Merkle Buys Brilig for Digital Data Access

Customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm Merkle has acquired New York-based online data marketplace Brilig, which offers a platform through which third party providers can sell their online audience data to a wide range of buyers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The 10-employee firm collects data from both online and offline sources, digitizes the offline information, and provides a platform through which buyers and sellers can trade the data for digital display advertising campaigns.

Through Brilig's exchange, online advertisers gain access to more than 60 data sellers and 10,000+ hard-to-find segments. This data is sourced and normalized from hundreds of databases - many of which have never been 'connected' to digital display advertising.

Merkle says that the combination of the Brilig Big Data platform with its own analytics services will bring a new approach to targeting online audience segments. The acquisition will also complement Merkle's CRM data management suite, and augment its existing big data capabilities.

David Williams (pictured), Chairman and CEO of Merkle, comments: 'The addition of Brilig's third-party data solutions, along with the company's data agnostic value proposition, is a perfect fit for Merkle and our clients. Brilig's talented staff will serve as a welcome addition to the Merkle team, and our own team of statisticians and analysts will access Brilig's Data Exchange to create unique digital targeting solutions.'

Web sites: www.merkleinc.com and www.brilig.com .