CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) have awarded MAPFRE Insurance Brazil, one of the companies of Banco do Brasil (BB) and MAPFRE Group, and their partner DirectOne Brazil with the 2013 Personal Connections ECHO Award. The award was presented to MAPFRE Insurance today during the 2013 DMA Conference in Chicago, Illinois.

With 6,000 employees, BB and MAPFRE Group offers a full range of insurance products to more than 25 million consumers.

The winning marketing program that secured the win for MAPFRE Insurance created a customer engagement dashboard that brought together insurers and insurance brokers on the same platform. The customer engagement platform shared all customer touch points and was used to optimize customer communications, reduce costs and improve efficiencies. It also speeded customer service resolution and sales processes by providing transparency to the insurers and brokers together. The results included 30 percent growth in contract renewals year over year, 80 percent reduction in Welcome Kit delivery time, 45 percent reduction in postage costs, and a 50 percent reduction in customer service calls.

“Congratulations to MAPFRE Insurance for their outstanding results and ECHO win,” said Jenny Abreu, Director, Awards and Recognition Programs at the DMA. “And, kudos to our sponsor Pitney Bowes who makes it possible to bring cutting edge examples of marketing success to the forefront during the ECHO awards.”

In 2012, Microsoft’s Enterprise Customer Care program was awarded the Inaugural Pitney Bowes Personal Connections ECHO Award.

The ECHOs are judged by client-side marketers, agency account directors, and senior creative professionals. ECHO judges select the biggest and best ideas, the most creative use of response-based direct marketing strategies, and the finest executions. Judges assess campaigns based on strategy, creativity, and results. Each year, more than 1,000 marketers and agencies enter the competition.

About the Direct Marketing Association

The Direct Marketing Association (www.thedma.org) is the world’s largest trade association dedicated to advancing and protecting responsible data-driven marketing. Founded in 1917, DMA represents thousands of companies and nonprofit organizations that use and support data-driven marketing practices and techniques.

In 2012, marketers — commercial and nonprofit — spent $168.5 billion on direct marketing, which accounts for 52.7 percent of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated approximately $2.05 trillion in incremental sales. In 2012, direct marketing accounted for 8.7 percent of total US gross domestic product and produces1.3 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly support 7.9 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 9.2 million US jobs.

About Pitney Bowes

Pitney Bowes provides technology solutions for small, mid-size and large firms that help them connect with customers to build loyalty and grow revenue. Many of the company’s solutions are delivered on open platforms to best organize, analyze and apply both public and proprietary data to two-way customer communications. Pitney Bowes includes direct mail, transactional mail and call center communications in its solution mix along with digital channel messaging for the Web, email and mobile applications. Pitney Bowes: Every connection is a new opportunity™. www.pb.com.