Merkle’s remit for Virgin Mobile is to build and activate a performance strategy that helps increase brand awareness, improve consumer engagement, and build long-lasting personalized relationships with consumers in the UAE DUBAI: Digital mobile brand Virgin Mobile has appointed technology and data-driven customer experience management company Merkle to manage its performance media. Merkle’s remit for Virgin Mobile is to build and activate a performance strategy that helps increase brand awareness, improve consumer engagement, and build long-lasting personalized relationships with consumers in the UAE. Rob Beswick, managing director at Virgin Mobile UAE, said: “To ensure that we make a meaningful impact on our audiences, we needed a partner who clearly understood our vision for the mobile segment in the UAE coupled with an exceptional performance media track record.” He added that Merkle was appointed based on a combination of its performance media expertise and technological skills to better understand local consumer needs and behaviors. Vimal Badiani, head of Merkle for the MENA region, said: “As digital adoption and transformation continues to accelerate among businesses and consumers, data-driven, people-based marketing capabilities become of greater importance. “We look forward to supporting Virgin Mobile UAE in targeting audiences more efficiently and effectively to drive incremental growth and value for their brand.” Merkle is part of Japanese media group Dentsu, that last year announced a global group-wide restructure involving the loss of 6,000 jobs and the consolidation of its 150-plus brands into just six. Earlier this year, Dentsu merged its Vizeum and iProspect brands under the latter forming an end-to-end global media network.