MediaMonks Shares Company History Over Drinks in Cannes

In Cannes doing interviews for adforum, Angela Natividad sat down with Victor Knapp and Wesley Ter Haar of MediaMonks, an international creative and digital production shop that also hosted the most excellent Massive Music party last night.

Jumping right into things, Angela asked the pair what trajectory landed them in the world of advertising. Wesley had a fairly typical trajectory. After dropping out of highschool, he starting geeking around with friends and building websites. Victor, on the other hand...was a porn star. OK, he's just kidding. He went sailing. Did it for four years and accidentally ran into Wesley at Central Station in Amsterdam.

Wesley explained the name MediaMonks came from an obsession with Chinese Kung Fu movies and the monks in those movies. He says those monks illustrate the dedication it takes to build a successful business as well as the dedicated mindset to continuously deliver.

Wesley went on to explain how about five years ago MediaMonk shifted from functioning like a digital agency to functioning more like a digital production shop. He said he hated sitting in meetings all the time and being limited to working with local clients. Shifting to a production shop mode allowed the company to work internationally with more agencies...and to sit in fewer meetings. But he was quick to add that MedaiMonk isn't simply a production shop. They work hand in hand with the agency to help shape the strategic and creative direction of the work.

When asked what the guiding mantra is for MediaMonks, Wesley said it is to "make the best work possible in the time available."

Of the notion of having creatives and programmers working together, Victor said, "programmers can be creative too" emphasizing programming is just as creative as, well, creative.

Watch the video below.