Merkle Selected by The Limited to Support Integrated Customer Marketing Programs

Merkle (http://www.merkleinc.com/), one of the nation's largest and fastest growing database marketing agencies, announced it has been selected by The Limited to support its nationwide integrated customer marketing (http://www.merkleinc.com/) programs.

Columbia, MD (Vocus) January 8, 2009 -- Merkle (http://www.merkleinc.com/), one of the nation's largest and fastest growing database marketing agencies, announced it has been selected by The Limited to support its nationwide integrated customer marketing (http://www.merkleinc.com/) programs. With the multi-year agreement, Merkle is providing a comprehensive marketing database infrastructure, database marketing strategy, advanced analytics, and data-driven customer insight, which will enable the retailer to make more informed decisions and optimize its marketing efforts across all multichannel direct-to-consumer campaigns.

Sara Cisler, Director, CRM, The Limited, said, "After a thorough industry search, we selected Merkle as the database marketing partner for The Limited. Merkle stood out as the preferred service provider based on their analytically driven solutions and their commitment to growing our business profitably," said. "Merkle presented a very compelling approach that enables marketing decisions to be based on facts, and brings information together from in-store, email and direct mail campaigns in a way that is informative and actionable. By working with Merkle, we expect to more effectively promote our brand and improve customer loyalty."

At the core of Merkle's approach is a comprehensive database marketing infrastructure called a Knowledge Center (http://www.merkleinc.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=188)™ that will serve as the foundation for The Limited's future marketing efforts. Merkle will partner with The Limited to use the database for testing, modeling and analyzing millions of pieces of consumer data, and the infrastructure will ultimately provide a dynamic view into customers, their preferences and their buying behavior over time. The Limited currently has an extensive marketing database of nearly seven million customers.

David Williams, President and CEO, Merkle, said, "While a strong brand and a high degree of customer loyalty are extremely helpful in the current economy, sophisticated marketers are also adopting analytically driven marketing approaches that will demonstrate clear incremental financial results from their efforts and enable a long-term competitive advantage. The Limited recognized that a strategic, analytical approach that thoroughly integrates data from multiple media and channels would provide the necessary foundation for making smart marketing decisions based on customer preferences and behavior. We are extremely pleased to be working with The Limited to help them maximize their marketing programs to optimize the value of their customer portfolio and realize a higher return on investment."

About Merkle

Merkle is one of the nation's largest and fastest growing providers of data-driven marketing solutions that enable organizations to maximize the results from their marketing investment. Merkle provides strategic consulting, database services, content solutions, analytical services, interactive and creative services, and production services to Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations. With more than 1,100 employees, the privately held corporation is headquartered near Baltimore in Columbia, Maryland with additional locations in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Little Rock, Philadelphia, Seattle and Hagerstown, Maryland. For more information, contact Merkle at 1-877-9-MERKLE or visit www.merkleinc.com.

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