There’s an archaic idea that keeps bouncing around that we should silo certain topics to specific contexts and audiences. I saw it this week in the familiar refrain to “keep politics out of sports.” It also shows up on the red carpet and at awards shows, at Thanksgiving dinners, and in run-of-the-mill Instagram comment threads — where someone inevitably says, “I don’t follow you for your politics, I follow you for gardening content! Stay in your lane!” It’s a privileged and narrow-minded thing to say.
People start demanding silos like this when they get uncomfortable. The larger context or narrative that they’ve relied on starts to become unstable and they panic. And the narrative is very unstable right now. We’re living through a full-blown messaging crisis in the USA. We can’t even root for ourselves at the Olympics without feeling weird about it.
I chalk much of this up to the fact that patriotism has been co-opted and misused by a very narrow political faction, and the rest of us no longer recognize ourselves in the national symbols or feelings that once felt shared. The “melting pot” tagline has been stomped on. The American Dream brand identity is a mirage. To cope, it’s somewhat helpful to say “Not my America” — shorthand for our feelings of estrangement — but even that is telling. Our only option is to cut ties.
Anyone who has worked in communications knows how untenable this whole thing is. Without a central message to guide the work, day-to-day tasks become ridiculously difficult. Writing a simple social post will feel like a drag, or even writing basic talking points becomes painful. Just as you can’t write an essay without a thesis, you can’t run a complex system or build a sense of community without a shared vision. We need common ground.
The first glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel are appearing though, I think. Bad Bunny said “America,” and he didn’t use it to describe the United States, he was referring to half of the globe — North, Central, and South America, all in one. What a relief it was to remember and celebrate that! The same word that’s been weaponized for years can in fact be reclaimed. Meaning can be reshaped.
A redefinition of our country’s messaging will need to arrive through explorations of a new shared identity. We’ll have to break down the silos and collectively hash it out, and then amend it over and over and over until a central storyline emerges that everyone recognizes. We’re on the cusp of finding our new messaging, but it will have to be a group effort. We’re in our workshopping era.
Small Brand Notes
- An expert’s take on hot takes
In a recent clip from Vox’s Explain It to Me, Alexandra Samuel explains the tightrope brands are walking right now: avoiding regret entirely leads to meaningless content, but chasing hot takes is just as hollow. The work is in the middle — not courting controversy for sport, but not sanding down your voice until it says nothing at all. - A personal take, simply stated
Occassionette modeled that balance beautifully, acknowledging a heavy moment while staying grounded in their brand voice (pictured above). When brands speak from a place of shared values like this — without performance, without bait — it rarely feels jarring. It feels welcome.
Q&A with Liza Sankar-Gorton
She just wrapped her first season as an NFL digest Substacker! Here’s what she learned in year one.
Liza Sankar-Gorton writes League Lowdown on Substack, a weekly NFL digest for readers who care as much about storylines as they do stats. Each issue breaks down which matchups matter, what narratives are brewing, and the slightly gossipy undercurrents. As a peripheral football fan, her newsletter gave me a way to follow the emotional arc of the season, but she also found an audience in my diehard football friends. Her depth of knowledge and level of analysis is truly so impressive.
Liza Sankar-Gorton
As a friend, I’ve had a front-row seat to watching Liza build League Lowdown from scratch, and so after she wrapped her first full season, we caught up over email to talk about what she learned:
What prompted you to start this?
I don't like my job, but it has flexible hours, so I was always ruminating about starting a project that would fill my cup and incentivize me to time-box work. It was a struggle to commit: "What if I don't like it? What if I want to quit? What if I make a fool of myself?" But training for a half marathon was a mental unlock: seeing myself follow a plan to do X thing for X weeks showed me I don't need all the answers, I can just try and see how it feels. I knew I wanted to do content creation and I was already spending time following football. Knowing the season was about to start was the final prompt — do it now, or wait an entire year!
What made you think, ‘okay, this is working?’
At first, readers saying I taught them something, made them laugh, or helped them decide which games to watch. Then, subscribers requested stories, strangers commented on my posts, and my favorite journalist at The Athletic, Jourdan Rodrigue, exchanged some DMs with me. It was easy to really appreciate these engagements because I already felt accomplished just from hitting "publish".
What felt different in practice than it did in theory?
In my mind, I was never going to use AI and I was going to market the sh*t out of it. In the end, I used AI to make my logo, to cut word count, and to fact check. And, after marketing heavily for a bit, I embraced slower organic growth. I still feel cognitive dissonance about these choices — but I'm glad I didn't let perfect become the enemy of good.
What feels worth doubling down on and what doesn’t?
I'm doubling down on sharing creative work early and often — seeing other friends do it inspired me, and when I started, so many friends said they'd been wanting to create things, too — it's a fun cycle I want to keep feeding! I'm leaving behind my anxiety that if I accidentally leave out a big storyline, I'm a fraud who doesn't really follow football.
What’s one or two creators/publications that helped shape your approach?
Tincan! Witnessing Tincan evolve gave my scared lizard-brain tangible proof that it's not only safe but actually fun and rewarding to be creatively vulnerable. For sport specific content: Simone Scott, SportsBall, and Chris Berman's Fastest 3 minutes (the OG NFL Digest).
The most fun part of making this?
Recording voiceover! These days you see a VO and presume it's AI, so a lot of subscribers were surprised it was me. Knowing I was in peoples' ears on their runs, or in their cars, was so fun.
Last Scraps
- Truth & Consequences on liberal arts marketing
The agency shared a spunky slideshow on how liberal arts colleges should market themselves better. It’s sharp, unsentimental, and rooted in their own experience with clients. Always useful to see how other strategists tackle tough positioning challenges. - Dan Levy, one year later
Last year, I shared Dan Levy’s Instagram post about feeling like absolute sh*t while making something. He’s back with an update: he finished the project. A reminder that the creative doom spiral is all just part of the process. - Charli clears the grid
Charli xcx has wiped her entire Instagram. Tragic (for the archives), but thrilling (for what’s next).
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