Pigs fly in Philly

Let us all take a break from talking about Whitlock and discuss Philly.
Specifically this special section that ran in May.
http://go.philly.com/images/PigsFlySection.pdf
And hopefully this isn't a D_B.
I'd like to post an image of the cover, but I don't know how.
Anyway, circ is up in Philly and in response, the publisher ran a special section headlined
PIGS FLY! in about 200 point type and it ran under a fake flag that said Impossible News.
The article also had art of pigs flying from the Philly Inky building.
It is a four-page section full of graphics, and stories that talk about what is going on.
I know Tierney, the publisher, has taken some hits, but I was sorely amused by the article about the Pessimists Society wondering how the glass got half-full. And the graphics explaining the wings on a flying pig and the temperature in Hell, it has frozen over.
And newspaper types as a whole loath self-promotion (Whitlock being the exception that proves the rule) but, why? I mean, if you aren't going to talk about yourself, who will?
Does a little article in Philly Biz or Editor&Publisher talking about your circulation gains really get the message out to the widest possible audience?
I don't think so.
And something done with a sense of humor, like this, doesn't seem bad to me.

 

and readers care because....?

 

Because some readers have a vested interest in the paper. They feel like they have ownership and a say in what happens. So some are pleased to see their paper doing well.
Plus, you'd be surprised by what some readers care about.
Advertisers care and they read the paper too. They are also the ones who pay the bills.

 

When CBS says, "More TV viewers watch CBS than any other network" . . . do the viewers care?

It's simply a way to get a message across.

When Philly promotes its gains, it sends a message to people and makes them think, "Hey, I wonder if I'm missing something if I don't read it."

 

Yeah, I think that makes sense, maybe.