PALO ALTO, Calif. (Dec. 14, 2007) —Sonoma, the heart of California’s wine country, played perfect host as 120 senior marketers descended on the Lodge at Sonoma to network, engage, debate and share ideas and solutions at the 2007 CMO Summit, the Elite Retreat. Among the brands represented were AT&T, AMD, Allstate, Farmer’s Insurance, Applied Biosystems, CA. Coca-Cola, Kroger, HP, Gateway, Capital One, Scottrade, Comcast, Eastman Kodak, Deloitte, Oracle, Nortel, E&J Gallo Wines, Tektronix, Purdue Farms, Ingram Micro, Google, Wall Street Journal, Microsoft, and Cisco. Marketers from across industries, markets and company size joined together to share thoughts on budget allocation and the differences between new marketing operational models.

One of the highlights of the event was an insightful and engaging keynote address from the president and CEO of P&G Tremor, Steve Knox, who shared the psychology of word-of-mouth advocacy. His insight set the bar high for marketers to challenge their ideas about where to allocate budget in the future, and how to connect conversation, advocacy and message.

The interaction continued throughout the day as teams formed to break down individual aspect of the allocation puzzle. Distilled presentations from team leaders allowed the entire group to share best practices and understanding from their peers. The presentations and outstanding output from these sessions will soon be available online. In the mean time, we invite you to download the 2007 CMO Council annual report, presented at the Elite Retreat. The document outlines the year to come for the CMO Council, and highlights some of the thought leadership initiatives on the horizon.