Insurers resort to local channels after Katrina; First response: Print and radio trump TV in effort to reach victims.(News)

Advertising Age, September, 2005 by Creamer, Matthew

Byline: MATTHEW CREAMER

Hurricane Katrina's wake, which has displaced an untold number of people and wreaked havoc with the communications infrastructure, has led the nation's insurers to come up with innovative marketing plans to reach their policyholders as the companies look at losses that could reach as high as $35 billion, by some estimates.

Many that dispatched catastrophe teams to the affected area in the days before the storm were, just last week, beginning to inch their way into the devastated communities to deal with customers. Meanwhile, these companies are using corporate Web sites, media outreach and ads to communicate with the victims on how they can claim their losses.

For Allstate, the second-largest home and auto insurer, this...

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