Substack launched its publishing platform for independent writers and creators in 2017, but until recently, subscriber brand awareness remained low. Those familiar with Substack likely viewed it merely as a newsletter delivery service. With the launch of its mobile app and new features like live video streaming, Substack aimed to reposition itself from a subscription newsletter service to a destination for premium independent writing.
The rollout of these new features coincided with a pivotal national event – the 2024 presidential election. To foster nuanced, independent discourse around the election, Substack created "The Substack Election Dialogues," which gathered diverse voices from their politics vertical and hosted live video conversations between publishers.
We collaborated with the Substack team throughout their curation process to develop a visual identity for The Substack Election Dialogues. We designed an identity system that emphasized building a personal stack of publications and gathering diverse ideas to inform one's perspective.
The promotional materials we created helped Substack publicize the dialogues effectively. We promoted the events through a custom landing page, their Reads feature, email newsletters, and social accounts. However, the greatest opportunity for building awareness came through leveraging publishers' channels to reach their audiences. We provided each publisher with customized social and email assets they could use to announce their participation and invite subscribers to engage.
Each live dialogue was recorded and documented for the publishers to share with their subscribers. Additionally, we produced and edited clip packages immediately following each dialogue that publishers could use for further promotion showcasing highlights from the dialogue.