Red Sox Play Ball with Herald in New Ad Campaign

December 18, 2017

As the hardreading safe has noted many times, the Boston Herald is routinely overlooked as an advertising vehicle by local institutions ranging from General Electric to Verizon to AJC Boston to CVS.

But . . .

The new ad campaign for Red Sox ticket sales is totally bi-paper-san.

From Saturday’s Boston Globe.

From Saturday’s Herald.

 

 

Some context here, from Ricky Doyle’s NESN profile of Rafael Devers in August:

“In my neighborhood, when I played vitilla (baseball with bottle caps), there was always this guy who would say, ‘Look at this one with that fresh face,’ and from then on I was ‘Carita.’ ”

Carita. Or Baby Face. Hmm… we’ll see if it sticks.

 

Clearly, it did.

Back to the Sox ads. Both local dailies ran this one yesterday.

 

No explanation need for that, right?

But maybe an explanation for the ad campaign itself is in order.

Red Sox ticket sales were off last year (2,917,678) from 2016 (2,955,434) according to Baseball Reference.

Regardless, here’s what ticket buyers can expect for next year, via Nik DeCosta-Klipa at Boston.com.

The team announced Wednesday that [2018] (ticket prices at Fenway Park will increase by an average of 2.5 percent. Similar to last year, this means ticket prices are going up $1 to $5 for many of the seats closer to the field, as well as the bleachers.

 

Red Sox to fans: Read it and keep (paying more).

Let’s see how many of them vamos next season.

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Verizon Workers at a DisADvantage in Union Dustup

April 15, 2016

As the hardreading staff has previously noted, telecom giant Verizon has been wallpapering the Boston Globe (but not the Boston Herald) with this full-page ad questioning why union workers are striking over cuts in healthcare and pension benefits.

 

Screen Shot 2016-04-15 at 1.06.47 AM

 

Yesterday, Verizon doubled down with two ads in the $tately local broadsheet: The one above, and this one.

 

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And the response from the striking Communications Workers of America/International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers?

Nada.

Same today: Verizon two ads, workers none.

Dumb.

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Verizon Hangs Up on Boston Herald Readers

April 13, 2016

Telecommunications giant Verizon is engaged in another tug-of-war with its unionized workers, about 40,000 of whom walked off the job today.

From Reuters:

The strike was called by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers that jointly represent employees with such jobs as customer services representatives and network technicians in Verizon Communications Inc’s (VZ.N) traditional wireline phone operations . . .Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 2.18.16 PM

Verizon and the unions have been talking since last June over the company’s plans to cut healthcare and pension-related benefits over a three-year period.

The workers have been without a contract since its agreement expired in August. Issues include healthcare, offshoring call center jobs, temporary job relocations and pensions.

 

Verizon, of course, knew this was coming, so for the past two days the company has run this full-page ad in the Boston Globe.

 

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 1.55.02 PM

 

But the telecom has yet to run any ads in the Boston Herald, perhaps thinking the audience there would be insufficiently sympathetic to the Verizon pitch.

A strike of about 45,000 Verizon workers lasted two weeks in 2011. See here for the ad battle back then, in which virtually all the Verizon numbers were disputed.

On the other side, the unions were pretty aggressive in their advertising five years ago, even playing the 9/11 card.

Let’s see what’s up their sleeve this time around.

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Globe Risks Donnie-brook with Verizon FiOS

October 9, 2013

From our Late to the Party Pooper desk

You don’t often see a situation like this. Verizon FiOS ad in yesterday’s Boston Globe:

 

Picture 2

 

Page One story in yesterday’s Boston Globe.

 

Picture 1

 

Lede:

‘This is New England, where people tell it straight,” says Boston-born TV star Donnie Wahlberg in a new commercial for FiOS, Verizon’s cable television and Internet service. “No phonies, no fakers, no shortcuts.”

The commercial, titled “Here’s The Truth about FiOS in Massachusetts,” features Wahlberg standing before the Hancock Tower, Trinity Church, and in Charlestown near the Bunker Hill Monument.

But here’s another truth about FiOS: You can’t get it in Copley Square. Actually, you can’t get it anywhere in Boston.

 

Oops.

The Verizon ad doesn’t seem to mention that inconvenient truth. We even checked the mouse type.

Nothing.

The story says Verizon “apparently doesn’t appreciate the irony.” They also didn’t run an ad in today’s Globe.

Coincidence? You tell us.

 

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Marathon Bombing Memorial Advertisers Get More and More Obscure

April 29, 2013

In the two weeks since the tragic Boston Marathon bombings, we’ve seen a goodly number of tribute ads from the likes of Verizon, Bloomingdale’s, even the City of New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. But today’s installments come from, well, out of nowhere.

In the Boston Globe:

 

Picture 1

 

In the Boston Herald:

 

Picture 2

 

Yeah, that’s what we said. Who are these people?

Turns out Flying Cross is “[t]he leading authority in uniform systems with over 170 years’ experience outfitting the best—and toughest—customers. Serving with Distinction since 1842.”

Okaaaay.

And The Produce Connection “[services] over 200 different food service venues throughout New England, many of them for over 20 years now. Many of our customers have become our close friends as we’ve successfully worked to meet their needs every day with the same commitment.”

Okaaaay.

We gotta ask: Are the Marathon bombings turning into just another marketing opportunity? (10% of our next two columns donated to The One Fund Boston!!)

It’s sure starting to feel that way.

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