ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- At the Smarter Commerce Global Summit, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that the American Marketing Association (AMA) is using IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative to connect on a deeper level to the marketing community and its 30,000 members and deliver marketing content, professional development and training that meets their needs. Through Smarter Commerce, IBM provides digital marketing and Web analytics software that helps chief marketing officers (CMO) sift through Big Data to understand the individual preferences and needs of consumers in order to deliver targeted and relevant marketing messages.

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One of the largest and most prestigious marketing associations in the world, the AMA is a professional organization for individuals involved in the practice, teaching and study of marketing worldwide. It helps marketers deepen their expertise, elevate their careers, and ultimately achieve better business results. In addition, the AMA provides relevant information and comprehensive education and training programs. To reach members, the AMA previously used multiple third party vendors, which resulted in a fragmented view of its own data. The AMA turned to IBM to gain a more holistic view of member data - and more effectively meet the needs of each individual.

The AMA has transitioned to a comprehensive solution providing a 360 degree view of their customer so they can more easily share information, resources and content with their members, which include CMOs, marketing professionals, professors and students. Other benefits will include improved inbound and outbound campaigns to members, increased marketing automation, and integration across multiple marketing channels, resulting in increased marketing effectiveness.

"As a leading professional organization for marketers, our members depend on us to quickly and easily share answers and resources to help them do their jobs better. Through this improved view of our members' data, we have the ability to better understand individual member's preferences and needs, providing them with the information, resources and content they want most," said Nancy Costopulos, chief marketing officer, American Marketing Association. "Together with IBM, we understand the importance of technology in today's marketing landscape and, through this collaboration, we expect to see significant business operating efficiency, improved member engagement, and an increase in ROI."

"The AMA is among the largest marketing associations in the world," said Yuchun Lee, vice president, IBM Enterprise Marketing Management. "As the marketing industry itself evolves toward greater personalization, AMA's members can count on IBM's digital technology to help AMA sift through Big Data, pinpoint and address the needs of individual members and help deliver marketing resources and information that feels like a welcomed service."

IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative features software and services that help companies transform their business processes to more quickly respond to shifting customer demands in today's digitally-transformed marketplace. The initiative is driven by CMOs and organizations that are increasingly looking for ways to bring new levels of automation to marketing, sales and fulfillment to secure greater customer loyalty.

Current IBM Enterprise Marketing Management software and services being used by the American Marketing Association include IBM Unica eMessage(TM), IBM Unica NetInsight(TM), IBM Unica PredictiveInsight(TM), and IBM Unica CustomerInsight(TM).

More information on Smarter Commerce can be found at www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/smarter_commerce/overview/

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Media Contacts:
Amanda Carl
IBM Media Relations
(914)766-1362
amcarl@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM