It is six months, almost to the day, that Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf Coast. Much has been written about the destruction, the Katrina Diaspora, and the first few hesitating steps toward rebuilding. I wrote a love letter to the city in the Sept. 5 edition of Loose Cannon (http://directmag.com/opinions-columnists/loosecannon/loose-cannon-kindne...).
Publicly, I asked the industry to contribute what it could to the relief efforts. Privately, I promised myself that when the time was right, I would revisit the city as observer and scribe to highlight the role direct response marketing could further play in the city’s rebirth.
That time is now. The Mardi Gras season, which much of the tourism and hospitality industry viewed as the first great hurdle, is upon us. To put it bluntly, the city is still reeling. More than 10,000 of its 38,000 hotel rooms remain unoccupied. The staffs that manned the hotels and ran most of the city’s public and private services, remain scattered around the country. Based on one set of estimates, more than two-thirds of the city's pre-hurricane population will never return. Based on other estimates, half the city's 115,000 small businesses will not reopen.
Direct marketing activity within the city faces its own challenges as well. Mail delivery, including first class mail, can most kindly be described as intermittent – and there aren’t a lot of folks feeling especially kindly toward the situation. Several local printing shops that served the mail, catalog and magazine industries were destroyed.
And yet…
And yet, there is hope. There has been some repatriation, and there are hardy souls who are reaching out via direct response marketing to tell their stories, and yes, to sell their goods and services. As the Web site for Pure Cajun Products observes, “We ARE shipping! A hurricane will not keep a good Cajun down for long!”
In addition to the usual helping of industry news, this week Direct Newsline will feature daily dispatches from New Orleans. Direct contributor Jonathan Boorstein and I are here not only for the final throes of Mardi Gras but for the aftermath, when both the marketing community and the city at large ask the crucial question, “What next?”
Through our coverage, we will reacquaint you with a few old friends mentioned in my first column, and introduce you to many new ones. Though some may have a tenuous relationship to direct marketing, all are united in their love for their city.
I look forward to your feedback to the week’s stories.
To respond to this column, please contact e-mail: richard.levey@penton.com
