Junk Mail With a Purpose
Posted by goodmind on August 20th, 2008
According to AdAge, Direct Mail works, though not for its original intended purpose;
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.
Non-profit organizations are able to use the street level data (i.e. which households are actively receiving mail) to measure repopulation progress, and determine where to target rebuilding efforts. This may not seem like a big deal, but it can actually save these groups valuable time and money, since they no longer need to conduct repopulation surveys themselves.
You can check out the full map here, courtesy of the Greater New Orleans Data Center. Like Wired, we’re anxiously waiting for them to figure out an equally useful purpose for online spam.
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