PALO ALTO, Calif. (July 13, 2010) – The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council with 5,000 members in over 100 countries today announced key executives from HP and MasterCard Worldwide will headline its Asia Pacific Advisory Board gathering at Singapore Management University on July 22. This will precede CMO Council participation in the CMO Asia Awards at Suntec, Singapore on July 23.  

Both initiatives are part of a big regional expansion push by the CMO Council, which recently launched a dedicated web site (www.cmocouncil.org/regions/india ) and formed a leadership group for the India sub-continent. Over 30 of India's leading domestic and multi-national brands are represented on this board, which will contribute insights to a new Access India Report to be published shortly by the CMO Council. This will provide unique intelligence and best practices for entering and expanding in India's rapidly emerging market with over 1.1 billion consumers.

In looking at all markets across the Asia-Pacific region, the CMO Council will be using Singapore as its regional hub for meetings, gatherings and conferences. The regional Asian board gathering on July 22 at Singapore Management University will team the Council with one of the region’s premier educational institutions for a half-day of compelling discussions and debate.

Building on the CMO Council’s ongoing thought leadership around Globalization Through Localization, Dennis Mark, Vice President and General Manager Marketing for HP’s Personal Systems Group, will lead a discussion on "Product Ingenuity in Asia: How to Localize, Stylize, Optimize and Economize." Board members will hear how HP is modifying and adapting its products, merchandising strategies and digital media and demand generation programs to address a diverse, complex and rapidly evolving set of markets across the Asia region. There will be an active discussion around brand value building in emerging Southeast Asian countries, fighting knock-off and grey market products, as well as leveraging new fashion, lifestyle and entertainment trends to increase brand relevance and appeal.   

Stuart Cameron, VP Regional Sponsorships (Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa) for MasterCard Worldwide, will also provide insider tips on extracting more business value from sports marketing programs. Cameron is the point man on MasterCard's sponsorship of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand and the Commonwealth Games in India later this year. He will give advice on how to align sponsorships with business objectives, negotiate and structure the best deals, and manage and optimize sponsorship relationships and investments.

Cameron will speak to preliminary findings of the CMO Council’s Doing Away With Foul Play in Sports Marketing study, which is currently underway. He serves on the advisory board of this initiative. Separately, Cameron will also lead a brief discussion on the impact of the political unrest and violence in Thailand on that nation's brand image, tourism business, and economic investment impact. MasterCard has worked closely with the Tourism Authority of Thailand on destination marketing programs and we'll be focusing on this country's marketing challenges as part of our new GeoBranding Center’s thought leadership activities. More info at the links below:

http://www.sportsbrandprotect.org/
http://www.geobrandingcenter.org/

"Asia is brimming with exciting market developments, corporate growth stories and business innovations," noted Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. "We’re seeing a new flock of global brand contenders coming out of Asia and marketing effectiveness in this region will be key to global competitiveness among foreign multi-nationals," he added.

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 corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global industries. The CMO Council's 5,000 members control more than $150 billion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include over 12,000 global executives across 100 countries in multiple industries, segments and markets. Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Council's strategic interest groups include the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE), Marketing Supply Chain Institute, Customer Experience Board, LoyaltyLeaders.org, Online Marketing Performance Institute, and the Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME). www.cmocouncil.org

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