Merkle (www.merkeleinc.com), the nation's largest and fastest growing customer relationship marketing agency, has received a 2010 Silver W3 Award from the International Academy of the Visual Arts for its work with the Arthritis Foundation. Winners were selected from a pool of more than 3,000 nominations, which included web marketing, web video and mobile application campaigns by many of the world's top interactive agencies, designers and creators.

Merkle received honors in the Nonprofit category for the company's successful e-Miles fundraising campaign that connected the Arthritis Foundation with a potential source for new donor acquisition and engagement through a program that offers members the opportunity to opt-in to targeted marketing messages in exchange for air-mile reward points. Merkle's creative team developed a campaign that enabled the Arthritis Foundation to reach valued consumers, improve engagement rates, start e-mail relationships with new prospects, acquire new donors and deliver targeted video messages to strengthen emotional bonds with the organization's cause. The group also created messaging targeting potential juvenile arthritis donors, a previously untested appeal for the Arthritis Foundation. The campaign resulted in a donation conversion rate that was twice the control and delivered more revenue than any previous online acquisition campaign.

Angie Moore, senior vice president and general manager of Merkle's nonprofit practice, said, "We are extremely honored to be recognized by the International Academy of Visual Arts with a W3 Award for our work with the Arthritis Foundation. Our long-standing relationship with the organization has delivered many years of positive results through active online engagement, and with the help of e-Miles, the Arthritis Foundation is meeting its goal of increasing donor and member response to deliver much needed awareness and revenue."