Merkle (www.merkle.com), a leading customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm and the nation’s largest privately-held agency, announces that Pete Mehr, PhD,  chief strategy officer for Merkle’s  life sciences division, will speak  at the 2^nd annual DTC Performance-Based Marketing Summit. Hosted by QualityHealth, the largest and most efficient online customer acquisition solution for healthcare marketers, the summit being held May 9, 2012 at the Harvard Club in New York City, will bring together healthcare and marketing leaders for a series of discussions about marketing tactics being employed by top pharmaceutical companies and how customers are making purchasing decisions in this current economic and regulatory environment.

Mehr’s session, entitled “Synergies Matter: Driving ROI through Integrated Customer Engagement,” will take place in the late afternoon on May 9, 2012 at 3:00pm. Mehr’s session will discuss how promotion campaigns become integrated across tactics, and how engagement metrics play an increasingly important role in optimizing campaign performance & ROI. In addition, attendees will gain knowledge around the evolution of integrated campaigns across channels and customer types, gaining insight into understanding how customers engage not only with the campaign but with each other.

“The pharmaceutical industry by and large has struggled with how to promote to their different customer groups, from physicians to pharmacists to patients. Each customer type has influence in determining the course of therapy and the Rx product selected,” said Mehr. “By promoting to each customer group, pharma companies have the opportunity to recognize the value and importance of each segment in driving top-line sales and bottom-line profit. I am excited to share my insight and more importantly engage with industry leaders at this influential marketing event.”