CMO COUNCIL TO GIVE THE CHANNEL A PEER-POWERED VOICE TO OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE AND RELATIONSHIPS
Channel Performance Board Launches with Release of New Research Initiative to Assess the State of Vendor / Dealer Channel Relationships

Palo Alto, CA (January 2, 2008)  — The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council announced the launch of an in-depth global research study focused on identifying challenges and best practices in developing effective channel optimization strategies through a new affinity network, the Channel Performance Board. With headline underwriter, BLUEROADS, the Channel Performance Board looks to provide marketers and channel executives with greater insights into the multiplying number of indirect channels that shape and influence the customer experience and help power business performance worldwide.

To launch the new peer network, the CMO Council has launched The Channel Performance Outlook 2008 to benchmark channel performance, process and optimization across several industry sectors including: Information Technology, Physical Security and Surveillance, Telephony, Consumer Electronics, Office Products, and Professional Audio/Visual Products. The program explores how vendors and manufacturers are doing in interacting with their reseller partners and helping them to drive maximum results.

"With as much as 80 percent of business leads languishing, lost or ineffectually handled, there is a big top-line revenue benefit for vendors seeking to increase yield, productivity and accountability throughout the channel," commented Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council. "All too often, organizations have insufficient channel understanding and feedback from the frontline to properly calibrate and direct campaign spending. They overlook the value of channel input and customer data on a product development, messaging and marketing program design, and lack the visibility into where and how opportunities are being delivered, actioned and realized."

Survey Launches a Growing Channel Body of Knowledge
The Channel Performance Outlook 2008 survey will tap into the insights of hundreds of channel professionals to measure and quantify their current needs, concerns and attitudes about the channel, vendor/dealer relationships and areas of possible improvement. The survey will examine challenges and success scenarios among dealers, resellers, and distributors and will share a comprehensive report on the findings with survey participants.

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 www.cmocouncil.org.

Media Contact
Richard L. Tso
CMO Council
650-433-4153
rtso@globalfluency.com