Merkle Inc. - Technology Crossover Ventures

Merkle Group Inc. (also called "Merkle") is a privately held performance marketing agency specializing in data-based marketing solutions.

History

Merkle Computer Systems, Inc. was founded in 1971 as part of Merkle Press.

The current Chairman and CEO, David Williams, purchased Merkle for $5.2 million in 1988, at the age of 25, becoming the company’s 24th employee. Merkle has grown revenue from $3.0 million in 1988 to $435 million in 2015, and has evolved from a database marketing firm into a full-service performance marketing agency. In 2015, Advertising Age ranked Merkle as the 10th-largest and fastest growing CRM/Direct Marketing network in the world; the fourth largest US search marketing agency, and the largest independent agency in digital, CRM/data and search. 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." Merkle was recognized as a market leader by Forrester in 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2015.

• 1995: Purchased Real Good Software Inc. (Merkle’s Nonprofit Database Marketing business)
• 1996: Purchased Phoenix Systems Associates Inc.
• 1997: Acquired Electronic Banking Systems (renamed Merkle Response Services)

  Name change to Merkle Direct Marketing, Inc.

  Launched Analytics business

• 1998: Acquired Worldwide Direct (renamed Merkle Mailing)
• 1999: Launched DataSource, Merkle’s compiled database

Merkle & Conrad Direct Launch HealthSource List

• 2000: Won Dell and DirecTV business

Launched Data Solutions business

• 2001: Won GEICO business
• 2002: Received ISO certification
• 2003: Merkle named a market leader by Forrester
• 2004: Acquires Sigma Analytics

Merkle receives a new contract from GEICO

NCDM awards Merkle the Silver Database Excellence Award in the Modeling Applications category for its work with GEICO

First annual client "thought leadership" summit

• 2005: Opens offices in Boston and Denver

Merkle divests Merkle Mailing Services and formed strategic alliance with Direct Group

October: Acquires Domain

December: Acquires Quris

Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards Merkle|Quris Best Email Message for work with Blockbuster Inc.

Ad:tech Ad:tech Awards Merkle|Quris Best Email Marketing Campaign with Vail Resorts

National Center for Database Marketing (NCDM), a small Norwegian company,awards the Platinum Award for Overall Excellence and a Gold Award for Analytics & Modeling with Dell, Inc.

• 2006: Named a market leader by Forrester

Advertising Age 2006 Special Report ranks Merkle 38 in World’s Top 50 Marketing Organizations, moving it 9 positions above the prior year's position.

NCDM awards Merkle the Silver Award for Analytics & Modeling with 21st Century Insurance and the Bronze Award for Technological Applications with Dell, Inc.

Marks the third straight year in which Merkle has won an NCDM Excellence Award

Rated a Market Leader for Email Marketing by Jupiter Research

Wins first annual DMA Analytics Challenge at DMA06

President & CEO David Williams named a Best Boss by Winning Workplaces and Fortune Small Business magazine

Fundraising Success magazine awards Merkle|Domain and Food for the Hungry the Gold Award for Package of the Year

• 2007: Named a market leader by Forrester

Advertising Age 2007 Special Report Ranks Merkle 31 for World’s Top 50 Marketing Organizations, moving up seven positions from the year prior

Acquired CFM Direct LLC, the Response Processing Division of AB&C Group, and CognitiveDATA

Merkle President & CEO David Williams named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner in Maryland for 2007

• 2008: Named a finalist for an OMMA award in Online Advertising Creativity

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

Bronze Award from Fundraising Success for the package of the year CARE November/December World Report campaign

Awarded a Bronze Award from Fundraising Success for its E-Philanthropy America’s Second Harvest "Fill the Fridge" campaign

Ranked 31 in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 Programs for Maryland

Advertising Age 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

• 2009: David Williams named "CEO of the Year" by SmartCEO Magazine

Acquired CMS Direct

Ranked 27th, Merkle was named the largest worldwide marketing services company and the 6th largest direct marketing agency in America

• 2010: Acquired Metzner Schneider Associates

Technology Crossover Ventures purchases a minority equity stake in Merkle

On September 14th Merkle opened its first international office in Shanghai, China

• 2011: March 25: acquired IMPAQT LLC

April 1: acquired Lenser

Merkle Selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee as Agency of Record

Named a market leader by Forrester

Received ISO 9001 Recertification

Merkle, Inc. and Loews Hotels, Inc. Sign Marketing Agreement

Debuts the Merkle Monitor, a Primary Market Research Solution

• 2012: Acquired Social Amp

Ad Age ranked Merkle #6 of Top 10 CRM / Direct Agencies in the US

Ad Age named Merkle in the 10 Agencies to Watch in 2012

Acquired 5th Finger

Acquired Brilig

• 2013: Won Bronze Stevie Award for 2012 Marketing Imperatives

Won DMA Innovation Award

Won Fundraising Success Gold Award in Nonprofit E-Mail Campaign $10 Million and Up Category

Won Internationalist Award for Innovative Digital Solutions in Humanitarian Category

Named to Post 200 guide to the Washington region’s top businesses, private companies category

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

• 2014: Published book, Connected CRM: Implementing a Data-Driven, Customer-Centric Business Strategy

April 2: Acquired New Control

Advertising Age Agency Report 2014 Rankings

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)

Won Bronze Stevie Award for 2013 Marketing Imperatives Campaign

July 2: Acquired RKG

November 18: Acquires startup 500friends

• 2015: April 7: Acquired Pointmarc

May 5: Acquired Periscopix

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

Advertising Age Agency Report 2015 Rankings

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

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

Silver Stevie Awards: Best Internal Recognition/Motivational Event: Merkle’s Annual Awards Program and Best Brand Experience Event: Merkle’s 11th Annual CRM Executive Summit

Bronze Stevie Awards: Marketing Campaign of the Year, Branded Content Campaign of the Year: Merkle’s Connected CRM Book Campaign and Marketing Campaign of the Year â€" Corporate Reputation/Professional Services: Merkle’s 2014 Marketing Imperatives Campaign

August 27, Recognized as leader by The Relevancy Group in "The Relevancy Ring: Email Agency Buyer's Guide"

November 10: Recognized by Forrester Research as a Leader in the marketing database operations scenario of The Forrester Waveâ„¢: Customer Insights Services Providers, Q4 2015

November 10: Joined the Yahoo Preferred Partner program

November 12: Becomes first authorized Baidu reseller in United States

• 2016: January 5: 500friends, a Merkle company, ranked as a Leader in The Forrester Waveâ„¢: Customer Loyalty Solutions for Midsize Organizations, Q1 2016

August 8: Merkle announced that it sold a major stake in its business to the global media group Dentsu Aegis Network. This deal values Merkle at $1.5 billion. Merkle will be Dentsu Aegis Network tenth global brand and will remain semi-autonomous after the deal.

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