• by adam.m , Michael Deibert , September 1, 2005

The Advertising Council, the Madison Avenue's clearinghouse for major public service ad efforts, is planning a massive response to Hurricane Katrina, which has devastated parts of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Working in tandem with the Austin-based GSD&M agency, the Ad Council was set to begin public service announcements for the Red Cross "within days," Ad Council officials said.

"In keeping with the Ad Council's history of responding to crisis and providing resources for people to help, we felt it was our responsibility," said Ellyn Fisher, the group's manager for corporate communications.

By mid-day Wednesday, authorities were saying that they feared hundreds of people had lost their lives in the flooding that followed in the hurricane's wake. Army engineers in New Orlean sstruggled to repair damaged levees that were continuing to allow water to pour into the city.

Fisher said that she expected a "very quick turnaround" on the ads, similar to that witnessed after a disastrous tsunami struck Asia at the end of last year.

The GSD&M agency won wide praise for its "I Am an American" campaign in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.