20 - Inside Story on Marketing The New York Times

As Chief Revenue Officer, Meredith Kopit Levien is a driving force behind The New York Times’s digital transformation and their stunningly timely “The Truth is Hard” campaign. When the news became the news during the 2016 presidential election cycle, Kopit Levien’s challenge was not only to remind people why real journalism matters, but also to reach a new base of paid subscribers hungry for high-quality journalism, effectively changing the news category. What you’ll take away from this podcast, among other things, is why the story you tell is more important than how often you tell it, and why it’s important to adapt to the times—no pun intended—without losing sight of your brand’s core mission.

In addition to sharing why and how the new campaign came to fruition, Kopit Levien provides an inside look at building T-brand, their highly successful content creation studio. Although she admits that The Times was late to the content creation game, they entered it with gusto hiring top talent and holding the bar extremely high – so high that they will and have told the client “no” when they don’t think an idea will in their publication. Noting that there are only 10 million people that pay for their news online, Kopit Levien says that the real work, is only beginning as The New York Times continues its transformation from print to all other current and future news channels. For example, The Daily, The Times’ first podcast has dramatically exceeded expectations and is now a coveted slot for their reporters. She also discusses a new channel on Snapchat Discover, yet another indication that her brand ain’t your grandmother’s New York Times!