Tag: Merkle

Australia remains one of the biggest markets globally for many industries, including in marketing and advertising. Alongside New Zealand, these markets contribute to a growing industry scene where brands and B2B firms flourish thanks to an abundance of agencies helping these companies to thrive in the ANZ market and reach more potential clients and consumers.

This is exactly what Dentsu Creative and Merkle does–with the former helping brands to reach consumers through engaging campaigns and marketing initiatives, with the latter helping firms to utilise the power of data and analytics to improve customer experience (CX) and digital transformation. The big question is: how does a sole leader for both of these practices hold up in a competitive market much like ANZ?

To learn more about this, we recently sat down with Kirsty Muddle, CEO of Dentsu Creative ANZ and CEO of practices & products for ANZ at Merkle to learn more about her balanced agency leadership, and how she strives to always make marketing and technology work together through their own initiatives.

Understanding personal leadership philosophy

For Kirsty, her leadership philosophy as both leading Dentsu Creative and Merkle in ANZ is building a foundation of authenticity, empowerment, and continuous learning. Among those key traits include leading by example, learning from failure, and setting boundaries.

“So many leaders get this wrong, when it should be so simple. I believe in showing up, being human, and making myself available for my team. Leadership isn’t just about setting the direction, it’s also about setting the tone for collaboration, trust, and accountability,” she stated.

In terms of learning from failures, she added, “We all fail! So let’s not shy away from it. Instead, embrace and encourage a culture of taking risks and failing fast. Some of the best ideas come from pushing boundaries.”

With a focus on bringing modern creativity to life, Kirsty finds innovative ways to help clients grow their brands and form deeper, more meaningful connections with their customers. She also leads a team of passionate people across creative, strategy, production, earned attention, digital experience, entertainment, public relations, content, social media, Indigenous affairs, and government relations.

Keeping the team engaged

When asked about her way of creating initiatives to keep the agency’s talents engaged, Kirsty stated that creative and entrepreneurial thinking comes when their teams collaborate and unlock the broader dentsu community in order to solve client problems.

“We place a lot of emphasis and importance on creating a culture that values transparency, fosters innovative thinking, and has the right structures in place to enable cross-functional collaboration,” she said.

Some of those initiatives include ‘10 at 10’ where short, hyper-focused updates are done where the team covers the most important things for the week, and ‘Hour of Power’ which are longer, monthly deep dives where the team shares knowledge from key projects, hear from clients, and showcase big ideas or interesting work from across the network.

Moreover, they also do pitch recap sessions to spark inspiration and have open discussions on where the team and its talents can pivot next time.

Navigating industry challenges

Kirsty remarks that no two days are the same in the marketing and creative scene–and that she loves these changes amidst constant evolution. First, she recognises market pressures, noting that the industry faces tighter budgets and increased client expectations. However, she sees this as an opportunity for them to be more efficient.

“This presents an opportunity to think about efficiencies within our business and ensure we’re focusing on value-driven solutions to ensure we’re creating an impact, even in a tough market,” she explained.

Part of the challenge they’re also navigating is innovating their business, stating, “Connecting our teams around client needs has created new opportunities for collaboration across the group. This shift has allowed our people to work across more diverse projects, engage with different clients, and has opened the door to learn from other inspiring people within the global dentsu network.”

Connected to that as well is their goal of continuously refining their product offering, making sure that they clearly define what success looks like. Given that they work in the B2B scene–an industry that is growing whilst most other budgets are under pressure–it is an area that they specialise in from market understanding and consumer dynamics to deliver in tech, media, and creative.

“This has given us the foundation to ensure our creative teams are delivering tier-one work for our tier-one clients, and our CX capabilities are deeply ingrained throughout the business,” she added.

On the other hand, while technically not a challenge, Kirsty also notes that technological advancements are an area that they all have had to learn about and adopt quickly, such as the use of ‘Agentic AI’.

“We are in a productivity lull as a nation, people need time back to focus on the things that are critical yet we still have cumbersome methods and multiplicity that compounds on our time. At dentsu, we’re not just leaning in, we want to be a leader in this space and find meaningful innovation that creates business value and drives impact for our clients and ourselves,” she further noted.

Reflection of milestones and what lies ahead

While Dentsu Creative is just two years old, Kirsty remarked how far their practice has reached, given the multiple services they are able to provide to their clients, especially in the B2B space.

“We have brought together capabilities across Brand, PR, Social, Government Relations, Experience & Connected Commerce and Content Supply Chain to deliver what clients need now, but we’re also geared for the future,” she said.

