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Company: Merkle, Columbia, MD
Company Description: Merkle, a dentsu company, is a leading data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company that specializes in the delivery of unique, personalized customer experiences across platforms and devices. For more than 30 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios.
Nomination Category: Thought Leadership Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Thought Leadership Campaign of the Year - Business Services
 Nomination Title: Merkle’s Customer Experience Imperatives: A Vision for C-Suite Innovation
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated PR campaign or program, or written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
12/15/20
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 230 words used.
Every year, Merkle sets a vision for business leaders with its Customer Experience Imperatives. This flagship thought leadership piece proposes three directives, or “Imperatives,” to the C-suite to help shape their practices across marketing, sales, IT, commerce, and service. The themes are broad enough to apply to businesses of varied sizes and maturity, and across multiple verticals. 2021’s iteration of the ebook addressed how businesses needed to approach their data and digital practices to facilitate customer experience transformation. Merkle defines customer experience transformation as “innovation of customer experience that drives competitive differentiation and measurable business results.”
The Merkle team chose these themes to address the challenges of today’s brands. The content was developed mid-2020, at the height of the pandemic. Businesses were grappling with increased competition and distracted and panicked customers, an unstable economy, and an overwhelming need to either innovate or pivot. For many, this innovation had to come from under resourced and understaffed teams.
To address these brand challenges head-on, Merkle’s 2021 CX Imperatives outlines:
- How to operate an innovative data practice with an emphasis on first-party customer data and within the confines of privacy regulations.
- How to facilitate personal conversations with customers through the right technology investments, content strategy, and commerce practices.
- How enterprise agility, in which all of a business’s functions work in service of a desired customer experience, underpins data and digital transformation.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the subject and content development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 241 words used.
Merkle leveraged leaders from across the organization to conceptualize and write the content with marketing’s support. The content themes aligned to Merkle’s recent rebrand; Merkle positioned itself as a customer experience management company to address the future of marketing. Today’s customers expect brands to market to them in relevant, personalized ways; while marketing tactics of the past relied on product features and brand-led narratives, today’s marketers must abide by the rules of the customer.
Merkle’s marketing team built a campaign to appeal to the ebook’s audience of C-suite members. The content itself traded a stiff, business tone of voice for a more conversational one, and the campaign’s tactics were audience-led. Each of the three themes appealed to a different audience (e.g., the digital transformation theme was more resonant with leaders within commerce or marketing roles). The campaign’s content, from email messaging to digital advertising, was tailored accordingly.
A research report launched in February 2021 polled brand leaders on their adoption of the Imperatives’ concepts. For example, the report found that 90 percent of respondents claimed that consolidating consumer profiles was imperative to their organization, but only about half of them were currently investing to create more personalized and identity-based experiences. This research also included insights from key Merkle partners Adobe, AWS, and Salesforce – experts in building the technology that facilitates data and digital transformation. The campaign’s effectiveness was based off how it fared in relation to past years’ performance.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of January 2020. Even if your initiative started before January 2020, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of July 2019 only (up to 250 words):
Total 195 words used.
To build awareness, Merkle’s marketing team developed a multi-prong content strategy to introduce the Imperatives’ concepts, including articles, blog posts, videos, research, and PR efforts. The research paper showcased the Imperatives’ adoption across marketing and technology professionals in the US and UK. The campaign for this paper ran in conjunction with the Imperatives ebook promotion.
Leads came from email marketing of the ebook and a series of webinars, both Merkle-hosted and industry publication-hosted (e.g., Adweek). Smaller, more intimate roundtable events connected clients and prospects with Merkle’s leaders. Lower funnel initiatives were driven by client stories and tailored sales offers that aligned to the concepts of the ebook. Merkle’s marketing worked in close collaboration with Merkle’s growth organization to ensure sales and client teams were well versed in the material. Finally, an always-on, year-long paid media campaign targeted both new audiences and Merkle’s website visitors. Shortly after the launch of the ebook, an audiobook of the content was available for download on Merkle’s site. The campaign saw a 7% increase in marketing qualified leads, and a 1053% increase in sales opportunities from 2020’s campaign. Average opportunity value increased 31% YoY. Closed opportunities increased 300% YoY.
- Optional: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 17 words used.
2021 CX Imperatives ebook: https://storage.pardot.com/47252/1607955397pRLmEMZm/MERKLE_Customer_Experience_Imperatives_2021.pdf
2021 CX Imperatives research: https://www.merkleinc.com/thought-leadership/white-papers/2021-cx-transformation-research
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