Merkle (www.merkle.com), a leading technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing agency, announced that it partnered with USAA, and Facebook to implement a branding campaign that inspired meaningful appreciation for the men and women who serve our nation. USAA, a financial services and insurance group serving military members and families, selected Merkle as its strategic advisor to develop a digital strategy and media execution across Facebook and Instagram platforms to communicate USAA’s creative assets.

“Balancing the art and science of a methodical, data-driven campaign that is also able to humanize our brand with great creative execution is at the heart of our social strategy. Our Veterans Day campaign series enabled us to connect and engage with the military community in a very relevant and emotive way with outstanding business results,” said Renee Horne, VP Social Business, USAA.

Building on the core Veterans Day concept reflected in USAA’s TV spots, the Facebook and Instagram platforms enabled USAA to extend the experience to target audience segments in a way that optimized media, creative, and reach-frequency objectives. Merkle helped to then drive a data-driven people-based marketing approach to audience, creative testing, and media optimization. The collaboration, expertise, and partnership across teams drove 70 million impressions to 40 million people, a 75% incremental reach to TV overall, and more than 250% incremental reach to TV for young Millennials.

“We were thrilled to support USAA in combing strategy, creative, and media to realize the full potential of all of USAA’s objectives — from providing its members with financial security to showing genuine appreciation to our veterans and their families,” said Matt Greenawalt, VP, Merkle. “The marketing capabilities on Facebook and Instagram enabled USAA to apply analytics, targeting, and measurement to achieve its goals.”

To learn more about the business results driven by this Veterans Day campaign, please visit the Merkle website.