Boston Herald Auctions Off Editorial to Advertisers

June 1, 2017

Stop the presses! The Boston Herald has gone native again!

As the hardtsking staff has previously noted, the sneaky local tabloid has occasionally dabbled in native advertising in its print edition, but now the ads in sheep’s clothing seem to be appearing with greater frequency.

Last week there was this full-page marketing massage “presented by Primark.”

Today there’s this puffery, “presented by The Lawn on D powered by Citizens Bank” – a twofer.

Both writers – Brett Milano and Miriam Schwartz – appear to be freelancers, although a piece she wrote last year referred to her as “the Herald’s Miriam Schwartz.” (Both, interestingly, also share the link bostonherald.com/users – which sort of feels backward given what the stingy local tabloid pays for freelance work.)

Anyway, that’s not as egregious as using staff reporters to produce advertising content, but even so . . .

C’mon, Heraldniks – at least have to decency to get actual copywriters to produce this stuff.

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Boston Globe Extends Editorial Bake Sale to Arts

December 14, 2015

As the hardreading staff has recently noted, the Boston Globe has lately been auctioning off various sections of the paper to the highest marketing bidder.

Call the roll of recent acquisitions:

First the $tately local broadsheet mortgaged past of its Business section to Rockland Trust.

Then Suffolk University turned the Globe’s Capital Section into a satellite campus – especially Joshua Miller’s Political Happy Hour.

Representative sample from yesterday’s Business section:

 

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Beyond that, Steward Health Care System is co-paying for James Pindell’s Ground Game coverage of the presidential primaries.

Now comes the Boston Globe Arts Auction.  First there was this tease on Page One of yesterday’s Arts section.

 

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Then there was this two-page spread by Mark Feeney about the upcoming Star Wars release.

 

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Note the Showcase MX4D ad at upper left. Sure looks like paidvertorial, doesn’t it?

Then note this ad one page later.

 

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Do we see a pattern emerging here?

Better question: Is there any Boston Globe editorial content that’s not for sale?

Just wondering.

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Boston Globe and Paymate Rockland Trust, Part Two

November 18, 2015

As the hardreading staff noted yesterday, the Boston Globe has gotten mighty cozy with Rockland Trust, with the local bank essentially co-opting the paper’s Talking Points column in its Business section.

What we failed to note was the omission of said bank in this Talking Points item yesterday:

Mass. Banks Given Low Marks for Customer Service

The two largest retail banks in Massachusetts have some of the least satisfied customers, according to an annual survey of financial services firms.

Bank of America, the largest retail bank in Massachusetts, scored the equivalent of a D+, or a 68 on a 100-point scale of customer satisfaction, according to the survey by American Customer Satisfaction Index, LLC, a Michigan research firm. The survey asked 70,000 consumers about the quality of service at their banks, from whether tellers are helpful, interest rates are competitive, and websites and mobile applications are easy to navigate.

That’s below other major national banks, including Wells Fargo & Co. (with a top score of 75), Citigroup Inc. (73) and JP Morgan Chase & Co. (71).

Customers gave Providence-based Citizens Financial Group, Inc., the second-largest bank in Massachusetts by deposits, the equivalent of a C, with score of 70. It was the lowest among large regional banks, including Capital One Financial Corp. of Virginia (77) and TD Bank, NA of New Jersey(75).

 

That’s a lotta numbers from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, yeah?

But notably absent: Rockland Trust.

Consequently, we plugged Rockland Trust into the ACSI search box and came up empty.

 

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So . . . huh.

P.S. Here’s how Rockland Trust sets the Agenda in today’s stately local broad$heet.

 

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P.P.S. From our Bury the Lede desk

We’ve been totally remiss in failing to point this out from Sunday’s Globe:

 

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That would be – yes! – Rockland Trust at No. 1. More, obviously, to come.

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Local Bank Is Embed With The Boston Globe

November 17, 2015

As the hardreading staff has previously noted, these are banner days for advertisers at the stately local broad$heet, which is providing lots of flexibility in selling ad space.

Even more notable, ads are literally In the news at the Globe nowadays.

From today’s front page:

 

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It’s not like the Globe hasn’t leased out this space before, as we painstakingly chronicled last year. But at least in the case of the Citizens Bank embeds, the paper had the decency – sporadically – to label it an advertisement.

With one day:

 

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Without the next day:

 

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Withever.

The Rockland Trust arrangement is different, though. Citizens Bank accompanied its embeds – embads? – with a traditional ad at the bottom of Page One. Rockland Trust’s ad runs alongside the Talking Points column in the Globe’s Business section.

 

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But wait . . . there’s more . . .

Check out the details in the ad:

 

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See? It’s Business Journalism. There are Events. And there’s Advice. All right here at a native advertising site.

A new level indeed.

Oh, yes – there’s also a native ad on the Globe’s Today’s Paper page (see lower right).

 

 

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Lots of talking points here. Discuss among yourselves.

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Globe Comes Sort of Clean on ‘In the news’ Ads

January 23, 2014

As the hardreading staff noted the other day, the Boston Globe has crowbarred advertisements into its front-page In the news index.

Boston Globe Carves Out New Ad Space on Front Page

First it was the strip ad at the bottom of Page One. Now the Boston Globe has inserted advertising into its In the news index that occupies the lefthand side of the front page every day.

Monday’s Boston Globe:

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And etc.

Tuesday’s In the news was pretty much the same.

 

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But Wednesday’s edition had a Come-to-Jesus addition.

 

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Now, we’re under no illusion that the Globeniks pay any heed to the hardreading staff. But they would pay attention to the redoubtable Dan Kennedy of Northeastern University and Media Nation, who tweeted this on Tuesday:

 

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That, we’re thinking, might have made a difference.

Then again, here’s today’s installment:

 

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So the Globe removed “Advertisement” and added “Citizens Bank.”

Hey, Dan: Time for another tweet?

 

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Boston Globe Carves Out New Ad Space on Front Page

January 21, 2014

First it was the strip ad at the bottom of Page One. Now the Boston Globe has inserted advertising into its In the news index that occupies the lefthand side of the front page every day.

Monday’s Boston Globe:

 

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And the interloping ad:

 

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Yes yes – the Boston Herald also posts ads on its front page.

 

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But the Boston Sports Clubs ad is clearly set off from the Herald’s editorial content. Which the Globe’s Citizens Bank interloper clearly is not.

Paging John Henry. Paging Boston Globe owner John Henry.

 

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