Latest / Building Brands with Fexingo: Identity, Reputation, and Long-Term Business Equity / How The New York Times Built a Subscription-First Brand
Transcript
- Lucas: When a newspaper is nearly 175 years old and was written off as a dinosaur a decade ago, you don't exactly expect it to become the case study for modern brand building. But that's exactly what The New York Times did. Luna: It's almost unbelievable. I remember reading headlines around 2013 calling them a dying institution. Now they're the gold standard for subscription media. Lucas: Right. And the key to that turnaround was a ruthless focus on brand — specifically, what the Times brand stands for and who it serves. In 2014, the publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. commissioned an internal report that basically told the company: you're not a newspaper anymore, you're a digital subscription business. Luna: And that report became famous inside media circles. It essentially said they had to compete for readers' attention by being indispensable, not just available. Lucas: Exactly. The report highlighted that the Times was getting crushed by free content online. So they made a bet: instead of chasing page views with clickbait, they would double down on what made the Times brand unique — deep reporting, investigative journalism, and trust. And then they would charge for it. Luna: But wasn't that a huge risk? At the time, few thought people would pay for news online, especially when the BBC and others were giving it away. Lucas: Huge risk. But they backed it with a clear brand promise: the New York Times would be the most trusted source of truth in a noisy world. They launched the 'Truth Is Hard' campaign in 2017 — ads that literally showed journalists working on complex stories. No celebrity endorsements, no tech gimmicks. Just the brand promise. Luna: That campaign still gives me chills. It positioned the Times not just as a news source but as a public service. And it aligned perfectly with the subscription model. Lucas: Because if you're asking people to pay, you have to give them something worth paying for. They created a metered paywall that let you read a few articles for free, then asked you to subscribe. It was generous enough to build habit, but strict enough to drive conversion. And they kept refining it. Luna: And they didn't stop at news. They built standalone products like Cooking and Games, which attract their own loyal audiences and serve as entry points for the broader subscription. Lucas: That's a brilliant brand extension. Cooking is a completely separate product — it has its own app, its own recipes, its own tone. But it's still the New York Times. When you subscribe to Cooking, you're buying into the brand's authority on food, not just recipes. Same with Games — Wordle was a huge acquisition, but they folded it into the Times brand seamlessly. Luna: It's smart because it creates multiple reasons to stay subscribed. If you're not reading the news every day, maybe you're playing the crossword or checking a recipe. Lucas: Exactly. And that's a lesson for any brand: don't rely on a single hook. Build a system of value points. The Times now has over ten million subscribers across all their products. Their most recent quarterly report — I believe it was just released last month at the end of June 2026 — showed continued growth even in a crowded media landscape. Luna: But with that growth comes scrutiny. The Times gets criticized from both the left and the right. How do they maintain brand trust when trust in media is so polarized? Lucas: It's a constant challenge. Their approach is to be transparent about their processes. They have a public editor, they run corrections prominently, they publish their standards. It's not about being perfect — it's about being seen to care about accuracy. That's a brand value you can build a business on. Luna: I think that's something any business can learn from. Whether you're selling coffee or cloud software, your customers need to trust that you'll deliver on your promise. Lucas: You know, it's funny you mention trust. Because running a show like this — no ads, no sponsored segments — it's exactly the same principle. We rely entirely on listeners who find value in these conversations and choose to support them. A handful of people already chip in through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's what keeps us going. Luna: Yeah, and we love that it's ad-free. It lets us be honest and dive deep without worrying about pleasing a sponsor. Lucas: So if these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, consider joining that group. It really does make a difference. Anyway, back to the Times — they took that trust and turned it into a subscription machine. But they also made a smart structural decision early on. Luna: What was that? Lucas: They separated the newsroom from the business side. The brand promise of journalistic independence is protected by a wall. The editors don't worry about what sells — they worry about what's important. And the business team figures out how to package and sell that importance. It's a division of labor that many brands could emulate. Luna: So the brand integrity comes first, then the monetization strategy follows. Lucas: Exactly. Another key move was investing in their own technology. They built their own content management system, their own analytics, their own recommendation engine. They didn't outsource the tech that delivers the brand experience. That gives them control and speed. Luna: And that's a lesson for any brand that sells a digital experience — the user interface is part of the brand. A clunky website erodes trust as much as a typo in a front-page headline. Lucas: Right. And the Times' website is clean, fast, and readable. It doesn't scream at you with pop-ups. It reflects the brand values of seriousness and clarity. So what's the takeaway for someone running a different kind of business? I'd say: define what you stand for, build a product that delivers on that promise, then find a model that aligns incentives. Luna: And be willing to charge for it. If your brand truly delivers value, people will pay. The Times proved that. Lucas: They did. They transformed from a newspaper into a digital subscription brand — one that's now studied in business schools. And they did it by never losing sight of what their name means. Luna: Which is a good reminder for any of us building something. The brand is the foundation, not an afterthought. Lucas: Exactly. So next time you're thinking about growth, ask: are you building trust or just traffic? The New York Times chose trust, and it made all the difference.