What The New York Times can teach us about brand-led portfolio strategy

I’ve been listening to a lot of Meredith Kopit Levien lately.

She’s now CEO of The New York Times, but I remember meeting her decades ago when she was the ad director at The Atlantic and I was a (very) junior account person at a creative agency. We only crossed paths a few times, but I still remember her energy and how she treated everyone the same, whether you were the advertiser, media strategist, or low-rung AE. She talked about the Atlantic the way a founder talks about their product: with conviction and love. She even introduced me to Caitlin Flanagan’s work, which she was so excited about that it turned me into a subscriber.

That same mix of clarity and humility comes through in every interview she gives today. When she talks about the Times’ transformation, she doesn’t sound like a media executive defending her industry. She sounds like a product and brand leader describing how to keep a 170-year-old company relevant.

A legacy industry in freefall

By the early 2010s, newspapers were under tremendous pressure. Digital ad dollars were flowing to Google and Facebook. BuzzFeed, Vox, and HuffPost were redefining “modern” news around speed and virality. Many legacy outlets chased scale or cut their way to survival.

The Times chose a different path.

In 2014, an internal innovation report leaked. It was brutally honest, acknowledging that the Times was falling behind in digital storytelling and audience engagement. What could have been a PR disaster became a mirror. The organization used that self-awareness as a blueprint for change, and for a more sustainable model.

Aligning your model with your mission

For decades, like most media organizations, the Times’ economics were largely advertising-based. Readers were the audience; advertisers were the customers.

That structure often sat uneasily alongside the brand’s promise of independent, high-quality journalism.

Over time, the company began shifting toward subscription-led growth, bringing the business model closer to the brand’s mission.

When the reader becomes a paying customer, incentives naturally start to change. Success depends more on trust, habitualization, and satisfaction than on pure reach. Every function – from newsroom to technology – has increasingly focused on delivering sustained value.

It wasn’t a single pivot so much as an ongoing effort to align what the company stands for with how it grows.

Brand as the portfolio compass

What stands out most about the Times’ evolution is how coherent it feels.

Each move connects back to the brand’s DNA.

Core News: the credibility engine.
Lifestyle adjacencies: Cooking and Games (including Wordle) make the brand part of daily life.
Acquisitions: Wirecutter and The Athletic extend authority in categories that fit the brand’s identity: analytical, useful, independent.
Format: audio, video, and interactive storytelling keeps the product modern without losing substance.

They didn’t diversify for the sake of it. They expanded in ways that deepened relevance. Each new product became another on-ramp to the brand and another reason to stay engaged.

That’s portfolio evolution rooted in brand discipline - where every addition strengthens the customer relationship rather than fragmenting it.

Acting like a tech company without losing its soul

Today, the Times operates with the sophistication of a digital product and technology business. Its platform serves multiple roles:

a distribution mechanism for world-class journalism,
a repository for consumer insights through engagement and usage data,
an on-ramp that introduces new readers to news through lifestyle products,
an engagement engine keeping subscribers active across the ecosystem.

In doing so, it has built a living, dynamic system of customer experience.

What stands out is the discipline in how that system runs. Engagement data informs product design, interest areas, and experience improvements, yet editorial decisions remain independent. No one dictates what the newsroom covers

This critical balance - data-informed but mission-led - protects the brand’s core promise while allowing the organization to operate with modern rigor. For any company, it's a powerful tenet - use data with judgement to steer your brand, not override it.

Leadership that owns the brand

As Meredith Kopit Levien puts it, the company’s job is to “earn the right to be essential.”

That single line captures a company intent on continually proving its value to readers. It’s also a clear expression of brand stewardship.

She represents something I’ve always believed: the CEO owns the brand. Not as lip service to promote a tagline, but through hard decisions: what to invest in, what to protect, what to stop doing.

That through-line from her Atlantic days - the respect for people and obsession with the product - now shapes an organization of thousands. When the CEO embodies the brand, every decision has a built-in filter: it either builds trust or it doesn’t.

Five lessons from the Times’ playbook

Treat industry disruption as a brand problem.
The 2014 leak revealed a gap between promise and experience. That’s where reinvention begins.
Align incentives with your customer.
Subscription economics keep the company accountable to the people it serves.
Expand from your core.
Each new product builds on existing credibility instead of stretching into unrelated territory.
Integrate, don’t fragment.
Product, data, and content operate as one system. Use data to serve the customer, not to chase clicks.

Why this matters beyond media

I love the Times story so much is that the lessons apply to any business. There isn’t a single enduring brand that hasn’t reached its own “innovation report” moment, the realization that what once worked no longer serves their business or customers. For retailers, it might be overreliance on discounting. For tech, growth at the expense of trust. For consumer brands, stretching too far beyond permission.

Real transformation only begins as you align your revenue model, your brand, and your customer experience. That alignment creates focus and coherence - the foundation for any enduring portfolio.

Questions worth asking, regardless of your size or scale:

– Where are you behind, and what truths do you need to acknowledge?

– Which parts of your portfolio are essential, which are optional, and where could you add new value?

– Does your revenue model reinforce your brand or quietly erode it?

Reinvention rarely starts with a new product or campaign. It starts with remembering who you are, thinking critically about how your brand serves its customers, and building every next move from there.

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My podcast binge (aka sources):

When The Brand Leads the Business Model

What The New York Times can teach us about brand-led portfolio strategy

The Power of Ritual

The Hidden Math of Joy EBITDA