Covid-19 Marketing

A version of this story appeared in Total Annarchy, my fortnightly newsletter that helps you be a better writer, storyteller, marketer. Get it in your inbox; you’ll love it. * * * “Hello… My name is David.” That’s the start of a confirmation email that landed in my inbox recently. Not surprising, really: I’ve been pestering Marketing Newsletters for a while now to focus less on the “news” and more on the “letter.” I’ve also been pestering Marketing to develop a non-neutral writing voice in email newsletters. (We’re writing a letter, not reporting a five-car pileup on the freeway.) But what is surprising is the source of that confirmation email: the NY Times daily news briefing. “David” is David Leonhardt, the newsletter’s newly anointed “writer, host and anchor.” Why does the NY Times—which already has 17 million online subscribers—need David to “anchor” a newsletter, like a broadcast show? Why does […]