Palo Alto, CA (January 10, 2007)   — The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council announced today that its 2007 Mastering MPM On-line Certificate Program will kick off its Spring Quarter, Monday, March 5, 2007. The 10-week program begins Monday, March 5, and concludes Friday, May 11, 2007. Consisting of online participation and independent study, the curriculum includes the completion of an MPM Self-Assessment Audit, prescribed core readings, three topical webcasts, and an MPM independent project report. The Mastering MPM Certificate program provides marketing professionals with intensive Marketing Performance Measurement training and validation of MPM knowledge and skills. Participants are able to provide immediate added value to their organizations by helping to foster an MPM culture, defining an MPM framework, and executing specific MPM tactics that will help improve ROI, marketing efficiency, and effectiveness.

Introduced by the CMO Council in September 2006, the inaugural Mastering MPM Certificate Program attracted marketers from North America, EMEA and the AsiaPac regions and from various industries including retail, technology and engineering. The curriculum and certificate program was initially developed from the CMO Council’s landmark 2004 Measures + Metrics study that identified, among other key findings, that only 13 percent of marketers had formal marketing performance measurement systems in place.

“Marketing organizations are under increasing scrutiny and pressure from the C-suite to implement measurement metrics and better quantify ROI,” said Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. “Marketing Performance Measurement has emerged as a required barometer for proving marketing’s worth, but the expertise needed to implement such systems has proved elusive to many. We’re proud to offer a curriculum that will provide marketers with a better understanding of the factors that influence successful MPM programs, as well as practical hands-on experience.”

The MPM Academic Advisory team, which serves as the external review board for project reports, is updating the groundbreaking Measures + Marketing report with current industry statistics and the CMO Council will reissue the study in the spring of 2007. The CMO Council has assembled a stellar lineup of marketing and academic notables to make up the Advisory team, including senior level marketing executives and professors from the University of Ireland, Cork.

The course quarter fee is $449 per student and includes a complimentary 1-year subscription to the MPM Library (a $250 value) that gives students access to white papers, reports and information on best practices in Marketing Performance Measurement. MarketingNPV, a leading resource of marketing best practices is partnering with the CMO Council on the 2007 Mastering MPM program and will contribute articles, reports and data on MPM best practices to both the MPM Library and course curriculum in 2007. For more program information or to register, go to: http://www.mpmforum.org/register.asp.

About the CMO Council

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior marketing and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global industries. The CMO Council's 3,000 members control more than $70 billion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures. Companies represented on the CMO Council have combined annual revenue of over $600 billion. Visit the CMO Council web site to find out about the initiatives geared to address executive marketers' challenges at http://www.cmocouncil.org