The Treasure Hunt

To boost circulation, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times (circ. 46,700) began running daily clues to $200 it had buried somewhere in the St. Petersburg area. Last week, as the final clue was printed, 2,000 assembled in front of the Times building to grab the first edition as it came off the press.

Twenty-five minutes later, after the treasure had been found on Snell Isle, Timesmen began to tot up the results of their promotion stunt: six people were injured in auto accidents; several women fainted in the mob scene at the Times building; one woman, pacing off the clue in the dark, walked out into Boca Ciega Bay and had to be pulled out; four people had to be dragged out of waist-deep mud; the crowd ripped up stakes on a building site, which will now have to be resurveyed. But the Times seemed to think it was all worth it; Fourth of July circulation had jumped an estimated 5%.

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