Yale School of Management Conference to Explore Marketing Innovations

New Haven, Conn., October 10, 2006—Top marketing executives and scholars will discuss the latest trends in marketing and consumer behavior at the “Marketing Innovations in Products and Communication” conference at the Yale School of Management on October 20, 2006.

The conference, presented by the Yale Center for Customer Insights and the Yale School of Management Marketing Club, will take place from 1:00 – 6:00 p.m., in the General Motors Room, 55 Hillhouse Avenue. To view the full conference agenda or to register, please visit:
http://cci.som.yale.edu/events/Up_events/Student2006.asp

“A dynamic new marketing landscape has been created by increasingly demanding consumers, the proliferation of media, new technology, endless product choices, and globalization,” said Professor Ravi Dhar, Director of the Yale Center for Customer Insights and conference moderator. “We have assembled top marketers from a wide range of industries including Internet, advertising, publishing, and healthcare, to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the latest marketing innovations.”

The conference will feature a keynote address by Wenda Harris Millard, Chief Sales Officer, Yahoo!, Inc., followed by a panel discussion with Jack Griffin, President, Meredith Publishing Group; Tim Love, Vice-Chairman, Omnicom; Thomas Richards, Senior Vice-President Product, CIGNA Healthcare; Arun Sinha, Chief Marketing Officer, Pitney Bowes; Karen Strauss, Partner, Global Director Strategic & Creative Planning, Ketchum.

The speakers will address topics including the challenges of communicating with customers in the new media environment and how to reach them through viral marketing, word-of-mouth, search marketing, and other methods; consumers’ shopping and product habits and how marketers can use customer insight to drive innovation; and the metrics used to evaluate these methods.

The conference is sponsored by Unilever.

Members of the press are invited to attend the conference; advance registration is required. Please RSVP to Tabitha Wilde at 203-432-6010 or tabitha.wilde@yale.edu.