The $tately local broadsheet has run numerous news reports on the sign’s endangered status and numerous Citgo-purchased ads like this one pleading for the sign’s protection.
(The hardcounting staff previously estimated that Citgo has spent five figures on Globe ads. We’re a moron. It’s probably more like $200,000.)
As the hardreading staff has previously noted, Boston BFF (Big Fat Fundsucker) General Electric has a penchant for running full-page ads in the Boston Globe but not the Boston Herald.
Exhibit Umpteen, from Monday’s $tately local broadsheet.
That’s a follow-up to this GE spot on Sunday night’s Academy Awards broadcast.
Millie Dresselhaus, the first woman to win the National Medal of Science in Engineering, died on February 20th, one week before her TV spotlight ran.
So good for GE to memorialize her in print.
But c’mon, GEniks – show some love for the thirsty local tabloid, yeah?
As the hardreading staff has noted, when General Electric decided to move its corporate headquarters to Boston last April, GE celebrated its migration with this full-page ad in the Boston Globe.
But, as we also noted, GE ignored the Boston Herald.
The [ad’s] small type: “GE and Boston are the perfect combination to usher in a new digital industrial revolution. We’re proud to call the city that never stops making history our new home.”
But, apparently, not proud enough to run its ad in the Boston Herald.
Hey, GEniks: You’re moving to a two-daily town. Show the thirsty local tabloid some love, eh?
Since then GE – totally ignoring us – has run a series of full-page ads in the Globe but not the Herald, such as this one in May:
And, in yesterday’s Globe, yet another full-page suck-up.
We’ll say it again:
Hey, GEniks: You’re moving to a two-daily town. Show the thirsty local tabloid some love, eh?
As the hardreading staff has noted on numerous occasions, Citgo has lately been running quarter-page ads in the Boston Globe celebrating its Kenmore Square sign, whose future is uncertain now that Boston University is looking to sell the buildings beneath it.
Representative sample:
We’ve asked Citgo’s public affairs manager Fernando Garay why the company doesn’t run ads in the Boston Herald, but he’s been a private affairs manager to us, not deigning to respond to multiple inquiries.
However . . .
Splendid reader Sam Doran has sent us this:
The print Herald may be thirsty for Citgo Sign ads, but CyberHerald’s got them. I just noticed a banner at the top of the mobile site. Two screenshots are attached. Tapping the banner led to bostoncitgosign.com (second screenshot).
Said screenshots:
Of course, it costs pennies on the (print) dollar for Boston Herald digital ads, but no doubt the thirsty local tabloid is thankful for whatever Citgo sends its way.
Still, Citgo’s sign to the Herald (and Two-Daily Town) remains . . . the middle finger.
Another day, another dolor for the thirsty local tabloid, which once again gets the air – not the ad – in a local public policy tussle.
This time it’s the Environmental League of Massachusetts and the Conservation Law Foundation that have teamed up to run an ad in today’s Boston Globe (but not the Herald) addressing Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo about energy policy in the Bay State.
Memo to George Bachrach and Brad Campbell:
What, it would have killed you to run a half-page ad in the Herald?
As the hardreading staff has noted over the past week or so, Citgo has been running ads in the Boston Globe (but not the Boston Herald) celebrating the landmark Kenmore Square Citgo sign, which might be endangered when Boston University sells the buildings beneath it.
Here’s yesterday’s installment of the feel-good ads.
When the ads first appeared, we contacted Citgo’s public affairs manager Fernando Garay, who said he’d be glad to answer a few questions via email. So we sent him this:
Thanks for getting back to [us] so quickly, Mr. Garay.
A few questions:
Are the Boston Globe ads indeed tied to the uncertain future of the Citgo sign?
What kind of response did you get to the ads?
Have you run ads in other media outlets? Did you consider running these two in the Boston Herald?
Do you have plans to run ads in the future or expand your social media efforts beyond #CITGOsign on Twitter?
Thank you [and etc.].
No reply.
So we queried again.
No reply.
Finally, we sent this last night:
Dear Mr. Garay,
All due respect, but if you weren’t willing to answer [our] questions about the Citgo sign ads in the Boston Globe, why did you say “Please send me your questions via email and I will get back to you with responses”?
For the third time, [our] questions:
Are the Boston Globe ads indeed tied to the uncertain future of the Citgo sign?
What kind of response have you gotten to the ads?
Have you run ads in other media outlets? Did you consider running any in the Boston Herald?
Do you have plans to run ads in the future or expand your social media efforts beyond #CITGOsign on Twitter?
Sincerely,
[The hardreading staff]
Citgo: Proud to touch so many lives. Just not to answer any questions about it.
The Boston Herald has long been the venue of last resort for full-page ads of the advocacy/corporate image/memorial sort.
As it was yesterday, when the Herald was bypassed by two ads that ran in the Boston Globe.
First, this Boston suck-up ad from GE (which in this town stands for Got Everything.)
Then, this Boston Ad Club full-page backpat honoring diversity in a town that has long hampered diversity.
(To be fair graf goes here)
To be fair, yesterday’s Herald did feature this full-page bank ad.
As well as this half-page Massachusetts tax amnesty ad.
Neither of which ran in yesterday’s Globe.
Still, there’s no question that the Herald is an afterthought in the eyes of local advertisers.
Which makes it all the more interesting that the feisty local tabloid seems to enjoy better fiscal fitness than the stately local broadsheet, which is now desperately downsizing (tip o’ the pixel to the redoubtable Dan Kennedy at Media Nation) as it moves from its sprawling Morrissey Boulevard home to cramped quarters in Boston’s financial district.
The partnership has run newspaper ads such as this one . . .
. . . and this one . . .
. . . both of which ran in the Boston Globe last week.
But not the Boston Herald.
So we sent this email to the Ad Council:
Dear Sir or Madam,
[We] noted with interest the ads you’ve run the past two days in the Boston Globe. But not the Boston Herald.
[We] know the ads you produce virtually always run pro bono, so just wondering: Did you not ask the Herald to run them, or did you ask and the paper decline?
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[The hardreading staff]
No reply.
Then, suddenly, this half-page ad ran in yesterday’s hungry local tabloid.
So: Either the Ad Council finally asked, or the Herald finally agreed to run the ad pro bono.
Coincidence?
We defer to Leroy Jethro Gibbs’s Rule 39 (at 1:52) to answer that.
Posted by Campaign Outsider 
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 