Dr Pepper apologizes for placing coin near crypt
Feeney plans hearing on marketing promotions
An elusive Dr Pepper coin was safely retrieved yesterday near a two-century-old crypt in the Granary Burying Ground, and the soft drink maker apologized and donated $10,000 to the graveyard for its "time and trouble."
But some city officials were still angry that a treasure hunt would be planned in the 347-year-old cemetery that is the final resting place of several heroes of the American Revolution and about 5,000 others.
City Council President Maureen E. Feeney said she will convene a hearing next month on the Dr Pepper promotion and on the Cartoon Network marketing stunt last month that caused bomb scares around the Boston area.
"It is intolerable that companies should exploit city resources at the expense of public safety and even historic property for a cheap promotion," Feeney said in a statement.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino, however, said yesterday that Boston will not ban such unconventional marketing schemes, as long as companies check in with City Hall first.
"If we were notified about this, we would have welcomed them," Menino said. "And if they wanted to work with parks, we would have welcomed them. But we didn't know what was happening."
The city Parks Department first learned of the 23-city treasure hunt for coins redeemable for up to $1 million after contestants complained Tuesday that the graveyard was closed due to icy paths. Fearing damage to the burying ground, parks officials kept it off-limits to treasure hunters. Dr Pepper abruptly ended the promotion in Boston on Thursday, and said it would instead award $10,000, the value of the Boston coin, in a random drawing of area residents who registered for the contest.
Greg Artkop -- spokesman for
"The coin should never have been placed in such a hallowed site, and we sincerely apologize," Artkop said in a statement.
The Cartoon Network, its parent company, and a New York guerrilla marketing company apologized for the Jan. 31 incident, when police responded to reports of possible bombs that turned out to be electronic signs promoting the television show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." The companies paid $2 million to compensate communities for police time and effort.
"I would have thought that Dr Pepper would have taken a cue from Turner Broadcasting and be more in touch with the administration and work with us on tactics such as this," Menino said in a telephone interview.
Artkop identified the two marketing companies that ran the treasure hunt as Circle One Marketing of Norwalk, Conn., and Promotion Watch Inc. of Livonia, Mich.
The Boston coin was one of 23 hidden in cities across the United States and Canada. The coin, redeemable for $1 million, was found by a Houston woman, 23, near the Spirit of Confederacy statue in Sam Houston Park, the company said yesterday.
A Boston parks official tried to find the coin in the graveyard Thursday. But it wasn't until about 11 a.m. yesterday when it was found by the man who had stashed it there Tuesday morning, hours before the 30th and final clue pointed contestants to the burying ground.
Timothy L. Sullivan, a Walpole private investigator working for Promotion Watch, walked past the Franklin family obelisk and stopped in front of the marker for Crypt 96 embedded in the red brick wall on the right side of the graveyard. Lying on the ground was a black leather pouch holding the palm-sized, brass-toned coin.
Sullivan said he first tried to "seed" the coin on Monday, only to discover the gate padlocked. He returned on Tuesday around 10:30 a.m., when the cemetery was briefly open to the public, and pretended to take photographs as he bent down and stuffed the bag under the stone in front of the 1810 crypt for Edward and William Reynolds.
Sullivan told city officials that both he and Promotion Watch had objected to the graveyard being used, but that their suggestion was ignored by Circle One. Mary Broaddus, a spokeswoman for Promotion Watch's corporate parent, also issued an apology. Circle One partner Mark Szuchman referred all questions to Dr Pepper, where Artkop said his company was ultimately responsible.
By the time treasure seekers arrived Tuesday, the cemetery was padlocked. It remained so yesterday.
"I think the fact that the gates were closed was almost like and act of God," said Parks Department spokeswoman Mary Hines, who accompanied Sullivan yesterday. "It kept them out.'
Sullivan left the graveyard with the coin. But Hines said a Cadbury Schweppes official later promised to send the coin back to the city, once it is processed to complete the contest. Said Hines: "Maybe we will start a memorabilia collection of things that have happened in Boston this year with ad marketing firms."
