Sunday Boston Herald at Super (Bowl) DisADvantage

February 12, 2017

One week after the stunning Super Bowl win by the New England Patriots, the Boston Globe has published its obligatory Special Commemorative Section.

 

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The 26-page celebration of all things Pats is chockablock with advertising such as this ad from Marty Walsh & the People of Boston, which features so many logos you’d think Walsh was Mayor of NASCAR.

 

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All told, there are five full-page ads in the section (everyone from Bob’s Discount Furniture to TAG Heuer) and ten half-page ads (ranging from Tostitos to Rutgers Football). An adstravaganza, in other words.

Crosstown at the Boston Herald, meanwhile, there’s no special section, just the regular Sunday Sports.

 

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The not-so-special section features just four Pats-related ads, starting with this must-have.

 

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There are also ads for a New England Patriots Super Bowl LI Commemorative Fan Ring, the New England Patriots Super Bowl 51 Champions Legacy Decanter Set, and the First-Ever Tom Brady Gold Dollar.

Collect them all! Trade them with your friends!

And feel just a little bad for the thirsty local tabloid.


Mass. Mayors Put Boston Herald at DisADvantage

December 10, 2015

As the hardreading staff has repeatedly pointed out, the Boston Herald rarely gets any love from groups or individuals running full-page advocacy or tribute ads, virtually all of which wind up exclusively in the Boston Globe.

Exhibit Umpteen, from today’s edition:

 

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Copy close-up:

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Ad sponsor AJC Boston apparently doesn’t believe that Herald readers are interested in 57 municipal leaders “[taking] a stand and [speaking] out against an ancient hatred that once again is raging in places around the globe.”

So once again the thirsty local tabloid goes without.

Huh.


Boston Herald at a Medical DisADvantage

July 22, 2015

As you splendid readers no doubt already know, Massachusetts General Hospital has topped this year’s U.S. News and World Report rankings after being relegated to second place for the past two years.

 

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Now that Mass General has been restored to its former glory, it’s all over but the touting. Joining in the celebration is this full-page ad in today’s Boston Globe.

 

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Crosstown at the Boston Herald, no love from the Kraft Family. But the Herald did have this quarter-page ad exclusive.

 

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Of course, the Herald is one of the sponsors, so the ad – like the concerts – is free.

Hey, can’t have everything. Or in the case of the thirsty local tabloid, much of anything.


Boston Herald – Once Again – at a DisADvantage

January 17, 2014

More ad-versity for the Boston Herald: Yesterday it was bypassed by two advertisers who took out full pages in the Boston Globe.

Ad #1 (page A8):

 

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Ad #2 (page A10):

 

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Neither ran in the funky local tabloid.

That’s a problem, yeah, Heraldniks?


Boston Herald at a Distinct DisADvantage

September 9, 2013

Here are some of the ads that ran in the Boston Sunday Globe.

 

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And here are their counterparts in Sunday’s Boston Herald.

 

 

 

 

 

That’s right – none of those ads ran in the feisty local tabloid.

Draw your own conclusions.

 


Boston Herald Pages Not (Amazon) Prime Real Estate

September 15, 2022

From our Local Dailies DisADvantage desk

Fact of life: The Boston Globe is always going to garner far more advocacy/corporate image/memorial full-page advertising than the Boston Herald.

(To be sure graf goes here)

To be sure, we get why, say, Mass General Brigham last Sunday would run this double-truck only in the stately local broadsheet.

(There was also a third full-page ad that went with those two, which meant MGB spent some serious money. Then again, those U.S. News & World Report rankings have gone over like the metric system for quite a while now, so maybe not the wisest investment.)

For the life of us, though, the headscratching staff cannot understand why this full-page ad ran in today’s Globe but not today’s Herald.

Hey – if even NFL telecasts ignore the thirsty local tabloid and treat Boston like a One-Daily Town, it just might become one.


Boston Herald Quarantined From Full-Page COVADS

April 5, 2020

From our Local Dailies DisADvantage desk

As the hardreading staff has noted numerous times, the Boston Herald has long been the wallflower at the local advertising dance.

And so it remains in the time of coronavirus.

To be sure, Kappy’s Fine Wine & Spirits has been a loyal customer lately with full-page ads like this one.

