Merkle Insurance & Wealth Management Practice Reports Growth in 2012

COLUMBIA, Md. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Merkle (www.merkleinc.com), a leading customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm and the nation’s largest privately-held agency, announced record setting growth for its Insurance and Wealth Management practice. In 2012, Merkle’s Insurance and Wealth Management practice experienced a 36% increase in net revenue year over year. This growth was a reflection of Merkle’s continued focus on providing world-class CRM solutions for its clients and its expanded breadth of expertise through key additions to the Merkle team. The Insurance and Wealth Management practice also expanded its roster of iconic brands in 2012 to include AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah Insurance Exchange, NCNU, CUNA Mutual Group, Protective Life, and SBLI.

Merkle’s Insurance and Wealth Management practice continued its momentum of employing the Connected CRM value proposition through thought leadership creation. In September, John Lee, senior vice president and practice leader, Merkle, authored a white paper entitled “Connected CRM: The Digital Marketing Value Chain.” This was complemented by Merkle’s third annual Financial Services & Insurance Exchange as well as a three part webinar series in October, November and December. The theme of the events focused on Merkle’s industry-specific point of view on how the new digital marketing value chain is taking shape; how it impacts financial services and insurance firms; and how to enable the critical strategic capabilities required by connected CRM.

“In 2012 we noticed a trend in our industry; organizations were recognizing the importance of channel attribution and understanding how online channels work separately and together to better maximize their marketing spend in the areas that have the most impact on the consumer decision making process,” said John Lee, senior vice president, client advisory group, Merkle. “Our prediction for 2013 is that these organizations will now begin to better understand the concept of the digital marketing value chain in order to help them become more efficient marketers.”

About Merkle

Merkle, a customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm, is the nation’s largest privately-held agency. For more than 20 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. By combining a complete range of marketing, technical, analytical and creative disciplines, Merkle works with clients to design, execute and evaluate connected CRM programs. With more than 1,500 employees, the privately held corporation is headquartered near Baltimore in Columbia, Maryland with additional offices in Boston; Denver; Little Rock; Minneapolis; New York; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; San Francisco; Hagerstown, MD and Shanghai. For more information, contact Merkle at 1-877-9-Merkle or visit www.merkleinc.com.