She added, “We have now diversified our work with clients like NBN and AMEX, delivering E2E Creative solutions for them, and seeing businesses like online retailer The Iconic grow with accelerated velocity as a result of this type of thinking. It’s been a big and hugely rewarding 2 years – and we’re just getting started.”

When asked on her leadership advice in terms of inspiring future leaders in the marketing industry, she summarised it into four key points: 

  • Build a team of resilient and adaptive marketers, so you can remain agile. 
  • Maintain an open mindset. Things move quickly; it’s our job to anticipate what our clients need next. 
  • Celebrate both the wins and the losses. 
  • The best ideas can come from anywhere, so keep your eyes and ears open.

“Our industry is dynamic and demanding but filled with opportunity. Great leaders are those who listen, adapt, and remain curious,” she concluded.

***

Successful marketing agencies play a crucial role in delivering effective B2B solutions, helping businesses connect with their target audiences and drive growth. They craft data-driven strategies, create compelling content, and leverage digital channels to enhance brand visibility and engagement. 

By understanding industry dynamics, optimising campaigns, and fostering meaningful client relationships, these agencies enable businesses to navigate competitive markets with confidence and agility. Through innovation and strategic execution, they empower companies to build credibility, generate leads, and achieve long-term success in an ever-evolving business landscape.

Thailand – Dentsu International is enhancing its customer experience (CX) management in Southeast Asia (SEA) with the launch of marketing agency Merkle in Thailand. 

Merkle’s launch in Thailand comes after the market attained a significant increase in marketing technology investments. With the rising expectations for customer experience and brand interaction, Merkle Thailand leverages its Experience and Service Design Consulting, CRM and Customer Engagement/Loyalty, Data Strategy and CDP, as well as Omnichannel Commerce to secure long-term customer loyalty while extending business growth opportunities to brands. 

The expansion of Merkle through its Thailand launch contributes to enabling enhanced and transformative digital marketing in SEA. 

“SEA is an awakening dragon, and as a dentsu cluster that was born to soar with the dragon, we are a rare partner with a glocalised lens to unlock the potential of the CX journey in this region. Particularly in Thailand, where CX has become an intrinsic part of any business looking to cut through the noise and connect with consumers, with Merkle now in Thailand, it will undoubtedly be able to help brands win on experience by reimagining sustainable CX strategies for business transformation. Merkle’s expanded footprint will also open up stronger possibilities for clients looking to be CX leaders in the era of SEA,” Sanjay Bhasin, chief executive officer of Dentsu SEA, said.

Apirada Benchakaranee, chief executive officer, CXM of Dentsu Thailand, said, “The dawn of AI-driven experiences is a seismic shift that can make CXM a daunting journey for many brands in Thailand, where consumers have radically evolved in their expectations and behaviours around brand experiences. At Merkle, we are purpose-built to partner ambitious brands in seizing opportunities, even amidst chaos, to deepen engagement with their most important consumers. We look forward to bringing this to brands that are ready to elevate their experience-led growth.”

Chun Yin Mak, president, CXM of Dentsu Asia Pacific, added, “As the only player in the industry that grew up in data, Merkle is an end-to-end experience transformation partner that is ready for an AI-first future. Our unrivalled integration of strategy, technology, design and data, enables us to power the experience economy, and we are delighted that we can now bring that same obsession to Thailand to help brands dream, do, and deliver the total experience for consumers.”

Over the years, Merkle’s growth in SEA includes over 300 experts in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Singapore – APAC brands stand to reap considerable rewards, with new data from Merkle showing that around 65% of APAC CX leaders who prioritise customer-centricity and use it as a metric for success have witnessed up to a 15% surge in customer retention and loyalty.

The report also notes that a notable 20% of these leaders have experienced even greater improvements. Likewise, APAC CX adopters have enjoyed significant benefits, with 56% seeing a rise of up to 15% in customer retention and loyalty, and 36% witnessing improvements exceeding 15%. 

It is also worth noting that successful CX organisations in APAC have well-integrated technology to streamline operations and enhance customer interactions, which is crucial for achieving seamless CX transformations. Moreover, APAC CX leaders are also noted to implement AI-driven CX solutions at a much faster rate than other groups. 

Chris Webb, chief operating officer at Merkle APAC, said, “APAC is at the forefront in many aspects of customer experience, showcasing innovative approaches and significant advancements. Brands in this region that are adapting their CX strategies are already seeing remarkable revenue growth, highlighting the immense potential in our markets.” 

