Suti Prakash Receives Direct Mail Association's International Diamond ECHO Award

Business Wire, Dec 28, 1998

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 28, 1998--Suti Prakash, Director, Strategic Marketing at Pitney Bowes Mailing Systems, a division of Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) has been awarded the prestigious Diamond ECHO Award by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). Mr. Prakash was presented the award for his "dedication, support and guidance" during his service as Chairman of the International ECHO Committee from 1995 to 1998.

Mr. Prakash is only the second individual to ever receive the award, which honors "Best of Show" across all categories of the competition. Mr. Prakash has been involved with the International ECHO committee since 1991. From 1993 to 1994, he also served as Vice Chairman for the committee. During his service on the committee he was responsible for starting international judging, leading a team of 20 committee members from around the world and worked on branding the ECHO Award to achieve the reputation it enjoys today.

Celebrating its 69th year, the ECHO Award is considered the "Oscar" of direct and interactive marketing and is the only comprehensive international direct marketing award recognizing excellence in strategy, creativity, and results. It is awarded for a direct or interactive marketing campaign and given to the cross-functional team that created it.

"The DMA is delighted to present Suti Prakash the Diamond Echo Award for his dedication, support and guidance during his service as Chairman of the International Echo Committee," said H. Robert Wientzen, President and CEO, the Direct Marketing Association. "Suti's contributions, both in terms of leadership and creativity, serve as an example for all those involved in the industry. We applaud Suti and wish him continued success."

This isn't the first time that Mr. Prakash and his co-workers were awarded the ECHO Award. While with The Direct Marketing Group, a leading direct marketing agency in New York City, he directed several ECHO winning campaigns, including:

- the Chemical Bank's PC banking service launch campaign which won

the Gold ECHO - a new business generation campaign for The CIT Group, which was

the first business-to-business program to win the Diamond ECHO

Award, as well as a Gold ECHO.

Mr. Prakash also currently serves on the operating committee of The DMA's Business-to-Business Council. He is a frequent speaker at direct marketing seminars and conferences and has published many articles and contributed to several books on direct marketing.

With Pitney Bowes since 1994, Mr. Prakash is responsible for several product and service lines for small and mid-size customers worldwide. He is also charged with new product development for these markets.

Pitney Bowes is a $4.1 billion premier provider of informed mail and messaging management. For more information about the company please visit www.pitneybowes.com.