Message Received: A Jar of Nutella and a Better Pitch List

Published: April 9, 2026

This week we're covering two things communicators love to talk about and rarely do well: finding the right niche outlets and knowing when to leave a good moment alone.

One involves Substack's search tools. The other involves hazelnut spread in zero gravity.


Where Your Audience Actually Is

Newsrooms are shrinking. Reporters are covering more ground with less time. You already know this. The harder question is what to do about it, specifically, how to find the independent journalists, Substack writers, and podcast hosts who are building the engaged audiences you need to reach.

In a recent LinkedIn post, Kelsey Ogletree of Pitchcraft shared a discovery trick worth stealing: go to Substack's Explore page, click into any category, and look for the "Rising" sidebar on the right. Click "See All" and you'll get the top 100 Substacks in that category ranked by growth in paid subscriptions and engagement.

The checkmarks next to titles tell you scale: white for hundreds of paid subscribers, orange for thousands, purple for tens of thousands. A small-ish newsletter on a niche topic might be the perfect outlet for your news, and it's probably not drowning in pitches the way a top bestseller is.

What this means for communicators:

  • Track people, not just mastheads. Many of the most influential voices in a given space now operate independently. Following individuals, across Substack, podcasts, and social, is often more effective than targeting legacy outlets.
  • Use discovery tools intentionally. Substack's category rankings are one example, but the principle applies everywhere: look at podcast guest lists, recommendation engines, and competitor mentions. The best placement opportunities are usually one step removed from the obvious names.
  • Prioritize relevance over reach. A niche newsletter with 2,000 highly engaged subscribers in your client's exact space will outperform a broad hit that nobody's audience was waiting for.
Houston, We Have a Brand Moment

A jar of Nutella floating past Artemis II astronauts during NASA's first crewed moon mission in over 50 years is, objectively, a great visual. But the communications lesson isn't the visual itself. It's what Nutella's team did with it, which was almost nothing.

They posted the NASA footage on social media with one line: "Honored to have traveled farther than any spread in history." A follow-up riffed on Apollo 13: "Houston, we have Nutella in space." Then they asked their audience what they'd bring to the cosmos. No campaign or branded hashtag. No 12-slide deck explaining the brand's relationship to exploration. The moment did the work.

What this means for communicators:

  • The best brand moments are often ones you didn't plan. Nutella didn't put that jar on the spacecraft as a marketing play. Someone on the crew just likes Nutella. The brand's only job was to notice and respond before the moment passed.
  • Match the weight of your response to the weight of the moment. Two posts and an audience question was the right amount. A full campaign would have turned an organic moment into an ad…and audiences can tell the difference.
  • Write copy that respects the audience's intelligence. "Honored to have traveled farther than any spread in history" works because it's funny without explaining why it's funny. It trusts the reader to get the joke.
BG at the AAPC Pollies

At this year’s Pollies, American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) Vice President and BG Senior Vice President Kelly Gibson led a standout session, which highlighted a major shift: audiences are forming relationships with content, not just consuming it. Podcasts are a clear example, where trust and consistency matter more than reach.

Key takeaways from the conversation:

  • Opt-in attention. Podcast listeners are choosing to spend real time with content, often 30 minutes or more. That kind of attention is more focused and intentional than what you get on most other channels.
  • Consistency builds habit. Podcasts are part of people’s routines. Showing up regularly, whether through placements or recurring segments, helps messages stick over time.
  • Alignment is everything. Audiences know when something feels off. The right host and show matter just as much as the message, and a poor fit can hurt credibility as much as a good fit can build it.

BG Brings Home the Gold

A couple of weeks ago, the Bryson Gillette team had a big night at the 2026 Reed Awards and is excited to share the news. BG brought home two wins and is incredibly grateful to the clients and collaborators who made it possible.

Win #1: Best Online Advertising Creative (Regional: Midwest, Southwest and West) for “Detroit Rising,” a 30-second spot produced for Mary Sheffield during a competitive nine-way Detroit mayoral primary. The ad focused on what Detroiters care about most, including affordable housing, safer streets, and better-paying jobs, and connected Sheffield’s City Council record directly to those priorities.

Win #2: Best Online Video for a Public Affairs Campaign or Issue Advocacy in Education (Non-Partisan).

Both wins reflect what drives the work at Bryson Gillette every day: telling honest, human stories that move people to act.


What We’ve Been Working On

A few places we’ve been showing up lately — from Supreme Court cases to AI debates and public policy issues making headlines:

Al Jazeera: “US Supreme Court to hear constitutional test of birthright citizenship”

CBS Mornings: “New documentary featuring industry leaders explores risks and rewards of AI”

CNN International—Amanour: “We have a '12 to 24-month period' to forge a pro-human future, warns AI ethicist”

Fox & Friends: "THE AI DOC" New documentary on powerful tech and what's at stake”

NPR: “Expert talks about the Pentagon's use of artificial intelligence”

On with Kara Swisher: “Why the AI Race is Leaving Humans Behind with Tristan Harris”

Santa Monica Daily Press: “Berkeley Station opens as Santa Monica's first modular affordable housing development”

Strength in Numbers: “Deep dive episode: Voters say they want "somebody that's for us"

The Guardian: “Hundreds rally for birthright citizenship at supreme court: ‘We are an immigrant nation’”

The Journal Record: “Bill could close funding gap for Oklahoma public charter schools”


Enjoying Message Received?

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Send us a screenshot, and you’ll be entered into our drawing for a complimentary media training session with the Bryson Gillette team.


Until Next Time

Somewhere between a Substack rising list and a jar of Nutella orbiting the moon, there's a lesson about showing up in the right place at the right time. If you want help figuring out where that is for your organization, you know where to find us.

—Bryson Gillette