DMA06 in San Francisco: Virgin's Branson, Kraft's Sneed and Internet Visionary Battelle to Keynote

August 7, 2006 — If ever a stellar line-up of keynote speakers made a conference an absolute “must-attend” event, the Direct Marketing Association’s DMA06 is it. Never before has such an august contingent of marketing luminaries come together to enlighten, inspire, and offer their invaluable perspectives on multichannel marketing today.

"This is one of the most outstanding lineups of keynote speakers in DMA history," said DMA President & CEO John A. Greco, Jr. " Each of them – whose leadership is unquestionable and accomplishments legendary – will inspire DMA06 attendees."

DMA06, DMA’s annual conference and exhibition, will be held October 14-19 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, CA.

Monday: Sir Richard Branson: Empire Builder, Rebel Billionaire

Sir Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group of Companies, has expanded the interests of the Virgin Group into an international "Megastore" that includes air travel, mobile, music, financial, retail, Internet, beverages, rail, resorts and leisure, through some 200 companies in over 30 countries.

“There’s no doubt that Sir Richard’s brilliant marketing strategies over the decades have resulted in one of today’s most legendary success stories,” said Greco. “The success of his billion-dollar empire, which began as a direct mail retailer, is illustrative of how a multichannel marketing strategy is essential to achieving results-driven business goals.”

Branson founded Virgin as a mail-order record retailer in 1970 and shortly thereafter opened a record shop on London’s Oxford Street. In 1972, a recording studio was built in Oxfordshire where Mike Oldfield, the first Virgin artist, recorded "Tubular Bells," which was released in 1973. Virgin Records’ first album went on to sell over 5 million copies.

Since then, many household names – including Belinda Carlisle, Genesis, Phil Collins, Janet Jackson and The Rolling Stones – have recorded on the Virgin label. In 1992 the equity of Virgin Music Group, which included record labels, music publishing, and recording studios, was sold to THORN EMI in a billion-dollar deal.

In 1994, Sir Richard formed Virgin Atlantic Airways. Today the airline is the second largest British long-haul international airline and operates a fleet of Boeing 747 and Airbus A340 aircraft to New York, Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Las Vegas, Delhi, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Shanghai, and the Caribbean.

In addition to his own business activities, Sir Richard is a trustee of several charities, including the Virgin Healthcare Foundation, a leading health care charity which was responsible for the 1987 launch of a health education campaign relating to AIDS. In Summer 2004, Richard launched Virgin Unite as a vehicle to pull together all the resources of the Virgin Group internationally to tackle some of the tougher challenges facing the world today – in particular, Malaria, HIV/AIDS, and TB.

Awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s millennium New Year’s honors list for “services to entrepreneurship” in 1999, Sir Richard currently lives in London and Oxfordshire and is married with two children.

Tuesday: Paula Sneed: Leading the Global Way for Kraft Foods

Paula A. Sneed has served as executive vice president of global marketing resources & initiatives for Kraft Foods Inc. since June 2005. In this position, Sneed is responsible for worldwide leadership and oversight of marketing resources functions, including consumer insights and strategy, media, advertising, digital and consumer relationship marketing, packaging and brand design, consumer promotions, marketing alliances, kitchens, consumer relations, and other marketing disciplines for more than 100 major food brands.

Sneed joined General Foods – which later merged with Kraft Foods – in 1977 as assistant product manager. Since then, she has held a number of high-ranking positions within Kraft, ranging from senior vice president of Kraft's North American food service division to executive vice president of the desserts division.

In her current role as executive vice president of global marketing resources & initiatives, Sneed has been instrumental in developing Kraft's groundbreaking efforts in the areas of consumer relationship marketing (CRM), digital marketing, consumer insights, media services, packaging, multi-cultural marketing, and advertising.

These efforts include the company's magazine portfolio Food & Family and Comida y Familia in the US, and What's Cooking and Qu'est-ce Qui Mijote in Canada, with a combined circulation of 12 million in North America.

Under Sneed's leadership, kraftfoods.com has become the number-one rated CPG Web site in consumer satisfaction. The company's "recipes by e-mail" program also has a number-one ranking among CPG companies, and Inside Research recently identified the Kraft Consumer Insights Group as the top research company among its peers.

Wednesday: John Battelle: Internet Visionary, ‘Wired’ Co-Founder and Best-Selling Author

Founder and CEO of The Industry Standard and a co-founding editor of Wired magazine, John Battelle is one person who can make sense of the technology boom, bust, and rebirth to find the signals that point the economy forward. He has been at the forefront of technology strategy, company creation, and publishing for more than fifteen years.

Battelle was named "Global Leader of Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum-Davos, Switzerland, and was a finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year.

Battelle is the author of the critically acclaimed business book, The Search: How Google and It's Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture (Penguin/Portfolio). The Search was nominated for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs “2005 Business Book of the Year” award whose aim is to give those with an interest in business an annual guide to the year’s must-read business books.

Currently a visiting Professor and Director of the Business Reporting Program at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California (Berkeley), Battelle is also a founder and Executive Producer of the Foursquare and Web 2.0 conferences, which are annual conferences for CEOs and leaders from the media and technology.

To register or for additional information about DMA06 in San Francisco, CA this October 14-19, visit www.dma06.org or call 800.293.7279 or 330.425.9330.

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