• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, July 2, 2014

CRM shop Merkle continued its expansion into the digital agency sector with the purchase of search and digital agency RKG, the agency confirmed Wednesday. Terms were not disclosed, but Merkle -- which claims to be the largest privately held CRM agency -- said the acquisition would push its total media billings in 2014 to more than $500 million.

The RKG acquisition is Merkle’s second acquisition of a digital agency this year.

In April, it purchased digital and direct agency New Control. The addition of RKG brings Merkle’s employee base to more than 2,400 -- including 650 staffers dedicated to digital agency services such as digital strategy, creative, user experience, web/mobile development, media, search, email, and social.

RKG’s offering includes data-driven solutions in pay-per-click (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO), comparison shopping engine services (CSEs), display and social.

Craig Dempster, executive vice president and digital agency group leader for Merkle, said the RKG purchase supports the agency’s dedication to help brands attain the “competencies they need to capitalize on the massive opportunity of addressability at scale, which has been brought about by the digital audience platforms.” 

Merkle is headquartered in Columbia, MD, with offices in Boston; Chicago; Denver; Hagerstown, MD; Little Rock; London; Minneapolis; Montvale, NJ; Nanjing; New York; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; San Francisco and Shanghai.

Founded in 2003, RKG is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA with offices in Bend, OR and Boston, MA.