He added, “While APAC CX Leaders are at the top in terms of CX leadership and principles, our findings also shed light on some areas for improvement. There is much to be done by APAC brands in the adoption of integrated technologies, and to amply prepare for a cookieless future. The need for greater collaboration among APAC CX Leaders as well as cooperation and coordination among departments and stakeholders in the utilisation of integrated technologies is imperative for enabling CX excellence in the APAC region.” 

Hong Kong – dentsu International Hong Kong has elevated Nathan Petralia as managing director of Merkle, dentsu’s recently launched CXM (customer experience) Service Line. In his new role, Petralia will be accountable for Merkle’s operation and yield a competitive advantage for the agency network as an integrated service provider and drive strategic growth for the CXM business in the market. 

Petralia first joined Isobar Commerce Hong Kong in 2018, and afterwards, stepped up as general manager when the group launched Merkle Hong Kong last year. In just one year, the network said he has already demonstrated impeccable passion and determination in setting Merkle up for success and contributed to the group’s overall revenue growth. 

“This promotion signals our commitment that Merkle is our key strategic growth pillar for the overall Hong Kong operation, it also demonstrates our trust in Nathan, knowing that he is the right captain in leading Merkle for us,” Simone Tam, CEO of dentsu International Hong Kong said. 

“Nathan will bring together the customer experience capabilities Merkle owns and drive synergies and integration across the entire agency group and for our clients,” Tam added. 

Petralia commented, “I have always been passionate about customer psychology and data. Like any other person, I get pretty annoyed when I get irrelevant advertising because it tells me this brand does not know what I want and is wasting money on irrelevant advertising.” 

He aded, “With Merkle, I can help dentsu clients capture and leverage valuable data to increase their marketing effectiveness with predictable and measurable results, bring brands and customers closer together, and maximise the customer experiences and brand loyalty.” 

Just recently, John Riccio was named president of Merkle for whole of APAC.

Singapore — Merkle, dentsu’s technology-enabled, data-driven customer experience management company, has named John Riccio as the new president of Merkle Asia Pacific (APAC). He replaces Zhengda “Z” Shen, who has announced his retirement, effective July 1, 2022.

In addition to the appointment, Riccio will continue in his existing role as CEO of Merkle’s ANZ region while now being tasked to lead the growth of Merkle in APAC. Riccio has an extensive understanding of leadership and holds more than 25 years of experience heading major digital businesses and strategic programs. He is recognized as a specialist in helping clients transform the way they respond to market change and engage consumers.

Prior to joining Merkle, Riccio was in the customer experience consulting industry, holding the position of consulting partner of EY for APAC. He also held partner positions including PwC in Australia and Asia, and at IBM in the United Kingdom.

Riccio said, “Since joining Merkle, I have been impressed by the technical expertise and forward-thinking, agile approach the company takes in the experiences delivered to its clients and employees. I am excited to expand my ANZ role across the broader APAC region, supporting our clients who have entrusted us to create distinctly better experiences and relationships with their customers across all key technology platforms.”

On Riccio’s appointment, Michael Komasinski, global CEO of Merkle, said he is delighted to confirm Riccio as president of Merkle APAC, as further proof of dentsu’s commitment to accelerating the growth and performance of their customer experience consulting, data, digital transformation, and B2B services across the region. Komasinski said Riccio’s extensive regional and global leadership experience will further enable and drive growth and success in this critical region for the business.

Singapore – Digital marketing communications agency dentsu in Singapore has fully acquired digital marketing agency, Happy Marketer, which will now be rebranded as Merkle Singapore. 

This acquisition is part of dentsu’s continued realignment of its customer experience management (CXM) capabilities under Merkle, and will see an acceleration of its data-driven transformation offerings into fast-growth strategic industries across APAC.

Merkle Singapore, which was acquired by dentsu in 2019, is an over 80-strong team today, serving clients across industries and markets. Its key clients are ING Bank, Standard Chartered, and NTUC Income, as well as Grab, and SPH. It also holds strong alliances with partners such as Google, Salesforce, Adobe, Tealium, and Insider.

The next phase post-brand will see Merkle Singapore expand into strategic sectors of financial services, fintech, telecommunications, and travel, as well as e-commerce. It will be delivering a complete suite of solutions for transformative customer experiences at scale, and will continue in complementing dentsu Singapore’s creative and media capabilities in bringing more integrated solutions to the market. 

Prakash Kamdar, Dentsu Singapore’s CEO, shared that the integration of Happy Marketer and its rebrand as Merkle Singapore cannot come at a better time as marketers seek for more relevant, compelling and joined-up experiences to win consumer attention and love in the face of an increasingly connected world. 

