Merkle Inc.
| |
Privately held | |
Founded | Lanham, Maryland (1971) |
Headquarters | Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
Key people |
|
Products |
|
Services |
|
Revenue | $436 million USD (2014) |
Number of employees |
|
Website |
www |
Merkle Group Inc. (also called "Merkle") is a privately held performance marketing agency specializing in data-based marketing solutions.
Merkle History
The current Chairman and CEO, David Williams, purchased Merkle for $5.2 million in 1988, at the age of 25, becoming the Company’s twenty-fourth employee.[1] Merkle has grown revenue from $3.0 million in 1988 to $382 million in 2014, and has evolved from a database marketing firm into a full-service performance marketing agency.[1] In 2015, Advertising Age ranked Merkle as the 10th-largest and fastest growing CRM/Direct Marketing network in the world; the fourth largest U.S. search marketing agency, and the largest independent agency in digital, CRM/data and search.[2] Merkle was recognized as a database marketing leader by Forrester Research Inc. in its "Buyer’s Guide to Database Marketing Service Providers," and is a member of "top 10." [3] Merkle was recognized as a market leader by Forrester in 2003, 2006, 2007[4] and 2015.[5]
- 1971: Merkle Computer Systems, Inc. founded as part of Merkle Press
- 1988: David Williams buys Merkle Computer Systems, Inc. at the age of 25, becoming the 24th employee [6]
- 1995: Purchased Real Good Software Inc. (Merkle’s Nonprofit Database Marketing business)[7]
- 1996: Purchased Phoenix Systems Associates Inc.[7]
- 1997:
- Acquired Electronic Banking Systems (renamed Merkle Response Services)[7]
- Name change to Merkle Direct Marketing, Inc.
- Launched Analytics business
- 1998: Acquired Worldwide Direct (renamed Merkle Mailing)[8]
- 1999: Launched DataSource, Merkle’s compiled database
- Merkle & Conrad Direct Launch HealthSource List[9]
- 2000: Won Dell and DIRECTV business
- Launched Data Solutions business
- 2001: Won GEICO business [10]
- 2002: Received ISO certification [11]
- 2003: Merkle named a market leader by Forrester[12]
- 2004:
- 2005:
- Opened offices in Boston, MA and Denver, CO [16]
- Merkle divests Merkle Mailing Services and formed strategic alliance with Direct Group[17]
- October, acquired Domain [18]
- December, acquired Quris[19]
- Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards Merkle|Quris Best Email Message for work with Blockbuster Inc.[20]
- Ad:tech Ad:tech Awards Merkle|Quris Best Email Marketing Campaign with Vail Resorts [21]
- NCDM awards the Platinum Award for Overall Excellence and a Gold Award for Analytics & Modeling with Dell, Inc.[22]
- 2006:
- Named a market leader by Forrester[23]
- Advertising Age 2006 Special Report Ranks Merkle 38 in World’s Top 50 Marketing Organizations moving up 9 positions from the year prior[24]
- NCDM awards Merkle the Silver Award for Analytics & Modeling with 21st Century Insurance and the Bronze Award for Technological Applications with Dell, Inc.[22]
- Marks the third straight year in which Merkle has won an NCDM Excellence Award[22]
- Rated a Market Leader for Email Marketing by Jupiter Research[25]
- Wins first annual DMA Analytics Challenge at DMA06[26]
- President & CEO David Williams named a Best Boss by Winning Workplaces and Fortune Small Business magazine[27]
- Fundraising Success awards Merkle|Domain and Food for the Hungry the Gold Award for Package of the Year[28]
- 2007:
- Named a market leader by Forrester[29]
- Advertising Age 2007 Special Report Ranks Merkle 31 for World’s Top 50 Marketing Organizations moving up 7 positions from the year prior[30]
- Acquired CFM Direct LLC,[31] the Response Processing Division of AB&C Group,[32] and CognitiveDATA[33]
- Merkle President & CEO David Williams named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner in Maryland for 2007[34]
- 2008:
- Named a finalist for an OMMA award in Online Advertising Creativity[35]
- Awarded a Gold Award from Fundraising Success Magazine for its work with CARE USA on its successful "A Million Thanks from a Million Places" renewal campaign [36]
