BrazilVimal Badiani new Managing Director of Merkle in MENA
Global customer experience consultancy Merkle has promoted Dubai-based Vimal Badiani to Managing Director of its MENA business.
“I’m beyond excited to be taking on this leadership role and continuing to put Merkle on the map across the Middle East and North Africa,” said Badiani, who moved to Dubai in 2017 and has “loved (nearly) every second of it!”
“I was asked to replicate our award-winning performance media capabilities that we had built in the UK, over 14 years. Fast forward 3.5 years, I’m privileged and fortunate enough to be surrounded by an absolute rockstar team and to be working with the most incredible clients and brands across the region.”
Badiani, who joined Merkle in the UK in 2016 as part of the acquisition of media agency Periscopix (now Merkle’s media agency), has been tasked with growing the firm’s presence and leading the region’s strategy, internal teams and operations. The firm currently has a 35-strong headcount in MENA working across service lines and industry verticals.
Globally, US-headquartered Merkle has over 9,000 employees working from 50+ offices. The firm is part of Dentsu Aegis, one of the world’s largest marketing & advertising networks.
Merkle specialises in what it bills as an “end-to-end customer experience management” offering. This proposition essentially blends the worlds of customer relationship management, marketing technology, data science and performance media to ensure that companies can engage with their audience in the right way, through the right channels, at the right point in time.
“My focus will be on highlighting the value of customer relationship management strategies, and helping our clients with delivering a total customer experience, underpinned by a strong data foundation. Obviously, all geared at delivering measurable business outcomes,” said Badiani.
Tarek Daouk, CEO of Dentsu in MENA said: “I am delighted to appoint Vimal to lead our Merkle MENA operation. He will lead the next phase of Merkle’s evolution in the region by further developing and scaling the company’s market-leading capabilities.”
