This year marks the tenth edition of Merkle’s annual Customer ExperienceImperatives, in which we share our evolving vision for how brands cancreate competitive advantage through marketing and advertising. And“evolving” is a key word. In fact, today’s consumer needs and expectationsare virtually unrecognizable to those from 2012. Vast market shifts, anacceleration of brands’ and consumers’ digital fluency, the proliferation ofdata and platforms, the ever-tightening privacy landscape, and changingsocietal values (global pandemic notwithstanding) have all taken marketingon an accelerated journey. As a customer experience management (CXM)company, Merkle not only encourages brands’ embrace of customercentricity, but helps to transform their organizations into builders of longlasting,value-driven customer relationships.