By: Jennifer Saba In May, The Boston Globe took the unusual step of introducing an auction to sell front-page ads for its Sunday help-wanted section. So far, the experiment seems to be a success: Since the process started, the paper has more than tripled the amount of advertising from the previous year.
The auction falls under BostonWorks, the print and online recruitment section of the Globe.
Jason Kissell, managing director of BostonWorks, said the concept is "going great." Tim Murphy, who spearheaded the idea, has since been promoted to executive director of advertising marketing for the New England Media Group.
The paper has roped in seven advertisers for the half-page space that falls on the front page of the recruitment section. Before the concept was launched, that spot would sell for the fixed price of $39,500. However, Kissell said they only sold two ads in 2004, which pulled in about $79,000.
Opening bids for the auction originally started at $15,000 and rise in increments of $500. As of Oct. 16, BostonWorks raised the opening price to $20,000.
Kissell said that of the seven auctions, two or three closed above $15,000 (though not much above that). Still, in the five months since the concept has launched, the ads have pulled in roughly $105,000.
"As much as we wanted to sell that spot," Kissell said, "we wanted to see it benefit job-seekers."
Though the auction proves to be going well Kissell, said that it was unlikely it would be introduced elsewhere in the paper: "We're getting our feet wet with this. We don't have plans to branch into other print sections."
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