Who Is James Reera? (II)

Yo.

Well the old Doc has been doing some gumshoe work on this Boston Herald ad, which we mentioned the other day.

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First, we dug up this obituary for Mr. Reera.

5e04782c-ea19-479f-9d9e-a7f5a677ad7dJames M. Reera, age 64, passed away Jan. 2, 2013. Jim was born and raised in Braintree, lived in Marshfield for 10 years before moving to New Hampshire, first in Holderness then to Thornton, and Ashland. Jim was a Vietnam War Air Force veteran. After joining the Marshfield Fire Department, he attained the rank of lieutenant, serving for 10 years and served as chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association in the town. He discovered another calling as a tax accountant and financial advisor, setting up successful businesses in both Weymouth and Ashland, N.H., and managed them for many years.

But here’s what especially caught the Doc’s eye:

He inspired the doctors, his family and friends with the way he fought mesothelioma, a rare and virulent cancer of the lung.

At the same time, we checked into Priscilla Colburn, whose Facebook page revealed this:

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Closed-captioned for the farsighted: Priscilla Colburn Works at Lanier Law Firm.

The Lanier Law Firm? Here’s a press release from the Wall Street Journal last month.

The Lanier Law Firm Recognized for Winning Two of Texas’ Largest Verdicts

HOUSTON, May 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Two courtroom verdicts won by The Lanier Law Firm are featured among the top Texas jury awards of the past year in a special publication from Texas Lawyer, the state’s oldest independent legal newspaper . . .

In November 2012, The Lanier Law Firm won a $5.5 million verdict for a man who was injured while working at a trucking company in Lubbock, Texas. The verdict in Robison v. West Star Transportation Inc., No. 2009-546,118, ranked as the fourth largest workplace safety verdict in Texas during 2012, and No. 32 overall among the largest verdicts in the state last year . .

In June 2012, The Lanier Law Firm’s Larry Wilson secured a $2.2 million verdict against a drunk driver who caused a 2010 car crash that left a Houston woman severely injured and killed the woman’s friend. The verdict in Maxwell v. Wiggins, No. 2010-58026, represents the 10(th) largest motor vehicle verdict of 2012, and the 48(th) largest verdict in the state last year.

So No. 32 and No. 48 qualify as “Two of Texas’ Largest Verdicts”?

Seriously?

Kind of casts doubt on another press release from the Journal (by the way – what’s a news organization doing publishing press releases verbatim?) headlined “Houston Attorney Mark Lanier Recognized Among Texas’ Best Lawyers.”

Maybe Texas’ Best Ambulance Chasers, yeah?

You know the Doc will now be calling Ms. Colburn for further details.

Yo.

Ads ‘n’ Ends from the Doc’s Mailbag (Who Is James Reera?)

Yo.

Well the Doc opened the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out:

Dear Dr. Ads,

I am very concerned about the future of newspapers. According to the latest World Press Trends survey of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, in North America “[c]irculation was down by 6.6% year-over-year, and by 13% since 2008 [and] advertising revenues were down by 7.6% over 1 year and by 42.1% over 5.”

Really depressing chart via Marketing Charts:

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Yikes!

So here’s my question: Seen any good newspaper ads lately that might cheer me up??

-Worried about News Corpse

Hey Worried,

You’re in luck – I just saw two, both on the same page of last Thursday’s Boston Herald:

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Close-up look:

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So why do I single these two out? (Actually can you single out two?  I dunno, but I just did.)

A couple of reasons:

#1 Because they have an element of intrigue.

#2 Because they could represent a new category of revenue for newspapers: Did You Work With ads.

Here’s what the Doc finds intriguing about the James Reera ad. Plug “Priscilla Colburn” into the Googletron and you get this Facebook post:

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Hmmm. That’s just for starters. We’ll do some more digging here and get back to you guys soon.

Yo.