• by David Goetzl , March 5, 2009

The panels where "real" consumers try to provide marketers with useful insight -- perspectives they can't get at a run-of-the-mill focus group -- are plodding to say the least. But intriguing nuggets do emerge.

On the panel of females 25-to-54, one woman offered a peek into just how much Hurricane Katrina continues to impact some residents in New Orleans. And if residents spent years shrugging off the threats of hurricanes, they may do so no more.

She said she has become an avid viewer of CNN since Katrina, and further indicated it provided useful information last summer as Hurricane Gustav approached. Gustav looked like a killer storm, but ultimately did little damage in the New Orleans area, though it inflicted considerable damage in central and nothern Louisiana.