PALO ALTO, Calif (January 11, 2011) – The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council today announced a partnership with Marketing Supply Chain experts, NVISION® to offer a virtual audit of where and how the Marketing Supply Chain can be streamlined to reduce waste and optimize spend.

The interactive web-based tool is designed to provide marketers with a basic understanding of the state of the Marketing Supply Chain Operations, plotting where an organization stands compared to industry standards and leading practices of a fully optimized Marketing Supply Chain operational process.

Marketers have long overlooked the Marketing Supply Chain as a key opportunity for savings and process improvement. In fact, 75 percent of marketers surveyed in the CMO Council's Marketing Supply Chain Institute study, "Define Where to Streamline," indicated that they had not mapped or audited their own organization's supply chain, but felt that optimized operations would improve go-to-market effectiveness, reduce costs and free budget that could be redeployed in demand generating programs. To answer this need for auditing, the CMO Council teamed with NVISION, which has established a comprehensive Marketing Supply Chain audit, NDEPTH™, along with a series of industry standards and leading practices based on over 90 years of supply chain management.

"It is usually those unknown, hidden or legacy processes that create the greatest drain on budget and most severe impact on efficiency, which is why undergoing a comprehensive audit of the Marketing Supply Chain is so critical," stated Mike Perez, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for NVISION. "These initial questions and directions are just an informal introduction of where and how Marketing Supply Chain management and operational optimization could impact your business."

On average, an organization can expect to save 20 to 30 percent by streamlining marketing supply chain operations and establishing customer experience enhancing processes and technology solutions that provide visibility and accountability. For example, according to NVISION’s leading practices, the rate of obsolescence, or the percentage of on-hand materials or marketing consumables that are either under-utilized, out of date or no longer circulated, should be no higher than eight percent in an optimized Marketing Supply Chain.

Yet, in the CMO Council's "More Haste to Reduce Waste" audit, 58 percent of marketers estimate that their rate of obsolescence is between 10 and 30 percent. Diminishing obsolescence to meet the leading practice rate of eight percent could potentially save companies between 1% and 10% of overall budget.

"The results and recommendations in this assessment are not the end solution, but rather a starting point to help marketers justify the investigation and attention needed to optimize the Marketing Supply Chain," said Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. "The layers of marketing operational complexity have made it difficult for marketing leaders to make supply chain management a priority. They are looking for real numbers to justify why this should take priority over other critical mandates. The CMO Council and NVISION have worked to provide an introduction of where and how, in real dollars and quantifiable percentages, the operational processes and practices in dealing with marketing consumables and managing the Marketing Supply Chain impact the budget and business."

To access the online assessment tool, visit www.marketingsupplychain.org/assessment.

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 6,000 members control more than $200 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

About NVISION NVISION® is a division of North American Corporation (NA.com), a leading Marketing Supply Chain solutions provider, helping organizations outsource the operations of their Marketing Supply Chain. By leveraging North America’s leading Marketing Supply Chain consultancy practice, NVISION streamlines and manages print, promotional products and point of sale material for corporate clients utilizing our proprietary sourcing technology and supply chain expertise. Over the past five years, NVISION has saved over $50 million, an average of 20% in Marketing Supply Chain costs, for Fortune 500 corporations. www.nvision-nac.com