Dentsu Aegis Move Expands Merkle's Australian Offer

Marcoms giant Dentsu Aegis Network has brought its Australian subsidiary Columbus under the wing of its fast-growing data-driven performance marketing agency Merkle, giving the latter at a stroke a much extended presence in the country, with just under 100 staff.

Now known as 'Columbus, a Merkle Company', the agency comprises performance, experience and data marketing experts and is led by CEO Rebecca Tos. It will offer the global suite of Merkle capabilities in Australia, although Columbus offices elsewhere - in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and India - are not affected by the change.

Tos will report in to both Simon Ryan, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network ANZ and Zhengda Shen, President of Merkle Asia Pacific. Ryan says of the change: 'Together, Merkle and Columbus will accelerate our growth and differentiation in Australia. While Columbus is already one of the leading performance media businesses in Australia, Merkle will allow us to better help clients improve customer engagement, enhance competitive positions and maximise return on marketing'. Shen says Columbus' data-driven marketing approach is 'the perfect match to Merkle's heritage in data, analytics, and technology'.

Much of Merkle's recent expansion activity has been focused on Europe: this month Margaret Wagner was made Growth Officer for the region, while in December Julia Crawley-Boevey was appointed as Head of EMEA Mergers and Acquisitions.

Merkle's existing Australian presence came via another company moved into its operation by its parent: DWA has a team of 20 people specialising in B2B digital media and marketing in Sydney.

Web site: www.merkle.com .