Merkle Builds Capability and Scale in Australia with Acquisition of Amicus Digital

By MTS Staff Writer On Aug 31, 2018

Leading data-driven, technology-enabled, global performance marketing agency Merkle, part of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) has acquired Amicus Digital, Australia’s leading independent specialist in Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Amicus Digital’s team of marketing cloud technical experts add significant capability and scale; accelerating Merkle’s growth and differentiation in Australia.

The business will now become Amicus Digital, a Merkle Company, led by current managing director and co-founder Blair Cooke, with fellow founder Jessie Mitchell as Commercial and Client Service Director.

Amicus Digital was founded in 2015 and has offices in Sydney and Melbourne. Its team of expert consultants help clients transform consumer experiences using data and technology. Amicus Digital has been recognised by Salesforce as a top 10 partner in APAC for the past two years.

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Blair will report to Simon Ryan, CEO OF DAN ANZ and Zhengda Shen, President of Merkle APAC.

Simon Ryan, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Australia & New Zealand, said: “Fully backed by the power of Dentsu Aegis Network and with our clients increasingly looking to their agency partners to provide seamless expertise across multiple communications services, building our capability across data and digital skills is a strategic imperative.

“Amicus Digital has a market-leading reputation for expertise across all aspects of Salesforce Marketing Cloud and brings a unique and in-demand offering to our group. There is a strong cultural and strategic fit, and we look forward to welcoming the Amicus Digital team and supporting them through the next phase of growth for our business and that of our clients.”

Zhengda Shen, President of Merkle in APAC, said: “Australia is a priority market for Merkle’s expansion. On the back of bringing Columbus and DWA into the Merkle family locally, it’s critical that we build on this momentum and continue to build out our capabilities to establish a strong local market position.

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“Amicus Digital is one of the few consultancies in Australia that can provide people-based strategy, transformation, technical implementation, support and campaign execution. This acquisition provides considerable differentiation for Merkle and DAN in Australia and we look forward to delivering on the opportunities and potential for our clients and partners.”

Blair Cooke, Managing Director of Amicus Digital, said: “Jessie and I are incredibly humbled by the quality of the team we have at Amicus Digital and of the reputation that we have established together over the past three and a half years. We have consistently strived to be the market leaders and our sale to Merkle is the next step in helping us achieve our ambitions for the business.”

“Merkle is an incredibly impressive business globally, with exciting ambitions for APAC. Jessie and I could not be happier with the cultural alignment we have with the Merkle team.”

Merkle is steadily building its presence in Australia, with data-driven marketing agency Columbus and b2b digital media and marketing agency, DWA, both part of the Merkle network locally.

In April, Ted Stites was appointed as executive vice president, customer experience and marketing technology solutions for Merkle’s Asia Pacific region.