Merkle (www.merkle.com), a leading customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm and the nation’s largest privately held agency, today announced the appointment of Josh Sinel as vice president, general manager of Merkle’s social practice. In this role, Sinel will focus on expanding Merkle’s social practice and aligning the social offerings with Merkle’s best-in-class data, technology and analytics.

Sinel has over 20 years’ experience developing and managing digital technology platforms for the use of online community management and social media. Prior to joining Merkle, Sinel founded the first company to offer online community management, Blue Barn Interactive, in 1996. This organization later expanded to become a full-service digital agency that designed and built social-driven enterprise level websites. In 2003, Sinel then developed Kaava Corporation, the first company to offer a technology platform for performing deep quantitative and qualitative consumer research across social media. In these roles, Sinel worked with companies such as American Express, IBM, Kodak, Microsoft and Volvo.

As leader of Merkle’s social practice, Sinel will leverage and grow the Social Amp platform to enhance the onsite social experiences for our clients’ customers. Social Amp continues to be a recognized authority in Facebook Open Graph marketing, whose solution allows companies to engage customers on their sites and generate ROI beyond “likes” with page views, upstream social network referral traffic and social conversations.  Sinel and his team will bring the power of social data across the social landscape and create personalized social programs which will deliver  truly unique customer experiences and Connected CRM™.

 “While the social platforms and mediums continue to evolve, brands and their customers continue to engage and interact online. Merkle’s technology and data expertise along with innovation gives us the unique ability to enhance those online interactions,” said Sinel. “With Merkle’s entrepreneurial spirit, I have come to the perfect place where there is a lot of excitement and emphasis on building something great. Being an entrepreneur by nature, it is a natural next step for me to join the Merkle team.”

“Josh Sinel has a proven track record of success in growing and developing technology organizations rooted in social media,” said Craig Dempster, EVP, CMO, customer experience group leader, Merkle. “His experiences and past innovations make Josh best suited to help our clients deliver personalized customer experiences online. This leadership appointment supports Merkle’s ongoing strategy to expand its capabilities in the area of digital marketing to further strengthen its Connected CRM™ approach.”