ITSMA Announces 2006 Marketing Excellence Awards Finalists

EMC, HP, IBM, Lucent Technologies, and Xerox Make Strong Showing across Categories

LEXINGTON, Massachusetts—September 20, 2006—ITSMA, a membership community that helps companies market and sell technology services and solutions, today announced the finalists in its ninth annual Marketing Excellence Awards program.

"As an organization dedicated to helping services and solutions marketers improve their performance," said Dave Munn, president and CEO of ITSMA, "ITSMA is always on the look-out for marketing organizations that relentlessly push forward and redefine the meaning of marketing success. Our only dilemma this year will be selecting the winners from this strong finalist pool!"

In 2006, ITSMA accepted nominations in five categories. Five finalists have been chosen in each category; an international jury of marketing executives and experts will select the winners. The final results of the Marketing Excellence Awards will be announced at a special awards dinner during ITSMA’s 2006 Marketing Conference on November 15, 2006, at The Charles Hotel in Cambridge, MA. This year's finalists include:

• Generating Demand through Micro- and Account-Based Marketing: HP, IBM, Northrop-Grumman, and Xerox (two programs).
• Increasing Sales Effectiveness. Cisco, Lucent Technologies, SAP, and Xerox (two programs).
• Launching New Solutions. Avaya, EMC, HP, IBM, and Lucent.
• Sharpening Competitive Differentiation. BEA, BearingPoint, Invensys, Nokia, and Symbol.
• Strengthening Customer Relationships. Accenture, CDW, EMC, Fujitsu, and IBM.

To read summaries of the finalists' programs, see: www.itsma.com/News/MEA/2006finalists.htm

For more on ITSMA's 2006 Marketing Conference, including a link to podcasts featuring last year's speakers, click here.

About ITSMA
ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. As a membership organization, we work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA members include business leaders such as Accenture, BT, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services, among others. Our comprehensive research, consulting, and training on topics including ITSMA Account-Based Marketing ^SM, Brand Positioning, and Solutions Development provide the insight and experience companies need to improve business results. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.