ADVO Extends Shared Mail Advertising Program On Behalf of Wal-Mart and Pizza Hut, Inc.

Business Editors

WINDSOR, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2001

ADVO, Inc. (NYSE: AD) announced today that it has extended its core shared mail advertising program to include an additional three million U.S. households on behalf of Wal-Mart and Pizza Hut, Inc.

Once a month, ADVO will now be providing targeted shared mail advertising coverage to access areas of the U.S. it had previously only offered via solo mail, significantly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of advertising to these areas. Three mailings have already been completed, with excellent consumer response, and opportunities exist to expand the program to include additional households in the future.

Gary Mulloy, ADVO's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said, "We are excited to extend our targeted shared mail coverage on behalf of these two marquee clients, and provide them the ability to reach additional rural U.S. households at a very effective cost. The response realized from the initial mailings has been terrific, and we are eager to continue to grow our business by delivering value-added solutions such as these to improve the ROIs of our clients' advertising investments."

ADVO is the nation's largest full-service targeted direct mail marketing services company with annual revenues of over $1 billion. The Company's core ShopWise branded shared mail program is distributed nationally to approximately 60 million households weekly. Approximately 30 million additional households can be reached, on a shared mail basis, through ADVO's National Network Extension (A.N.N.E.). Additionally, the Company's consumer web site, ShopWise.com, provides targeted Internet access to consumers. ADVO's subsidiary, MailCoups, Inc., produces Super Coups, an advertising solution for local neighborhood businesses. ADVO launched the America's Looking For Its Missing Children(R) program in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the United States Postal Service in 1985, and ADVO's missing child cards are responsible for safely recovering approximately one out of every seven children featured. ADVO has 21 mail processing facilities and 60 sales offices nationwide. ADVO's corporate headquarters are located at One Univac Lane, Windsor, Connecticut 06095. The Company can be visited at its Web site at www.advo.com.

This report contains certain forward looking statements regarding the Company's results of operations and financial position within the meaning of Sections 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward looking statements are based on current information and expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those in the forward looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: changes in customer demand and pricing; the possibility of consolidation throughout the retail sector; the impact of economic and political conditions on retail advertising spending and our distribution system; postal and paper prices; possible governmental regulation or legislation affecting aspects of the Company's business; the efficiencies achieved with technology upgrades; the amount of shares the Company will repurchase in the future under its buyback program; fluctuations in interest rates related to the outstanding debt and other general economic factors.