 

 

And Stop & Shop ran this thank you ad today.

 

 

But that’s pretty much it for the thirsty local tabloid.

Crosstown at the Boston Globe, though (wait – that doesn’t work any more since the Globe moved to State Street and the Herald moved to Braintree and anyway everyone’s working remotely so the hell with it) – the full-page ads are coming fast and furious.

Yesterday there was this ad from the Veterans Cannabis Project urging Gov. Charlie Baker (R-Bogart) to designate all adult-use Massachusetts cannabis dispensaries as essential services.

 

 

Auto magnate Herb Chambers also went full-page yesterday.

 

 

Today is even better for the stately local broadsheet. It got the Chambers ad again and the Stop & Shop thank you ad. But today’s edition also features this Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts ad.

 

 

Body copy:

And this Uber ad.

 

 

Body copy:

 

 

Memo to Blue Cross and Uber: Maybe next time send some of that love to the Herald as well.


Super Bowl CongrADulations Spike Boston Herald

February 5, 2019

From our never-ending Local Dailies DisADvantage desk

In the wake of the New England Patriots’ victory in Stupor Bowl LIII, yesterday’s editions of the Boston dailies marked Celebration Day for the six-time champions.

Begin with the Boston Globe, where the Kraft Family bought page 3 of the Score section.

 

 

From there the congradulations took an oddly retail turn, starting with this sort of oblique Hood full page.

 

 

Next up was this 7-Eleven full page ad offering some Hangover Relief Specials.

 

 

Representative copy:

 

 

And then the back page of Score, brought to you by Pepsi, the Official Soft Drink of the New England Patriots and Super Bowl LIII.

 

 

Yes, that is the Chris Hogan of six targets, zero receptions, and zero yardage in the Big Game. But why get technical about it.

Finally, the A section of the Globe featured this full-page shoutout from Bank of America.

 

 

Of all the ads above, only that last one ran in the Boston Herald.

Today it’s a different story – it’s Tchotchke Day in the local dailies! Here’s a sample of the Patsabilia you can find in today’s Globe.

 

 

And here’s what the Herald is offering.

 

 

Not for nothing, but the hardreading staff gravitates toward the Levitating Football.

One final, poignant note: The thirsty local tabloid, after being passed over by so many advertisers yesterday, was finally reduced to running a congratulatory ad from . . . “the entire staff at the Boston Herald.”

 

 

That’s just, well, sad.


National Grid Gives Globe the Ad, Herald the Air

November 13, 2018

From our ever-expanding Local Dailies DisAdvantage desk

The four-month National Grid lockout of over 1,200 union gas workers has not only cost the state 1) millions in lost tax revenue and 2) more than $13 million in unemployment benefits according to this WCVB report, it’s also cost the company tens of thousands of dollars for this full-page ad in today’s Boston Globe.

 

 

(Gas Workers Must Be Nuts graf goes here)

Something the ad failed to note: There’s movement at the State House to “force National Grid to restore health benefits to all locked out workers until contract talks are resolved,” according to WCVB’s report. That could ratchet up the cost of the lockout for the gas company.

Something National Grid failed to note: There are two dailies in this town. Boston Herald readers also have a nickel in this quarter. Time to give the thirsty local tabloid some love, eh?


Columbia Gas: No One in Lawrence Reads the Herald

October 4, 2018

Columbia Gas, which oversaw the destruction of roughly 80 homes; the death of Leonel Rondon, a student at Phoenix Charter Academy; over two dozen injuries; and the disruption of thousands of other lives, promises to restore service to Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover by November 19th.

But . . .

The company is also hedging its bets, as yesterday’s full-page Boston Globe ad from Columbia Gasbag Joe Hamrock indicates.

 

 

Nuts to deadlines graf.

 

 

Notice first that Columbia Gas is outsourcing part of its responsibility for the recovery to “local, state and federal officials and other dedicated people and organizations.”

Also notice that there’s no mention of the November 19th deadline.

Also also notice that the ad did not run in the Boston Herald, yet another example of Boston institutions overlooking the thirsty local tabloid.

No wonder we’re destined to be a One-Daily Town.

P.S. It’s entirely coincidental that this is the front page of today’s Herald

 

 

and this is Metro Page One of the Globe.

 

 

 

Entirely.