Merkle (www.merkle.com), the nation's largest and fastest growing independent customer relationship marketing agency, announced that it has opened its first international office in Shanghai, China. Strategically located within Shanghai's thriving financial and business district of Pudong, Merkle's new location can initially house 75 employees, with the capacity to expand as Merkle's global business continues to grow.

The Shanghai office will extend Merkle's current capabilities and competitive position by providing analytics and technology operations resources on a global scale. In turn, this will help drive growth and new opportunities for Merkle in the U.S. and around the world. Raymond Wu, a six-year Merkle veteran, leads this office along with three other managers and 25 employees. Merkle is supporting five of its U.S.-based clients from this office, including support of Dell's regional and global Consumer CRM operations.

Merkle Chairman and CEO David Williams said, "Establishing a presence in Shanghai is a pivotal moment in Merkle's history. Our expansion into China complements our pattern of rapid growth here in the U.S. During the past year, we have increased our breadth of services, added many world-class brands to our client portfolio, and hired talented staff at Merkle locations across the country. Merkle's Asia expansion is the next step in the growth process and enables us to better support the global needs of our clients."

Merkle Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Zhengda "Z" Shen said, "Merkle's expansion enables us to support a growing number of multinational clients within today's global climate. The new location will enable us to provide analytics and technology operations capabilities that advance our clients' initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as support offshore outsourcing for multinational corporations. We are very excited about this expansion and believe this will provide greater opportunities for our clients and employees.