Merkle Singapore and Royal Brunei Airlines mark 10-year partnership with new three-year exclusive remit

Dentsu Singapore’s award-winning CXM agency, Merkle Singapore, has been reappointed as the exclusive digital marketing agency for Royal Brunei Airlines, following a competitive pitch. As the incumbent for the past decade, Merkle Singapore will now continue the remit for another three years.

Merkle Singapore will bring its expertise across a full suite of digital marketing services across email and customer relationship management (CRM), media, search engine optimisation (SEO), app store optimisation (ASO), and data and strategy consultation, to support Royal Brunei Airlines in using digital to meet the post-pandemic travel demand and boost its digital revenue.

Sabirin Hj Abdul Hamid, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Brunei Airlines, said: “It is always essential for Royal Brunei Airlines to team up with a partner with whom we can jointly shape the future to serve our digital-savvy guests better and maintain a leading position in the highly competitive market environment in which we operate. We trust that Merkle Singapore will take us to new heights by leveraging the power of digital marketing across several aspects with their advanced digital solutions, coupled with their understanding of our business.”

Susan Shim, Vice President Digital, Royal Brunei Airlines, commented: “Throughout our long working relationship with the Merkle Singapore team, they have been a consultative partner every step of the way. As we now see the rising demand for travel and greater adoption of technology, it is more imperative than ever to provide seamless and personalised customer experiences.”

Sanchit Mendiratta, Managing Director, CXM, dentsu Singapore, and Chief Growth Officer, Merkle Southeast Asia, said: “We’re grateful for the trust and partnership of Royal Brunei Airlines as our longest-standing client. Having helped them to build solid data foundations over the past years, this has paved the way for us now to be able to drive data-driven decision-making to optimise their digital marketing efforts and move towards hyper-personalisation. Looking ahead for the next three years, we will strive towards reaching greater targets on digital channels and achieving higher revenue goals for Royal Brunei Airlines.”

Merkle Singapore has been responsible for developing Royal Brunei Airlines’ first integrated email platform and integrated analytics platform. Despite global travel halts during the pandemic, Merkle Singapore continued to be a close consultation partner focusing on future-proofing Royal Brunei Airlines’ go-to-market customer strategy for post-pandemic travel surge. The agency actively managed the airline’s website and email campaigns, and conducted data analysis on airline travels and user journey patterns.

Post-pandemic, Merkle Singapore has been prioritising a refreshed digital strategy to spur bookings on the back of increased regional and global travel demands. 

Besides Royal Brunei Airlines, Merkle Singapore has held long-standing client relationships with Grab, Income Insurance, Shopee, Singapore Press Holdings, and Standard Chartered Bank. Merkle Singapore has also been expanding their client services across the Southeast Asia region, with clients such as AIA Philippines, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), and Jollibee Foods Corporation.

Most recently, Merkle Singapore was awarded Gold for Southeast Asia Data Analytics Agency of the Year at Campaign Asia-Pacific's Agency of the Year Awards 2023. Merkle Singapore’s specialism in digital marketing was also recognised at Marketing Interactive’s Agency of the Year Awards 2023, where they clinched Overall Agency of the Year, Analytics Agency of the Year (Gold), Consultant of the Year (Gold), CRM & Loyalty Agency of the Year (Gold), Performance Marketing Agency of the Year (Silver), and Search Agency of the Year (Silver), amongst other awards.