Merkle speaks at Smith

About 40 members of TerpAMA attended an event in Tyser Auditorium Tuesday, in which customer relations company Merkle spoke on what has made their company so successful.

Ozgar Dogan, a general manager in the Data Solutions Group, introduced the students to Merkle and what exactly it does.

Merkle was established in 1988, and since then had grown to over 1,600 employees servicing over 150 clients and informing over $5 billion of marketing decisions every year, said Dogan.

Austin Gambino, a senior marketing major and director of competitive events for TerpAMA, said that although students don't know who Merkle is by name, they know most of their clients very well.

"One of the main things that we like to do, is we like to use recognizable names. Merkle has worked with a bunch of big name companies and I think the main thing is when people come in here and they see Merkle they're like, ‘oh well who's Merkle' but then they find out who they worked with and a big change for them, like a different perception of the company," said Gambino.

Two of the companies Gambino is referring to are DirecTV and GEICO, who Dogan pointed out Merkle has worked with for over nine years.

Lauren Wittig, a marketing and supply chain double major and director of professional development for TerpAMA, said the size of Merkle was also a big reason to bring them to campus.

"We've been wanting to have Merkle for a long time, they are a customer relations marketing agency and they are actually the biggest in the country," said Wittig.

Wittig also pointed out that although the company works with a variety of clients, from PNC Bank to non-profits, they don't lose that individual feeling.

"I think they offer such a broad range for such a strong personal company," said Wittig.

Dogan described how Merkle is not just about the data, but what is more important is the results. He also pointed out that unlike most businesses, Merkle is a solutions company, not a product one.

Dogan closed by going through a case study of DirecTV, in which he explained how the company wanted to go from selling through retailers like Circuit City and Best Buy to directly selling the product. He showed that this not only improved the customer experience, but it actually also increased retail sales.