Ingram Micro's New 'Marketing 3.0' Services and Programs Drive More Business Value to IT Channel Vendors

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Industry Leader Introduces New Lineup of Data-Driven Marketing Programs to 484 Attendees at its 2009 Marketing Symposium

ANAHEIM, Calif., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Delivering data-driven marketing expertise to the IT channel, Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) today previewed the launch of "Marketing 3.0," the distributor's new 2009 lineup of marketing campaigns and programs, to an audience of nearly 484 vendor partners and associates at the company's annual Marketing Symposium event.

Ingram Micro's 2009 marketing campaigns and programs combine data analytics with channel and technology marketing expertise to create a data-driven approach for vendor and solution-provider partners. Building upon its success, the distributor offers IT channel vendors an array of marketing opportunities that include channel communities, technology and solution campaigns, business intelligence and integrated marketing programs, partner enablement opportunities and IT services marketing opportunities, as well as more traditional advertising and reseller and sales engagement.

"IT vendors are looking for a more sophisticated and targeted approach to channel marketing and are expecting higher returns on their marketing investments," says Carol Kurimsky, vice president, marketing, Ingram Micro North America, and VARBusiness Power 50 executive. "Our 2009 Marketing 3.0 programs and campaigns are designed to address these needs and drive more business growth and value in the coming year. Now, more than ever, vendor partners need to partner smart and get the most out of every marketing dollar they spend."

The event's morning agenda features industry perspective from Kurimsky on new marketing opportunities and winning strategies for North America, as well as a global snapshot from Ingram Micro's chief executive officer, Greg Spierkel, who will highlight how Ingram Micro creates successful global relationships. In addition, Brian Wiser, Ingram Micro North America's senior vice president of sales and vendor management, will present on ways the distributor is driving growth for IT vendors and solution providers.

Later that morning, Tiffani Bova, vice president of research for industry analyst Gartner, will take center stage to discuss market trends and business opportunities for IT channel vendors. The event will conclude with an afternoon of five simultaneous breakout session tracks covering a more in-depth view of nearly one hundred 2009 marketing campaigns and programs designed around IT vendor business growth, as well as a marketing fair featuring 20 distinct solutions to drive further interaction.

Distributor's Business Intelligence Generates Sharper Results for Vendor Partners

As a foundation to the success of its new Marketing 3.0 approach, Ingram Micro's fast-growing business intelligence team has developed, and continues to manage and mine, a comprehensive database that is proven to drive more targeted business results for its vendor partners and their solution provider partners, as well as differentiation for the distributor. Made up of more than 47 million data records consistently captured from the millions of transactions conducted each year across the industry's largest product and service line card, and 8 million end user contacts appended from leading external data sources, the database is used to provide informative data analytics and insight to Ingram Micro's partner marketing and sales efforts.

The distributor also employs a unique in-house business intelligence team of experts, many of whom hold advanced degrees in statistics and data analytics, to work on a consultative basis with vendor partners to mine and analyze critical channel, point-of-sale and corporate data.

Ingram Micro's business intelligence lineup for 2009 includes new business intelligence consulting services, along with analytic modeling, market and customer intelligence reporting, and customized research and market performance analysis, among more customized reporting capabilities.

Partners See Value and Differentiation in Ingram Micro's Marketing Services

Also central to Ingram Micro's Marketing 3.0 approach is the distributor's Marketing Services offering, consisting of custom services in business intelligence, creative marketing and demand generation. These teams offer partners in-depth data analytics studies, access to Ingram Micro's business intelligence experts for predictive sales and customer segmentation analysis, and a full-service marketing and event services agency with expertise in IT and channel business. Additionally, there is a full-service team of direct marketing experts with experience in executing on successful demand-generation and end-user lead-generation campaigns on behalf of IT vendors and solution providers.

"Ingram Micro's lead-generation program has proven successful for Xerox," said Mike Milligan, vice president, marketing communications, Xerox Office Group. "We've benefited from Ingram Micro's solid, turnkey approach to generating highly targeted IT end-user leads for our office printers and MFPs and connecting them up with our key authorized reseller partners."

Leading manufacturer Cisco Systems Inc. is among the first to take advantage of Ingram Micro Marketing Agency's new Web 2.0, data-centric branding opportunity and experiential marketing, which incorporates such technologies as digital signage, custom content, video and mobile displays to market and brand. Cisco's latest co-branded channel marketing campaign, "We Know Collaboration," debuted last week in San Diego at Ingram Micro's 2008 VentureTech Network (VTN) Fall Invitational event.

"In Cisco's latest channel marketing campaign, we captured the company's strong advocacy for channel partner collaboration and tied in its corporate branding of the 'Human Network' by using a complementary value proposition that could be easily communicated via new marketing vehicles such as digital signage, quick video, even roving brand ambassadors armed with T.V. monitors above their heads," says Dennis Crupi, manager of Ingram Micro's Marketing Services Agency.

In addition to offering custom marketing services Ingram Micro has tailored its traditional marketing campaigns and programs to be more data-centric and oriented to partner recruitment, enablement, and attracting more business from new partners within the company's vast emerging customer base.

"Our marketing services and data-centric approach presents a clear point of differentiation and offers a value proposition that manufacturer and channel partners just can't get from our competitors or other, more traditional marketing agencies," concludes Kurimsky.

About Ingram Micro

As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics services, technical support, financial services, and product aggregation and distribution. The company serves 150 countries and is the only broad-based global IT distributor with operations in Asia. Visit http://www.ingrammicro.com.

SOURCE Ingram Micro

Released October 21, 2008