“Merkle Singapore has transformed our data-driven CXM offerings since its acquisition in 2019 and will undoubtedly continue to reimagine and reshape the future of digital marketing for our clients in Singapore and the region. The team has been a natural fit to dentsu’s culture and integrated approach,” said Kamdar.

Meanwhile, Sanchit Mendiratta, Merkle Singapore’s managing director, said that the acquisition journey with dentsu has been incredible, having grown from strength to strength in the past three years, and this has been made possible because of the unbridled access they have had to the richness and diversity of dentsu’s and Merkle’s heritage in expert knowledge, innovation, and creativity. 

“Our clients continue to appreciate the full suite of offerings that we are able to deliver due to the synergies from our global dentsu network, while our people have been able to grow through more opportunities for cross-collaborations and learning. We are optimistic for where Merkle Singapore will go from here and look forward to bringing our footprint further across the APAC region in the coming years,” said Mendiratta.

Prantik Mazumdar, dentsu Singapore’s managing director of CXM Group, stated that the integration of their acquired brands under Merkle in Singapore has been part of the planned road map to build a more cohesive CXM proposition to the market. 

“We are now geared to extend better support to markets beyond Singapore shores, especially across South East Asia, where we see immense potential for growth,” added Mazumdar.

Most recently, Merkle has also completed the realignment of its portfolio of B2B agencies into Merkle B2B.

Singapore – Merkle, the customer experience management (CXM) company of the dentsu network, has announced the completion of the integration of gyro and Merkle | DWA, for its B2B-dedicated CXM agency, Merkle B2B.

This move is part of Merkle’s continuing realignment of its portfolio of B2B agencies into Merkle B2B. Since the launch of Merkle B2B in September 2020, Merkle | DWA, Merkle’s specialist B2B media agency, and gyro, Merkle’s specialist B2B creative agency, have been transitioning over the past year with the aim to form a fully integrated and best-of-breed solution.

Merkle believes that the integration serves as a significant step towards presenting more innovative full-service growth partners for leading B2B brands.

“As the market continues to evolve, the brand alignment speaks to changing customer needs such as broader models and more integrated solutions to raise the bar on customer experiences in the B2B space,” said the company.

Dentsu acquired DWA and gyro in 2016 and 2017, respectively, forming two fifths of the full Merkle B2B group, which also includes Merkle, B2B International, and Digital Pi. Presently, in Singapore, Merkle B2B will be headed by Rhys Taylor, who has led the Asia Pacific offices of gyro since 2020.

“Following 18 months of working together and developing new solutions to meet the changing needs of our existing B2B clients, we’re excited to formalise this integration and show the market what the future of B2B marketing looks like through the Merkle B2B brand — and give our employees wider opportunities within the broader B2B group,” said Taylor.

Meanwhile, Kiaran Geen, APAC president of Merkle B2B, commented, “After nearly seven years of leading our B2B offering in the region, it is very exciting to see the full integration of Merkle | DWA and gyro expanding our capabilities and making everything simpler for clients in this rapidly changing landscape. With this move, we are bringing together our full-service offering to clients to completely transform modern customer experiences, creating personal relationships between B2B brands and people, and putting human relevance back at the centre of brand connections.”

Singapore – Dentsu International’s customer experience management (CXM) company Merkle is expanding its APAC presence with the launch of its services in Taiwan. Merkle’s 30 years of global experience in data, digital transformation, and worldwide talent connections will now be adopted by the new team.

Carrie Tsai, who is iProspect Taiwan’s CEO, has been appointed by dentsu Taiwan to also become Merkle Taiwan’s CEO. Joining Tsai to head the new team is Boice Lin, former SVP of Global partnerships/Global business development at Appier, who has been appointed as general manager of Merkle Taiwan.

The agency said that the new Taiwan team will work closely with martech, adtech, cloud, and tech providers to integrate commerce design consultancy. The CXM transformation offerings that will be provided by Merkle Taiwan include data transformation as in focusing on data science and data engineering, including cloud service consulting, data management consulting, and data analysis, which will also include personalization, commerce consulting, CRM, and loyalty program consulting. Most of all, Merkle will be helping brands in CXM Transformation such as customer experience transformation strategy, planning, and technology consultancy.

Remarking on today’s market, Jennifer Tang, CEO of dentsu Taiwan, said that brands have entered into a new era in which everything is all about data and that to meet the evolving market and technology demand, such as the cookieless future, brands need to consider connecting with customers through consumer experience, finding more value from data, and extending business applications.

