Palo Alto, CA (August 5, 2008) — The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council will host its annual elite retreat for senior marketers at the 2008 CMO Council Summit on December 10 – 11, 2008 in Monterey, California. The CMO Summit will lead 125 of marketing’s elite voices through a series of discussions, panels, keynotes and networking conversations to actively contribute to the development of best practices in revenue growth and optimization, market share gains, margin improvement, marketing operations excellence and customer lifetime value building.

"Routes to Revenue" will allow the by-invitation-only attendees to analyze, evaluate and pursue top-line growth imperatives while peer networking sessions will provide insights and discussions around brand extensions, segmentation strategies, derivative product moves, pricing and licensing actions and new channel directions.

The CMO Summit will kick off with a discussion of where the success of many marketing programs begin – mapping and defining effective marketing strategy and planning. Dr. Ralf Strauss, Global Head of Product Management for CRM Marketing at SAP, and author of the upcoming release, “Marketing Planning by Design: Systematic Planning for Successful Marketing Strategy" will deliver a kick-off keynote address to spark thinking about the critical decisions made in the planning and strategy stages can create and plan for revenue optimization to combat recessionary influences and market disruptions. Strauss will leverage his experiences as the head of marketing for the world's largest business software company, having served as the head of marketing for SAP Germany, with responsibilities for planning strategic initiatives across sales and marketing as well as assuming a leadership role in the reorganization of SAP Germany.

The wide-ranging Summit agenda includes extensive opportunities for group invention and interaction and will allow attendees to network with their peers and aggregate the insights and opinions of today's marketing thought leaders. Among the daily interactive sessions, led by CMO Council Advisory Board members, attendees will have the opportunity to test and contribute their own thinking to development of the CMO Council's new global marketing operational model.

The CMO Council has also announced two additional keynote address speakers who will be sharing their own professional insights and corporate visions at the 2008 CMO Summit.

• Deborah Holt (Vice President of Marketing, Ciao Bello Gelato) shares the Ciao Bella Gelato growth story from small single channel specialty sales and distribution model to the multi-route operation they are today. From bracing for Oprah’s proclamation that their Gelato is a must-have to the challenges faced when appearances on shows like The Apprentice create demand that distribution simply can not meet, Ciao Bella has faced these issues head on, creating new and exciting routes to revenue.


• Mike Dee (President Fenway Sports, COO Boston Red Sox) shares his thoughts on how marketers can turn strong fan following into a loyal brand following and leverage sports marketing spend to create a continuous revenue generating stream

The CMO Council Summit (www.cmosummit.org) is the premier networking and thought leadership event in marketing and the official peer-to-peer networking event for the CMO Council (www.cmocouncil.org), an organization of more than 3,500 global marketers, controlling more than $100 billion in combined annual marketing spend. Invitees across both the B-to-B and B-to-C market sectors will be invited to attend this exclusive retreat to network with peers and tap into this global network of insight, access and influence. For more information about the CMO Council Summit, please visit www.cmosummit.org. Attendance to the North America Summit is by invitation-only, and while membership in the CMO Council is not required for attendance, member requests will have priority handling for this limited attendance event. Senior marketers can be nominated for membership by visiting www.cmocouncil.org/members/nomination.asp. To request an invitation to the CMO Summit, visit www.cmosummit.org/register.html.

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 3,500 members control more than $90 billion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and it's strategic interest communities include over 6,000 global executives across 57 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), Brand Management Institute, and the Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME). More information on the CMO Council is available at www.cmocouncil.org.