The Dentsu Aegis Network is expanding its operations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with the launch of a new office for data-driven performance marketing agency Merkle.
The Merkle office in MENA will be led by Rudy Banholzer, who was previously the managing director of social media agency Your Social, which was acquired by Merkle in the EMEA region.
Now under the Merkle moniker, Rudy’s will aid in supporting the business’ growth and capabilities to help clients adopt people-based marketing – enabling brands to identify real people by leveraging the data behind them to create personalised experiences – ultimately driving customer loyalty.
Rudy will be supported by Vimal Badiani, who was recently promoted to the role of commercial director. Vimal was previously at Merkle Periscopix in the UK, the performance media agency acquired by Merkle in 2015, most recently as head of paid search.
“This launch represents a significant development in the continuing and rapid expansion of our global footprint and range of capabilities,” said Michael Komasinski, president of Merkle EMEA.
“The appetite for people-based marketing, combined with Rudy’s experience of growing businesses in MENA, creates an exciting opportunity for us.”
For Dentsu Aegis Network, the latest expansion to MENA follows from a number of key acquisitions over the last year with the company already extending its presence in the LATAM, APAC and North America regions.
“Merkle compliments our existing offering and in a world of personalised digital marketing we are pleased to be able to offer our clients a new and powerful range of CRM and performance capabilities,” said Tarek Daouk, CEO Dentsu Aegis Network MENA; Merkle compliments our existing offering and in a world of personalised digital marketing we are pleased to be able to offer our clients a new and powerful range of CRM and performance capabilities.”