Marx Communications and affiliate Sprung PR Receive 2003 PRSA Gold Mercury Award for Southern New England and Westchester

Award recognizes affiliated firms' creative and strategic public relations excellence in launch of Best Independent Research.

  Stamford, CT and New York, NY (June 11, 2003) - Sprung PR today announced that the two firms in partnership have won a 2003 Gold Mercury Award from the Public Relations Society of America's Westchester and Southern New England chapters for their launch of Best Independent Research (BIR), a consortium of independent equities research firms.

This is the second consecutive year that the Marx-Sprung partnership has been honored by PRSA for its launch of a financial services firm. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is the world's largest professional organization for PR professionals. The Mercury Awards recognize outstanding work in the public relations, communications and marketing professions.

  Marx and Sprung were engaged on short notice to announce the launch of BIR in December 2002, when news was pending of a preliminary settlement between securities and the nation's major investment banks to correct research conflicts of interest. BIR was formed specifically to provide investment banks with a channel to offer retail clients the best available stock selection research as mandated by the settlement. Within a week of launch, BIR was covered in the nation's top four newspapers and two top financial TV networks, with substantial coverage in major business and financial magazines (for a summary of coverage, please see http://www.bestindependentresearch.com/inthenews.asp).

  "Andy Sprung and Wendy Marx enabled a firm that had literally just named itself to be recognized within weeks of launch as a major contender for the investment banks' independent research business -- a firm whose name and product strength is familiar to all the key parties of the investment bank settlement," said Thomas S. White, BIR managing partner. "They accomplished this on a tight budget and within an even tighter time frame, going into action within a week of our initial contact."

  "Our clients were extremely pleased with our work and it's very gratifying to have it further validated by our colleagues at the PRSA," said Wendy Marx, president of Stamford, CT-based Marx Communications.

  "Forming Best Independent Research as the settlement took shape was a bold, creative bid to improve the information flow to individual investors," said Andrew Sprung, president of NYC-based Sprung PR, which partners on financial services accounts with Marx Communications. "We were thrilled to be able to communication the venture's uniqueness, credibility and relevance to the financial media."

  Last year, Marx and Sprung were honored by PRSA for their launch of Investars.com, and online research performance-tracking service. Through their work with BIR, Investars and other independent research firms, Marx and Sprung have helped to heighten media and public consciousness of the independent research sector's strong performance in a period of market turbulence.


 About Marx Communications

  Marx Communications, Inc., of Stamford, CT., is a public relations and marketing communications company that services both business-to-business companies and individual executives. The firm's clients include technology, professional services and financial services companies, encompassing both well-established companies and startups. For more information, please see www.marxcommunications.com.


 About Sprung PR

  NYC-based Sprung PR (www.sprungpr.com) provides strategic media campaigns and ongoing media relationship management to clients including professional service firms, research and business information providers, and technology vendors.