“Our philosophy is that marketing should be direct – clearly we live and breathe completely in the direct world. We think marketing should be data-driven and that starts with the idea of marketing being directed and targeted towards an audience and delivered directly to an individual through channels that drive the greatest return. We execute that across channels, whether it’s a call-center, a Web site, search marketing, direct mail or e-mail.”
— Bryan Kennedy, president and CEO
Epsilon offers creative work, e-mail, database and loyalty, predictive modeling and analytics, consulting, SEO, direct mail and other services through its three business divisions: the Purple@Epsilon agency, Marketing Technology and Data Services. The agency’s drive for data is deep — its parent company is Alliance Data Systems, and, Taleen Ghazarian, SVP, strategy and planning, notes, “The essence of Epsilon is really data-driven multichannel marketing that can create measurable results for our clients.” As the agency hits its big 4-0 birthday this year, it is focusing on holding tight to its core relationship marketing principles (namely, knowing the customer), while navigating the manifold data sources and media that its multichannel approach requires.
Year founded: 1969
Holding company: Alliance Data Systems Corp.
Headquarters: Irving, TX
Number of offices: More than 50 worldwide
Web site: www.epsilon.com
Major disciplines: Strategic consulting, marketing analytics, database and loyalty marketing technology, proprietary data, direct and digital marketing, e-mail marketing, search engine marketing and direct mail production
Key accounts: Marriott, American Express, Barnes & Noble, Key Bank and Beech-Nut
Current agency challenges: Economic pressure on marketing spending and budgets globally
Biggest 2009 industry trends: Multichannel integration driving convergence between direct, digital and database marketing; further integration of offline and online marketing.
Top executives: Bryan Kennedy, president and CEO; David McRae, president, Purple@Epsilon; Ralph Searfoss, EVP, cross-channel sales; Andrew Frawley, president, digital services; Taleen Ghazarian, SVP, strategy and planning; Michael Penney, EVP, strategic and analytic services; Brian Rainey, president, Abacus and Epsilon Data Services; Michael Lavoie, EVP, Epsilon Client Services
