Saw an interesting article on New Orleans in the San Jose Mercury News today.  New Orleans is working on raising money in all sorts of ways.  One of its latest efforts is a “Text to Give” campaign.  Using your mobile phone and your PayPal account, you can text a number and donate money to New Orleans to rebuild. New Orleans hopes to raise $1 million with its text messaging campaign.  If you want to donate but don’t know how to use text messaging, you can also click on a link on the front page of the City of New Orleans web site. 

The news article mentions that New Orleans efforts to get companies to provide sponsorships for Mardi Gras did not really work.  Not surprising since Mardi Gras is associated with controlled mayhem and fun, not to mention drinking.  Few companies, even beer distributors, want to be associated with beer-fueled parties.  They want to be associated with responsible drinking.  Let’s hope that next year its efforts to get corporate sponsorships for Mardi Gras work better as its marketing people learn better how to position Mardi Gras for corporate consumption.

If you are heading down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, download the Geogad Mobile Tour of New Orleans French Quarter.  While there are not longer any Mardi Gras parades that travel through the French Quarter since its streets are far too narrow for the parades and crowds, the French Quarter is still crazy crowded at night.  Try getting a little sightseeing done with Geogad’s tour on your MP3 player during the morning when others are still deep in sleep.  

Technorati tags: New Orleans, Mardi Gras, Text to Give, French Quarter, Geogad Mobile Tours

Geogad is working to create tour for many new cities.  There are certainly many fun and interesting cities to visit, both in the US and abroad.  If you were to select the next city to have a Geogad Mobile Tour, which one would it be? What neighborhoods would it focus on?

Let us know.  You wish may come true. 

Technorati tags: Geogad Mobile Tours