As the 150^th anniversary of The Boston Globe’s first printed edition approached, we knew it was important to mark this significant milestone with a celebration that would honour our history and community while inspiring excitement for our future.

The Globe has served our region through a century and a half of dramatic change, producing impactful journalism that has chronicled — and, in many cases, helped shape — Boston and New England into a thriving innovation hub.

Our 150^th anniversary was the perfect moment to honour the continued health and vital importance of a prosperous regional newspaper with global reach and look ahead to its continued innovation and growth.

The spirit of our home city and region fuels the Globe’s success. Greater Boston has seen steady renewal in recent decades, and the Globe has continually adapted to meet the region’s need for truthful reflection and cutting-edge transformation.

This is why the Globe’s 150^th anniversary celebration was launched with a proclamation by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu declaring March 4, 2022, Boston Globe Day in the City of Boston.

Creating the campaign

We developed a year-long multi-channel campaign that embodied the innovative essence of Boston and the Globe. The campaign connected the Globe’s powerful journalism with the region’s most important and memorable moments, showing that while time has passed, the Globe’s importance to the city and the region has not.

A special edition of the newspaper tracked The Boston Globe’s beginnings in 1872, while an additional commemorative issue of Globe Magazine featured content from archived editions, such as iconic photography, historic headlines, vintage comics, and recipes and etiquette columns that were nearly lost to time. But we wanted to go beyond the newsroom.

Going public

“Portrait of The Boston Globe as Atlas,” a poem commissioned by Boston’s Poet Laureate, Porsha Olayiwola, invited readers and viewers on a multimedia journey through the Globe’s timeline, honouring the occasions the Globe held power to account, uncovered injustices, informed about crimes and consequences, highlighted the heartbreaking and heartwarming, and helped shape the thriving hub of innovation the city has become.

Portrait of The Boston Globe As Atlas — TV Ad Campaign from Elevate Globe on Vimeo.

 Three 30-second television ads broadcast Olayiwola’s prose, overlayed with more than a century of the most iconic headlines and images pulled from the Globe archives.

The ads played across New England in both English and Spanish, appearing on regional television and cable broadcast, streaming video, social media, and digital highway billboards. From June to October 2022, the ads garnered more than 11 million unique impressions.

In person

Our final piece was an open-air exhibit in Boston’s Seaport. Large-scale, 8x5-foot photos guided visitors on a stroll through history, connecting viewers to the Globe’s most memorable images and the region’s most poignant inflexion points while paying tribute to the local journalism serving the community during both challenging and celebratory moments.  

This campaign was designed to honour the collaboration that is at the core of our mission: serving our community. We know that strong local journalism provides in-depth coverage, analysis, and perspective on issues that are critical to the future of a region.

We believe New England thrives with a more healthy, vibrant Globe. We are firmly focused on investing in our journalism and exploring innovative ways to continue delivering award-winning journalism to our readers. We look forward to continuing to serve our community for the next 150 years and beyond.

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