Philadelphia loves its sports teams. Always feeling like the underdog, fans cannot help but exude with civic pride when any of their beloved teams make it to a championship game. Another opportunity for glory came to the city and its fanbase as the Philadelphia Eagles prepared to play in their fifth Super Bowl on Sunday.
In the two weeks leading up to the big game, neighborhoods in and around the city fervently rallied around the Eagles, with Northwest Philadelphia being no exception. Also supporting the Birds were businesses, including the Chestnut Hill Local, a weekly community paper.
With a smaller staff and limited budget compared to larger media outlets in the region, the Local managed to join the celebrations by printing its Feb. 6 paper entirely in green, the official color of the Eagles organization.
“We wanted to showcase the Eagles spirit in Northwest Philadelphia and thought a ‘green edition’ would be a very visible way to do that,” said Local Sales and Marketing Manager Leisha Shaffer, who also connected with others in the community to help transform the paper into a quasi-Eagles pre-Super Bowl keepsake edition.
“We contacted several community organizations about sponsoring extra circulation for the edition and got pledges that allowed us to mail over 1,100 samples out to new residents and nonsubscriber households,” she said. “We also created downloadable posters for readers, which are promoted in print, online and via social media.”
The paper’s outreach went even further.
“We have a new subscriber offer in the print edition that is tied to the Super Bowl and the results,” Shaffer continued. “We mailed papers to local TV and radio stations and followed with an email, hoping to get a mention in their Eagles fan coverage (which is incessant right now).”
The efforts of the Chestnut Hill Local once again prove how local newspapers not only keep citizens informed but how entrenching themselves in the communities they serve helps to better speak to their needs.
As for the game itself, congratulations to the Super Bowl LIX champion Philadelphia Eagles, who beat the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22.