Merkle(www.merkleinc.com), the nation's fastest growing customer relationship marketing (CRM) agency, and the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council (www.cmocouncil.org), a global network of senior marketing decision makers and brand leaders, today revealed the finalists for its Marketing Innovation Awards, honoring the elite in customer engagement marketing. The award winners will be announced in a special ceremony at this year's annual CRM Executive Summit, being held June 6-8 at the Park Hyatt Aviara in San Diego, California.

The Marketing Innovation Awards are presented by Merkle in partnership with the CMO Council to celebrate companies, brands and marketing leaders who effectively drive market engagement, advance customer experience and further marketing effectiveness through smart technology and enterprise-wide marketing process integration. The premise of these awards ties directly to the core theme of this year's summit, CRM 2.0: Optimizing your Customer Portfolio.

The awards will recognize innovation in integrated marketing in six categories and will be judged by academc authorities, publishing magnates and top marketing executives representing well-known brands in a wide variety of industries. A complete list of categories, finalists and judges can be found at the Summit event site. The finalists for each category are:

Customer Retention and Loyalty:

Humana- REAL Powered by Humana

Sas Scandinavian- SAS Match Me Program

T.G.I.Friday's- Give Me More Stripes Loyalty

Susan G. Komen for the Cure- Passionately Pink for the Cure

Vodafone Hutchinson Australia- Bonus Bank

Digital Engagement and eCRM:

BlackRock- Advisor Advantage Lead Generation

Independence Blue Cross- Improving Digital

Samsung- Galaxy S Product Launch

Scott Kay's Brute Cobalt brand, Helzberg Diamonds and Conde Nast- Brute Bowl

Innovation in Multi-Channel Mix Optimization and Measurement:

Novartis- Managed Care Trigger Program, WIN Machine

ON24 with Wiley Publication- Virtual Events for Dummies release

Social Media Innovation:

Cisco- IPv6 Integrated Social Media Campaign

Ford- Fiesta Social Media Campaign

Universal Orlando Resort- Leveraging the Power of New Attractions

Digital Integration:

K'NEX Brands- NASCAR No.88 K'NEX Car Promotion

National Wildlife Federation- Green Hour Campaign

Samsung- Website KPI Improvement Initiative

Global Integration and Strategy:

Cigna- Global Data Enrichment

Dell- 90-Day Program

Microsoft- Global Marketing Execution Platform

"Merkle is proud to congratulate all the nominees for their innovations in customer engagement marketing," said Merkle Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Craig Dempster. "These standout campaigns illustrate how forward-thinging companies are forging a new generation in CRM that is sure to be setting the standard for future marketing success.

To learn more about the conference, contact Erin Hutchinson at [email protected] or visit the Summit event site to get the latest information on the agenda, speakers and activities.