Acquires 4Cite Marketing to double down on first-party identity technology

Merkle, a leading technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing company, announced the launch of Merkury, Merkle’s identity resolution and data platform designed to power the creation of first-party, “private identity graphs” for both brands and publishers.

“Consumer privacy and the death of the third-party cookie are changing the rules for digital and cross-channel marketing,” said John Lee, president of Merkury. “Going forward, both marketers and publishers will begin with their first-party relationships to create owned, private identity graphs that generate addressability while maintaining their own intellectual property. These brands will be able to network their private graphs with partners and publishers in a way that increases addressability for all in a privacy-safe way. Merkury’s mission is to serve as a neutral technology enabler of the private graph, supporting seamless interoperability between brands, publishers, and technology platforms.”

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Through this integration of existing and acquired capabilities, Merkury provides clients with a complete identity and data platform, including identity resolution, third-party data, marketing technology integrations, and data privacy clean rooms. These components will be highly customizable to each client’s needs and can be managed and hosted internally by clients. Merkury will be operated as an independent, neutral entity open to serving the entirety of the marketer, media owner, and technology ecosystem, irrespective of agency relationships.

To enhance Merkle’s pre-existing identity and data assets, Merkle recently announced the acquisition of 4Cite Marketing, whose best-in-class, first-party identity resolution capabilities will play a central role in Merkury’s private graph solution for world-class brands, including Cadillac.

“At Cadillac, we seek to become the category and market leader in data-driven, performance marketing,” said Melissa Grady, CMO, Cadillac. “In an ever-evolving and challenging environment, our partnership with Merkle has been invaluable in providing us with the additive expertise, data, and identity management technology needed to help us do this in a privacy-safe way, as we move into a cookie-less world. The release of Merkury represents the next evolution of that.”

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Merkury’s launch will coincide with the integration of its private identity graph capability with key technology partners, including MediaMath, Index Exchange, and SourcePoint, who will automate the industry’s first-ever programmatic trading of marketer and publisher cookie-less, private graph IDs.

“Merkury is a reference application for MediaMath’s SOURCE, a fully addressable, accountable, aligned supply chain that can activate against private identity graphs,” said Joe Zawadzki, CEO, MediaMath. “By treating Merkury identity as the first-class signal across our global supply chain, we are driving a collective effort toward enterprise-grade marketing.”

In addition, Merkury will be launching in partnership with key publishers including Meredith, Pandora, and iHeartMedia’s SmartAudio. “The market is accelerating toward a world where cookies are no longer a solution. We are aligned with Merkury’s perspective and direction on the future of private graphs powered by great partners,” said Alysia Borsa, EVP/chief business & data officer, Meredith.

Merkury will also be partnering with Xandr to power cross-screen insights in advanced TV and digital. “Merkle’s launch of Merkury speaks to a major industry challenge and opportunity to build direct connections to consumers through unique, first-party insights, in a privacy-safe way,” said Jason Brown, chief revenue officer for Xandr. “Xandr today delivers results for clients by working with Merkury to power smarter TV and digital campaigns. As demand increases for integrated cross-screen experiences across linear, addressable TV, and digital, we find ourselves in a unique position to meet buyer demand with Merkury.”

The Merkury leadership team, with John Lee at the helm as president, includes Peter Randazzo, chief technology officer, Gerry Bavaro, chief strategy officer, Eugene Becker, chief data officer, and Kelly Leger, SVP sales.

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