New York Times’ Newest Ads Show the Endless Connections You Can Make from One Topic

You’re in for an endless reading session with all the topics you can find in a New York Times subscription. 

Key Insights: 

• New York Times just launched its “More of Life Brought to Life” marketing campaign that featured two new one-minute spots: “Sneakers” and “Gravity” 
• The commercials explored how reading one NYT piece can spark curiosity and lead to another story 
• The new campaign marks as the first anchored in the company’s “essential subscription strategy” 

The New York Times just launched a series of commercials that depict how readers can be led from one simple topic to another when you subscribe to its service. 

In the one-minute ad spot entitled “Sneakers,” the news agency connects various NYT stories that bring the audience deeper and deeper into seemingly disconnected topics.  

“If you understand sneakers, you start to understand squeaking, which leads to hardwood and the art of Kareem’s famous Skyhook,” the narrator says, while various collage-like visuals are flashed on screen alongside published stories like “Sneaker Bots Made Shoe Sales Super-Competitive" and “Hard knocks on hardwood.”  

After going through a web of topics, the commercial goes full circle by ending how it started: “And if you understand the appeal of gum and you realize how much of it is on our streets, you understand why some people never wear their favorite sneakers.” 

The second spot “Gravity” goes by the same concept, engaging viewers to see the endless connections they can make in and between NYT pieces. 

“When you understand how gravity works, you start to understand our skin...” the commercial explains, as featured stories “What Is Gravity, Really?” by Dennis Overbye and “In Case of the Falling Face, Gravity is Acquitted” by Anahad O’Connor are showcased. 

The video ad then ends by displaying the various categories readers can find in a New York Times subscription: News, Games, Cooking, Wirecutter, The Athletic and more.

Sneakers and Gravity were produced by New York Times’ long-time partner agency, Droga 5. A third installment to the series entitled “Time” is slated to be released this spring. 

“More of Life Brought to Life” campaign 

The two commercials are both part of NYT’s “More of Life Brought to Life” brand marketing campaign that showcases how Times’ journalism can help “expand people’s understanding of the world.” 

According to a press release, this marks the first time a brand campaign is anchored in the company’s “essential subscription strategy.”   

“The campaign celebrates the uniquely compelling breadth of our report and how our suite of products — from Games to Cooking to Wirecutter and The Athletic — aims to mean more to more people,” it wrote.  

NYT senior vice president and head of marketing Amy Weisenbach also explained how the commercial’s journey reflects how Times’ “most engaged readers” interact with its stories. 

“[W]hether they start their day by playing Spelling Bee, then jump to a new Styles feature story, which leads to discovering our Climate Forward newsletter, followed by some dinner recipe research on New York Times Cooking, which prompts them to check out the best kitchen gadgets on Wirecutter, and then check out The Athletic N.B.A. Show podcast and the rest of its podcast lineup, and so on,” she shared.  

When it comes to the thought process behind the two spots, Droga5 executive creative director Toby Treyer shared that his team all started with a word they all know.  

“[S]neakers, gravity or time, and then followed the journalism to sometimes far distant places or topics, and back again. In parallel, we sketched out what a potential journey might be for a reader and brought that together with the journalism,” he explained.  

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