- Awarded a Bronze Award from Fundraising Success Magazine for the package of the year CARE November/December World Report campaign [36]
- Awarded a Bronze Award from Fundraising Success Magazine for its E-Philanthropy America’s Second Harvest "Fill the Fridge" campaign [36]
- Ranked 31 in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 Programs for Maryland[37][38]
- Advertising Age magazine ranked Merkle among the Top 10 Direct Marketing Agencies, in the Top 15 U.S. Marketing Services Agencies and among the Top 30 Agency Companies in the world[39]
- 2009:
- 2010:
- 2011:
- March 25th, acquired IMPAQT LLC[45]
- April 1st, acquired Lenser[46]
- Merkle Selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee as Agency of Record
- Named a market leader by Forrester[47]
- Received ISO 9001 Recertification
- Merkle, Inc. and Loews Hotels, Inc. Sign Marketing Agreement
- Debuts the Merkle Monitor, a Primary Market Research Solution
- 2012:
- 2013:
- Merkle Wins Bronze Stevie Award for 2012 Marketing Imperatives [51]
- Merkle Wins DMA Innovation Award[52]
- Merkle Wins Fundraising Success Gold Award in Nonprofit E-Mail Campaign $10 Million and Up Category[53]
- Merkle Wins Internationalist Award for Innovative Digital Solutions in Humanitarian Category[54]
- Name to Post 200 guide to the Washington region’s top businesses, private companies category[55]
- Published first book, It Only Looks Like Magic: The Power of Big Data and Customer-Centric Analytics, by Jennifer Veesenmeyer, Peter Vandre, Ron Park and Andy Fisher[56]
- 2014:
- Published book Connected CRM: Implementing a Data-Driven, Customer-Centric Business Strategy[57]
- April 2, Acquired New Control[58]
- Advertising Age Agency Report 2014 Rankings[2]
- Fastest Growing Top 20 US Agency from All Disciplines
- 17th Largest US Digital Agency Network
- 10th Largest and Fastest Growing CRM/Direct Marketing Network in the World
- 10th Largest and Fastest Growing Search Marketing Agency
- 7th Largest US CRM/Direct Marketing Network
- Top 25 US Mobile Agency (Ranked 19th)
- Top 50 Agency in the World (Ranked 22nd)
- Largest US Agencies from All Disciplines (Ranked 20th)
- Merkle Wins Bronze Stevie Award for 2013 Marketing Imperatives Campaign [59]
- July 2, Acquired RKG[60]
- November 18, Acquired startup 500friends[61]
- 2015:
- April 7, Acquired Pointmarc[62]
- May 5, Acquired Periscopix[63]
- April 27, Published third book, The Rise of the Platform Marketer: Performance Marketing with Google, Facebook, and Twitter, Plus the Latest High-Growth Digital Advertising Platforms, by Craig Dempster and John Lee[64]
- Advertising Age Agency Report 2015 Rankings[2]
- 10th Largest and Fastest Growing CRM/Direct Marketing Network in the World
- 4th Largest and Fastest Growing Search Marketing Agency
- June 15, Periscopix, A Merkle Company, received seven Drum Search Awards[65]
- June 22, Received five Stevie Awards from the 2015 American Business Awards
- Gold Stevie Award: Best Internal Recognition/Motivational Event: Merkle’s Dream Grant Program[66]
- Silver Stevie Awards: Best Internal Recognition/Motivational Event: Merkle’s Annual Awards Program[66] and Best Brand Experience Event: Merkle’s 11th Annual CRM Executive Summit[66]
- Bronze Stevie Awards: Marketing Campaign of the Year- Branded Content Campaign of the Year: Merkle’s Connected CRM Book Campaign[67] and Marketing Campaign of the Year – Corporate Reputation/Professional Services: Merkle’s 2014 Marketing Imperatives Campaign[67]
- August 27, Recognized as leader by The Relevancy Group in "The Relevancy Ring: Email Agency Buyer's Guide"[68]
- November 10, Recognized by Forrester Research as a Leader in the marketing database operations scenario of The Forrester Wave™: Customer Insights Services Providers, Q4 2015[5]
- November 10, Joined the Yahoo Preferred Partner program[69]
- November 12, Becomes first authorized Baidu reseller in United States[70]
- 2016:
- January 5, 500friends, a Merkle Company ranked as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Customer Loyalty Solutions for Midsize Organizations, Q1 2016[71]
References
- 1 2 "Fast growth in a fast-changing marketing world". Baltimore Sun.
