It is Tuesday morning and your CMO has just forwarded you a Marketing Brew story. A competitor’s sponsorship deal got four paragraphs, a quote from their VP of brand and a screenshot of the campaign. Your team ran something bigger last quarter. The subject line of the forward says one word: “Us?”
You are not the first marketer to get that email, and the answer is rarely “spend more.” Marketing Brew covers what is interesting about how brands market, not who has the biggest budget. Below is how to get featured in Marketing Brew by understanding what the newsroom covers, picking the right reporter, and building a pitch around a framework I call the Trend Triangle.
Know what Marketing Brew covers and who reads it
Marketing Brew is part of Morning Brew Inc., the company behind the flagship Morning Brew daily that reaches more than 4 million readers. The marketing title describes itself as informing marketing pros on brand strategy, social media and ad tech through a weekday newsletter, virtual events, conferences and digital guides. Its subscribe page says it is trusted by more than 350,000 industry professionals.
Those readers are working marketers. Brand managers, media buyers, agency strategists, social leads and CMOs read it on their phones before the first meeting of the day. The site’s own promo image is a phone scrolling an issue, which tells you how the product is built: short sections, a sharp hook, and a reason to keep scrolling.
The coverage leans toward the how and why behind campaigns. Recent stories give you the flavor. In late October 2026 the site ran a horror movie marketing hall of fame and a piece on run club sponsorships around the New York City Marathon. Reporters have covered how SharkNinja built a content partnership with McLaren Racing in Formula 1, how Just Salad worked with Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, and how the Broadway version of “Paranormal Activity” built its social campaign around audience reactions.
Look at what those stories share. Each one names a brand, explains a specific decision, and connects that decision to something bigger happening in marketing: the rise of run clubs as a channel, founder-led social, sports sponsorships moving into content. That pattern is the key to everything that follows.
There is also a recurring interview series called “Coworking with,” led by editor Kelsey Sutton, that profiles marketing executives such as Satoru Wakeshima of the brand agency CBX and Monica Tailor of McCann. If you are a senior marketer with a point of view, that format is a realistic target that does not depend on a campaign launch at all.
Who should get your email?
Pitching “the editors” is the fastest way to be ignored. Marketing Brew is a small newsroom with clear beats, and the reporters publish their focus areas on their author pages. Match your story to one person.
Kelsey Sutton is the editor who leads Marketing Brew and hosts the Webby Award winning podcast “Marketing Brew Weekly.” She spent three years at Adweek covering streaming TV and platforms like TikTok and Facebook before joining Morning Brew. Pitch her only when the story is big enough to shape the week, or when you are pitching a “Coworking with” profile.
Katie Hicks is a senior reporter covering culture, social media and influencer marketing. In a January 2026 issue she invited brands to reach out if they wanted to talk about how they approach social, and she wrote a guide on how to build a brand newsletter in 2026 with executives from Substack, The RealReal and Shopify. If your story is about creators, TikTok, a brand’s social voice or owned media, she is your first call.
Alyssa Meyers is a senior reporter who has covered sports marketing for three years, with a particular interest in brand investment in women’s sports. Her stories on SharkNinja and McLaren and on Jalen Brunson and Just Salad are the model for any sponsorship or athlete partnership pitch.
Jasmine Sheena covers ad tech, Big Tech and streaming. Media buying shifts, measurement, retail media and the business of streaming ads belong with her. Jennimai Nguyen covers social media and entertainment marketing and co-hosts the podcast. Studio campaigns, music and live entertainment marketing and social-first storytelling fit her beat. Kristina Monllos is also a senior reporter on the team, so read her recent bylines before pitching to see what she is working on now.
Read each person’s last ten stories before you write. Reporters notice when a pitch references their work in a specific way, and they notice faster when it does not.
Write the pitch around the Trend Triangle
Here is the framework. A pitch that lands at Marketing Brew has three corners, and I call it the Trend Triangle because if any corner is missing, the story collapses.
The first corner is the brand decision. What did your team choose to do, and why was it not the obvious choice? “We launched a campaign” is not a decision. “We moved 40% of our paid social budget into a creator-hosted podcast series” is.
The second corner is the number. Marketing reporters need something concrete to anchor the story. That can be a result, a budget share, a growth figure, a survey finding or a before-and-after comparison. It has to be on the record and you have to be able to explain how you measured it. Marketing Brew’s editorial guidelines say the newsroom’s default with sources is on the record, so assume every number you share will be printed with your name next to it.
