Merkle (www.merkle.com), one of the nation’s largest and fastest growing customer relationship marketing agencies, today announced the promotion of Craig Dempster to the newly formed role of executive vice president and chief marketing officer. As Merkle’s first CMO, Dempster will lead an expanded marketing function and will oversee Merkle’s lead generation, vertical marketing and corporate marketing communication functions, including public relations, events, advertising and a newly formed product and technology innovation group.

Dempster first joined Merkle in 2006 as corporate vice president of the Content Solutions Group. In that role, Dempster led a team that further established Merkle’s proprietary data solutions and offerings as the services of choice by major corporations and nonprofits across the U.S. Most recently, Craig was integral in the creation and launch of Merkle’s new subsidiary, LogicLab, which is creating an online marketplace that uses information, analytics and technology to facilitate commerce between advertisers and media companies.

Merkle Chairman and CEO David Williams said, "Craig’s proven leadership abilities and passion for marketing innovation, combined with a significant understanding of Merkle’s business and the market sector as a whole, makes him uniquely qualified to take on the role of CMO. I join my colleagues on the executive team in enthusiastically welcoming Craig to the position of CMO."

Craig Dempster added, "With the very talented people we have at Merkle, there is an abundance of innovative opportunities and ground-breaking thought leadership that we can continue to develop. In this new role, I am looking forward to harnessing Merkle’s best thinking and bringing these insights to the world-class brands we work with. Overall, it is my hope to help increase Merkle’s presence as the nation’s leading customer relationship marketing agency."