- 1 2 3 "Agency Report 2015 Rankings". April 29, 2015.
- ↑ Frankland, Dave; Suresh Vittal; Emily Murphy; Michael J. Grant (January 12, 2011). "The Forrester Wave: US Database Marketing Service Providers, Q1 2011". Forrester Research (Forrester Research). Retrieved 2011-12-08.
- ↑ Beck, Koa. "Forrester Evaluates Database Marketing Providers". Buyer’s Guide to Database Marketing Service Providers. Forrester Research.
- 1 2 "Forrester Research : Research : The Forrester Wave™: Customer Insights Services Providers, Q4 2015". www.forrester.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
- ↑ "Power 20: David Williams". Baltimore BusinessJournal. 2011.
- 1 2 3 "EBS’ workforce to double". Herald-mail.com. 1997.
- ↑ "Paradigm, MapQuest Form Partnership". dmnews.com. 1998.
- ↑ "Merkle, Conrad Direct Launch HealthSource List". dmnews.com. 1999.
- ↑ "Merkle Receives Industry Excellence Award for Success with GEICO in Analytics and Modeling; Merkle Receives New Contract for Work to Provide Database and Direct Marketing Services.". allbusiness.com. 2001.
- ↑ "Merkle Response Management Group Earns ISO 9001 Recertification". tmcnest.com. 2011.
- ↑ "Merkle Inc.". Bloomberg (Businessweek). December 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
- ↑ "Merkle buys Sigma Analytics". UPI.com. May 18, 2004.
- ↑ "CCG Unveils CustomerCenter; Merkle Gets GEICO Contract". DMNews.com. December 2004.
- ↑ "Merkle Receives Two Database Excellence Awards.". Thefreelibrary.com. 2004.
- ↑ News, DM (August 2, 2005). "Merkle Opens Boston Office". Retrieved 2012-01-17.
- ↑ Prunier, Petsky (2005). "Merkle has divested its Merkle Mailing Systems and formed a strategic alliance with Direct Group".
- ↑ Khan, Mickey Alam (October 6, 2005). "Merkle Buys Nonprofit Agency Domain Group".
- ↑ Mag, D (December 6, 2005). "Merkle Acquires Quris".
- ↑ Library, Free (2005). "Email Solutions Agency Quris Wins 2005 Web Marketing Association Award with Blockbuster".
- ↑ Popescu, Valeriu (December 4, 2005). "2005 Awards for the Bests in the Branch – Watch and Learn!".
- 1 2 3 Wire, Business (December 12, 2006). "Merkle Receives Two Database Excellence Awards".
- ↑ Campanelli, Melissa (January 12, 2006). "Analytics Put Epsilon, Merkle, Allant, Targetbase Atop Forrester Study".
- ↑ Communications, Crain (June 5, 2006). "Agency Report, Profiles of the top 50 marketing organizations in this 62nd annual ranking" (PDF).
- ↑ Daniels, David (October 31, 2006). "Email Marketing Buyer Guide 2006".
- ↑ Campanelli, Melissa (October 18, 2006). "Merkle wins data analytics challenge at DMA06".
- ↑ Beam, High (September 28, 2006). "Merkle CEO David Williams Named "Best Boss" by Winning Workplaces and Fortune Small Business Magazine".
- ↑ Battistelli, Margaret (September 2006). "And the Winners Are….".
- ↑ Businessweek, Bloomberge (2012). "Merkle Company Profile".
- ↑ Age, Ad (2007). "Agency Profiles Yearbook 2007 Profile" (PDF).
- ↑ Khan, Mickey Alam (May 8, 2007). "Merkle buys CFM Direct for financial services advantage Profile".
- ↑ Campanelli, Melissa (January 3, 2007). "Merkle acquires response services division from AB&C Group".
- ↑ Hosford, Christopher (August 16, 2010). "Marketing merger & acquisition activity surges".
- ↑ Library, Free (2007). "Merkle President and CEO David Williams Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 Award Winner in Maryland".
- ↑ Fadner, Ross (August 29, 2008). "2008 OMMA Awards Finalists in the Online Advertising Creativity Category".
- 1 2 3 Success, Fundraising (September 2008). "FS Gold Awards: Complete List of Winners".
