markets in APAC, and indeed the world, we view India as an important strategic part of our own growth. The Media.Monks India business is also a hub for creative innovation, so it is well placed to help businesses harness the huge potential of AI, now. The new era for the India business, under the stewardship of Robert Godinho, is rooted in putting these capabilities into the hands of brands, be that hyper-personalisation, workflow automation or virtual production,” said Media.Monks content practice co-CEO Bruno Lambertini.
The company feels that Godinho is ideally placed to drive it in this new era. An entrepreneur at heart, his creative studio WhiteBalance merged with Media.Monks in 2020 for its work in film production and creative tech innovation.
His vision for building solutions that merge art and tech inspires his innovation teams to develop solutions that can help brands automate and build assets at scale to complement their digital content creation. Some achievements include setting up a virtual production studio in Film City, helping brands create AI-enabled campaigns personalised for regional consumers and building assets at scale for large brands that have been deployed from India to the world.
“We are building a Centre of Excellence for brands powered by insights, creativity, AI and innovation in India. This is not only to service our national clients but also international Media.Monks brands as well, through our established creative production and innovation hub. India has the opportunity to be at the epicentre of transforming brands by ensuring they are AI-friendly and AI-proof. We want to drive this by proving that AI is not a buzzword. We will do this by leading with it within our own business and handing on the learnings for clients to reap the benefits,” explained Godinho.
Media.Monks was named by Adweek as its first-ever AI Agency of the Year in November. The award was given for demonstrating exceptional talent, creativity, and ingenuity in the application of generative AI in both internal operations and client work.
The India branch office services local, regional and global clients through its combination of local services and a specialist technical talent hub. Under Godinho’s stewardship, there will be enhanced collaboration between the two, alongside investment into talent to enhance creative, AI and technology capabilities.
Godinho reports to the recently appointed APAC content head VP Matthew Godfrey, who joined Media.Monks in October 2023. The Data and Media divisions of the India branch continue to report to APAC DDM managing director Kenny Griffiths at the company.