Comments on: Spam, what is it good for? Apparently something.

Spam, what is it good for? Apparently something.

jourman2 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:55:20 -0800

Spammers helping with the New Orleans recovery efforts.

New Orleans has found a novel use for the massive database used by Valassis Communications' RedPlum direct-mail operation. Normally used to send promotional circulars to virtually every household in the U.S., it's now being used to track the speed of recovery in the Crescent City.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:08:19 -0800

Point of order: what you're talking about actually isn't spam. Spam is advertising email. The article is talking about advertising paper mail. There's a big, big difference; a friend of mine is a reporter for a direct-marketing industry trade magazine, and would be first to not just tell you what the difference is, but to provide copious examples of both. But -- still interesting info nonetheless. I've been hyper-aware of the state of mail in New Orleans since Katrina, since said friend is also a huge lover of New Orleans and has said a lot of things before about how businesses are handling things. Initially, the biggest problem most businesses had was that when postal service first was restored, only first-class mail was allowed. So -- that ruled out magazines, ad circulars, fundraising letters, catalogs, etc. Only first-class mail. Which to some sounds like nirvana, but consider if you are a small business IN New Orleans trying to recover. You have a paper catalog you send out; most of your customers live in New Orleans as well. But -- you can only use first-class mail. Now - say you have a thousand customers to mail this catalog to. And say that it's a four-ounce catalog. That's about $2,700 in postage to send out your catalogs. Cuts into your profits, don't it? My friend had a lot of stories like this -- stuff that I wouldn't have thought about. In early 2006, 6 month after Katrina, he went there to do a series of articles on the recovery, from a direct-marketing angle. This piece delves into the postage-rate issue in particular.

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:34:11 -0800

End point of order. Penalty for taking too long.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:42:06 -0800

...the massive database used by Valassis Communications' RedPlum direct-mail operation... [is] now being used to track the speed of recovery in the Crescent City. This is pretty cool. Neat FPP. Thanks!

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:28:24 -0800

End point of order. Penalty for taking too long. *sheepish* Did I actually do something wrong? My apologies; most of that was actually just continuing the conversation to soften my nitpick, to be honest. Fair cop, though.

By: Malor

Malor — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:58:41 -0800

Yeah, calling these guys spammers isn't fair to them. Spammers take advantage of the fact that email is essentially free to pollute the Internet with advertising. Direct marketers pay their own costs, they don't hijack anyone else's infrastructure. They pay for what they use. In a very real way, their existence keeps stamps cheap.

By: Damn That Television

Damn That Television — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:16:43 -0800

This is fascinating.

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:18:24 -0800

Did I actually do something wrong? No, sorry. It's just whenever I hear "point of order", I think of Mao.

By: recoveringsophist

recoveringsophist — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:45:08 -0800

Penalty for talking?

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:01:58 -0800

Deathalicious' comment seemed a lot weirder to me before I rolled over the link.

By: msconduct

msconduct — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:19:23 -0800

mail delivery/nondelivery was a true pain in the butt after the storm. i applauded the first time i saw a mailman on my street, and i *still* let them cut in front of me in grocery lines and lunch lines. it absolutely RULES to have mail delivery! direct marketing = junk mail; spam = junk email. regardless, i'm happy to have the numbers. i still wonder how many of those households are occupied by transient contractors. empressC: interesting article. i've been here for 2 decades & peripherally involved with the music business for the last 10 years. that was the first i ever heard of jazzology or jazzbeat.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:35:24 -0800

Msconduct: Thanks! He did a whole series that week -- some were more about direct-marketing and direct-mail wonk stuff, but another thing he did was about a store called the "kitchen witch" or something like that which also may be a great place to check out. If you do a search for "Live from New Orleans" on the DIRECT site you'll find the rest of his pieces from that time.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:36:51 -0800

Whoops -- searching for "live from new orleans" will also give you results for years' worth of conventions on direct marketing that happened in New Orleans, so be warned...anything with a February or March 2006 date are things that he did in that one week post-Katrina.

By: vapidave

vapidave — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:12:08 -0800

Just to the south of New Orleans here in St. Bernard parish the sheriff estimates that 35,000 to 37,000 people occupy the parish, down from a pre-Katrina 67,000. That's a 52% to 55% range. As I sit here Bush has just departed Jackson Barracks in Arabi where I live. He drove back down St. Bernard highway to get on his helicopter and they wouldn't let you within a half block of his motorcade even if you were on foot so I didn't get to "wave" goodbye. I hope he got a good look out of his tinted windows.