“With Merkle joining dentsu Taiwan, we are able to immediately respond to the market and clients’ demands, and also further consolidate our industry leadership in creative, media and CXM, making dentsu the only marcom group in Taiwan that truly provides idea-led, data-driven, and tech-enabled end-to-end solutions,” said Tang. 

Meanwhile, President of Merkle Asia Pacific Zhengda “Z” Shen, added, “Asia Pacific is a key global growth driver for Merkle, and we’re very enthused with the rapid growth and maturity of digital commerce, data management and customer experience in Taiwan. Putting together this superstar team has been years in the making. We’re excited to now launch in market and work with the most innovative marketers and technologists.”

New CEO Tsai further stated that Merkle is a well-known global brand for its delivery and proofing capability.

“We have built a team of global talents who hold entrepreneur experience. It is the winning strategy to bring the brand’s vision to life through customer experience transformation. Our vision for Merkle Taiwan will be to focus on data transformation, digital transformation and CXM transformation, and it will integrate with dentsu’s other offerings and change the value chain,” said Tsai.

Meanwhile, new GM Lin highlighted that launching Merkle Taiwan indicates dentsu’s dedication to enabling end-to-end marcom solutions, “Only considering both data application and commerce insights can help brands rebuild their model post COVID-19. It is crucial for our clients to take action and work closely with a full-service consultancy. We are confident to be the best transformation partner.”

Last August, dentsu APAC has also launched Merkle in Indonesia.

Singapore – Krishnan Menon, formerly the chief client and growth officer for APAC at Wunderman Thompson, has been appointed by dentsu International as the new chief client officer for the network’s customer experience management (CXM) company Merkle and integrated customer experience management arm dentsu CXM, both for Asia-Pacific.

Tasked with elevating Merkle’s integrated client management approach and delivering the full value of dentsu’s CXM capabilities, Menon will also work across the dentsu network to expand on existing Merkle/CXM client relationships within the creative and media service lines.

Furthermore, Menon will nurture and grow client relationships at Merkle across the region with a focus on helping brands deliver customer experiences that are meaningful and valuable to people everywhere.

His appointment is effective by 20 December, 2021, where he will be reporting to Z Shen, president at Merkle APAC.

“As clients across the region make rapid strides towards being customer-centric and purpose driven, I will focus on bringing them the best that Merkle and dentsu have to offer. Together with the outstanding talent at Merkle across the APAC markets, I’m confident that we’ll bring added value and growth to our clients’ businesses,” Menon said regarding his appointment.

During his time at Wunderman Thompson, he focused on the top clients across the APAC region and on building client-centric teams and practices. Menon has spent almost twenty-five years at WPP across Ogilvy India, Kinetic, Wunderman, and Wunderman Thompson.

“Krishnan is the perfect leader to guide Merkle’s growth and maturity, as we evolve our client services in lock-step with the big investments in capabilities and specialization we’re bringing to markets like Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Singapore and others. Merkle has the talent perfectly suited to accelerating our entire industry and Menon will ensure our clients get the best of us,” Shen stated.

Jakarta, Indonesia – Global advertising network dentsu in Indonesia is adding customer experience management (CXM) services to their new business offerings with the launch of Merkle, a data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company that drives people-based marketing strategies and helps brands in creating competitive advantage through hyper-personalized experiences across platforms and devices. 

With this launch, dentsu Indonesia now has three service lines with multiple agency brands, alongside their existing creative and media offerings.

To kickstart Merkle’s operations in the country, 30 experts including data scientists, engineers, developers, and consultants will be established for reimagining the Indonesian customer journey and strengthening customer experience through CX consulting, digital transformation and data transformation.

For Maya Watono, CEO of dentsu International Indonesia, there has been no better time to launch Merkle in the country other than this time, noting that CX has become a critical component of businesses in Indonesia.

“Many Indonesian companies in multiple industries have started their CX strategies to boost their standing in the market and future-proof themselves to the demands of consumer experience in the digital world. Merkle Indonesia is ready to help brands innovate and map out their CX strategies to stay ahead of the curve,” Watono said.

Meanwhile, Zhengda Shen, president of Merkle APAC, commented, “The Indonesian consumers and business community are making the world envious with their innovative digital solutions. We are extremely excited to launch in-market and bring our world-class capabilities, experiences, and research into the country. We look forward to helping drive the future growth of the digital economy in Indonesia.”

Merkle creates competitive advantage through people-based customer experiences that are hyper-personal, informed by data, powered by technology, and delivered through creativity.

“By adding Merkle to the network, dentsu Indonesia has taken one step ahead towards the future of customer experience management. The importance of data management for business is now crucial as consumers demand a seamless and connected experience,” dentsu Indonesia said in a press statement.