- ↑ Thompson, David (2008). "Deloitte’s Maryland Technology Fast 50 Rankings of Fastest-Growing Technology Companies" (PDF).
- ↑ Link, David (October 9, 2008). "EM7 – helping customers make the Deloitte Technology Fast 50?".
- 1 2 Age, Ad (2012). "TOP U.S. MARKETING SERVICES AGENCIES".
- ↑ Haskins, Walaika (October 13, 2009). "Merkle’s David Williams Named CEO of the Year by Baltimore SmartCEO Magazine".
- ↑ Tode, Chantal (July 6, 2009). "CognitiveData acquires CMS Direct".
- ↑ Mirabella, Lorraine (March 22, 2010). "Merkle acquires loyalty marketing firm Metzner Schneider".
- ↑ Funding, DC (August 31, 2010). "Merkle Announces Growth Investment by Technology Crossover Ventures".
- ↑ Palmer, Alex (September 15, 2010). "Merkle Opens Shanghai Office".
- ↑ Martinez, Juan (March 29, 2011). "Merkle buys search marketing firm Impaqt".
- ↑ Martinez, Juan (April 4, 2011). "Merkle’s CognitiveData acquires Lenser".
- ↑ Frankland, Dave (January 12, 2011). "The Forrester Wave: US Database Marketing Service Providers Q1 2011" (PDF).
- ↑ Kamenec, Kara (February 2, 2012). "Merkle Acquires Social Amp, Tackles Facebook Open-Graph".
- 1 2 http://adage.com/article/datacenter-agencies/agency-report-index/106357/|date=April 27, 2012
- ↑ "Merkle acquires digital data exchange provider Brilig". September 12, 2012.
- ↑ "Marketing Awards Categories Stevie Award Winners". June 17, 2013.
- ↑ "DMA Announces Winners of 2013 Innovation Awards". September 5, 2013.
- ↑ "E-mail ($10 Million and Up): Canine Companions for Independence". October 2013.
- ↑ "Internationalist Awards for Innovative Digital Solutions". December 2, 2013.
- ↑ "Post 200". December 15, 2013.
- ↑ Veesenmeyer, Jennifer; Vandre, Peter; Park, Ron; Fisher, Andy (2013-06-10). It Only Looks Like Magic: The Power of Big Data and Customer-Centric Digital Analytics. Merkle. ISBN 9780989451505.
- ↑ Williams, David S. (2014-03-03). Connected CRM: Implementing a Data-Driven, Customer-Centric Business Strategy (1 ed.). Wiley. ISBN 9781118835807.
- ↑ "Monollos, Kristina. Merkle Acquires Digital Player, New Congrol". April 2, 2014.
- ↑ "2014 Marketing Awards Categories Stevie Award Winners". June 13, 2014.
- ↑ "Pathak, Shareen. Merkle Buys Search and Digital Agency RKG". July 2, 2014.
- ↑ By Anthony Ha, TechCrunch. "Merkle Acquires Loyalty Startup 500friends." November 18, 2014. December 2, 2014.
- ↑ "Merkle Acquires Pointmarc, Gains Analytics Consultancy Services". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
- ↑ "US performance marketing agency Merkle enters Europe with acquisition of Periscopix". The Drum. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
- ↑ The Rise of the Platform Marketer: Performance Marketing with Google, Facebook, and Twitter, Plus the Latest High-Growth Digital Advertising Platforms (1 ed.). Wiley. 2015-04-27. ISBN 9781119059721.
- ↑ "The Drum Digital Trading Awards - 2015 Winners". The Drum. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
- 1 2 3 "The American Business Awards: Live Event Awards". www.stevieawards.com. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
- 1 2 "The American Business Awards: Marketing Awards". www.stevieawards.com. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
- ↑ "The Relevancy Ring - Email Agency Buyer's Guide, 2015". www.relevancygroup.com. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
- ↑ "Yahoo Adds Deeper Targeting to Yahoo Gemini, Expands Preferred Partner Program". www.adweek.com. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
- ↑ "China Search Leader Baidu Taps Merkle As First Key US Agency Partner". AdExchanger. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
- ↑ "Forrester Research : Research : The Forrester Wave™: Customer Loyalty Solutions For Midsize Organizations, Q1 2016". www.forrester.com. Retrieved 2016-01-25.