Merkle (www.merkle.com), a leading technology enabled, data driven customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm and the nation’s largest privately held agency, announced its prominent rankings in a new report from Advertising Age magazine. Citing Merkle’s US revenue of $345 million and growth of 16.5%, the Agency Report 2014 places Merkle among the leaders in its CRM/Direct Marketing agency rankings, both at the global and U.S. levels. Merkle received additional distinction among the World’s Top 50, which ranks overall agency services worldwide. The rankings were published in the April 28 issue of Advertising Age magazine (www.adage.com).

• Largest US Agencies from All Disciplines – Merkle ranks number 20, moving up three spots from 23 and is the fastest-growing US agency of any discipline.
• Top 25 CRM/Direct Marketing Networks in the U.S. – Merkle ranks number 7, earning the distinction of fastest-growing CRM/direct marketing network in the US.
• 20 Largest US Digital networks – Merkle ranks number 17, in its first year on the list.
• World’s 10 Largest CRM/Direct Marketing Networks – Merkle ranks number 10, and is the fastest-growing CRM/direct marketing network globally.
• World’s Top 50 Agency Companies – Merkle ranks number 22. Up two positions from last year’s 24 ranking, Merkle is among the fastest growing agencies in the world, with $370 million in global revenue and 16.5% growth.

Merkle’s 2013 market-leading growth was largely a result of the company’s focus on helping world-class brands take a Connected CRM (cCRM)™ approach to business strategy. The favorable results stimulated the development and release of Merkle CEO David Williams’ book, titled Connected CRM: Building a Data-Driven, Customer-Centric Business Strategy, now available from online book retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  The movement toward cCRM, given the proliferation of the digital audience platforms, was also the launchpad for the third in Merkle’s annual Marketing Imperatives series. The 2014 installment examines the Rise of the Platform Marketer, focusing on the new competencies required to be competitive in the modern age of addressability at scale. Both projects were designed to provide today’s marketers with a path for growth and competitive differentiation, by building strong, personalized relationships with their customers.

“This year’s Agency Report rankings reflect Merkle’s momentum into 2014, coming off a record-setting year in 2013 with double digit growth,” said David Williams, chairman and CEO for Merkle. “Driving much of our growth has been the substantial investment in the advancement and scale of our digital capabilities (search, social, display, email, mobile and experience design) over the last few years. In addition, Merkle’s Connected CRM (cCRM) approach to building customer strategy as a business strategy continues to prove an effective driver of client success.” 

The annual Advertising Age Agency Report, published April 28, 2014, was produced by the Ad Age DataCenter. The report appeared in Advertising Age’s print edition and on AdAge.com. It includes rankings of more than 900 advertising, marketing services and media agencies based on 2013 revenue.