The third corner is the pattern. Why does this matter beyond your brand? Connect your decision to a shift other marketers are wrestling with: brands building owned media, the move from celebrity endorsements to creators, sports sponsorships turning into content deals, AI changing how creative gets made. This is the corner most pitches skip, and it is the one that turns a brand mention into a story.
Put the three corners in the first four sentences of your email. Then offer access: an executive who can talk on the record this week, the campaign assets, and if you have them, two or three other brands or experts who can speak to the same trend. Reporters love a pitch that hands them the wider story, because it saves them a day of reporting.
The subject line should state the story, not the brand. “Why a DTC skincare brand moved its influencer budget into a weekly live show” beats “Exclusive: Brand X launches new campaign.” Keep the full email under 200 words. Add one link to assets, not five attachments.
Here is how the three corners read in a short pitch, using a made-up brand so you can see the shape. “Hi Katie, a regional coffee chain with 60 locations cut its paid Instagram spend in half this year and put the money into sponsoring 14 local run clubs. Weekday morning visits at the stores near those clubs rose 22% against the rest of the chain. Our VP of marketing can walk you through the numbers on the record this week, and two run club founders we work with can speak to why brands keep calling them.” Decision, number, pattern, access. Every sentence earns its place, and the reporter can see the story before she opens a single attachment.
Notice what the example leaves out. There is no adjective describing the campaign, no line about being excited, and no request for a call before the reporter has decided she cares.
Timing matters too. Pitch sponsorship stories before the event, not after. Pitch holiday and seasonal campaigns weeks ahead, since the newsroom plans themed stories like the horror movie roundup in advance. And if you have data that ties into a news event, send it the day the news breaks, with a line that tells the reporter what your numbers add.
What to do when a reporter says yes
When a reporter replies, speed and access decide whether the story runs. Have your executive available within 48 hours. Prepare them with the three corners of the triangle so the interview stays on the decision, the number and the pattern. Send any promised assets the same day.
Expect hard questions. A Marketing Brew reporter will ask what did not work, how you measured success and how much you spent. You do not have to share everything, but vague answers weaken the piece and sometimes kill it. Decide in advance which numbers you can share and which you cannot, and say so when asked.
Do not ask to review the story before it runs, and do not ask for questions in advance as a condition of the interview. Fact-checking a specific figure is fair. Approving copy is not something a newsroom with published editorial standards will agree to.
Know where the line sits between editorial and advertising. Marketing Brew’s guidelines say the publication is supported by advertising, that a separate sales organization sells ad inventory, and that sales has no influence over what the newsroom covers. Sponsored content is made by a separate branded content team. Buying an ad will not earn you a story, and mentioning your ad spend in a pitch will hurt you.
Mistakes that keep brands out
The most common mistake is pitching an announcement instead of a story. A new campaign, a new hire or a new partnership is news to you. To a reporter covering hundreds of brands, it is noise unless it shows a decision and a pattern. Run every pitch through the Trend Triangle and cut the ones that only have one corner.
The second mistake is offering a spokesperson instead of a decision maker. Reporters want the CMO or the VP who made the call, not a communications lead reading prepared lines. If your executive cannot talk on the record, wait until they can.
The third mistake is ignoring the rest of Morning Brew Inc. The company also runs Retail Brew, Tech Brew, Revenue Brew, Founder Brew and other trade titles. A retail media story might fit Retail Brew better. A founder-led marketing story might belong in Founder Brew. Pitching the right sister title shows you read the product, and a story in any Brew title builds the same credibility.
The fourth mistake is giving up after one pitch. Reporters remember sources who send useful ideas, even when a specific pitch does not fit. Reply to their stories with a sharp observation. Offer data when they cover your space. Over a few months, you become the person they email when they need a quote on your corner of marketing.
The final mistake is treating coverage as the finish line. When a story runs, share it with your team, your sales staff and your board. Add it to your press page. Reference it in your next pitch to other outlets. One Marketing Brew feature tells other editors that a newsroom with strict standards found your work worth covering.
That is how to get featured in Marketing Brew in practice: read the beats, pick one reporter, and send a pitch with a decision, a number and a pattern in the first four lines.
The next time your CMO forwards a competitor’s story, the reply you want to send is a link to your own.