Our Team
The Merkle CPG practice has built a world class team with widely varied experiences across all areas and disciplines of CPG marketing. They have designed, deployed and supported strategic, analytic, and technology based solutions across some of the world’s most recognized brands. Our team is comprised of seasoned industry executives across brands, agencies and marketing services providers, with track records in CPG marketing. They understand client goals and objectives, delivering ROI based CRM solutions that drive competitive advantage and sustained revenue growth.
At Merkle, we understand the brand culture; the shift toward customer centricity, and the challenges in engaging and communicating directly with consumers across touchpoints. Merkle’s “customer centric” value proposition has been growing in the CPG industry over the last 6 years as we have infused 20+ years of direct-to-consumer best practices from other industries, coupled with our dedicated team’s deep CPG knowledge.
Chris Crayner has developed and led customer marketing strategy, initiatives and functions for more than 15 years across the media and entertainment, pharmaceutical/consumer package goods and financial services industries. At Merkle, he leads the Enterprise Strategy Group focused on integrated marketing and CRM. Most recently he spent 7 years at The Walt Disney Company leading customer relationship marketing areas at the corporate level, and at both Theme Parks and Resorts. He served as Vice President, Global Customer Managed Relationships for Walt Disney Theme Parks and Resorts, responsible for customer relationship marketing strategies and initiatives worldwide. He has also served as Vice President, Technology – Corporate Brand Management where he led CRM business and technology strategy work across Disney’s diversified businesses.
Larry Blum has more than 25 years of experience in consulting, marketing services, and in direct corporate management. His experience spans between the consumer packaged goods and pharmaceutical industries. The past 8 years he has worked with pharmaceutical, CPG, and diagnostic clients in: CRM Strategy, direct-to-consumer, managed care, direct-to-physician, online, in-office, and in-pharmacy strategies and tactics. Larry is responsible for expanding Merkle’s Agency solution set to the pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods clients that include a suite of Integrated Customer MarketingTM (ICM) solutions. Prior to joining Merkle, Larry was Managing Partner at Vertical Consulting, where he performed strategic consulting on in-office solutions and digital ROI for CPG & healthcare clients. Previous to Vertical, Larry was SVP, Business Development, Catalina Health Resource for 6 years, where he led a team that sold a targeted pharmacy solution and longitudinal analytics that included all of the top 20 Global Healthcare clients.
He has personal experience with numerous client partners such as: P&G, Clorox, Nestle, Novartis, sanofi-aventis, GSK, Pfizer, Wyeth, Shire, Johnson & Johnson, Schering Plough, Abbott, Eli Lilly, and others. In addition, Larry has a deep understanding of the Diabetic segment and has worked with LifeScan, Ross Labs, and Bayer Diagnostics. Prior to Catalina, he held previous marketing & sales management positions in the Consumer Packaged Goods industry at: PowerBar (US Nestle), HJ Heinz, The Minute Maid Company (Coca Cola), and GlaxoSmithKline.
Dave has over 17 years of domestic and international cross-industry experience in CRM consulting, sales and marketing. Having worked in the indirect consumer channel as a marketing program director across brands, Dave has first-hand experience with the specific approaches that are required to successfully plan, execute, and track consumer-centric marketing programs.
Currently, Dave is an Industry Executive in Merkle’s CPG Practice, where he is responsible for the discovery, design, and development of integrated marketing solutions across strategy, analytics, and technology. Prior to joining Merkle, Dave was VP of Database Marketing Solutions at Harte-Hanks where he was awarded President’s Club. Previous to Harte-Hanks, Dave was an independent consultant where he performed marketing, brand, and technical consulting for Roche Pharmaceuticals. Dave has also held technical services, marketing, and sales positions at SAP, Epiphany, and IBM.
Dave holds a BS degree in Computer Information Systems from Bryant College in Smithfield, RI.
Eileen loves marketing innovation…and getting out in front of the trends, bringing diverse elements together that drive growth and revenue in unique ways. Eileen joined Merkle in November 2010 as part of the Travel, Media & Entertainment (TME) and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) verticals, where her responsibilities focus on providing strategic leadership to our current and future CPG customers. Eileen brings 20+ years of CPG experience to Merkle, both client- and agency-side, and has a deep understanding of the industry from both the retailer and manufacturer point of view. She collaborates with key leaders in areas such as digital, integrated marketing, sales, finance, category management and new business opportunities.
Prior to joining Merkle, Eileen was responsible for building and managing the shopper marketing and integrated marketing processes for Del Monte Foods. Eileen also served on the executive committee for several corporate programs, including an industry study on shopper marketing. Before joining Del Monte Foods, Eileen was a founding member of PowerPact LLC, a start-up agency specializing in consumer promotions and shopper marketing. Eileen was responsible for developing integrated strategic campaigns that achieved marketing goals and sales objectives across multiple channels. She worked with several companies, including Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Fortune 500 businesses such as General Mills, Lexus, Volvo, Kroger, Target and Wal-Mart. Eileen first became involved with PowerPact through associates she worked with at Clear Channel. During her career at Clear Channel, Eileen was part of Chancellor Marketing Group, a division that developed non-traditional programs for various Fortune 1000 companies targeting specific demographics.
Eileen attended Robert Morris University and lives in Pittsburgh.