Hi 👋 I’m Florian Schleicher and this is the FUTURESTRATEGIES newsletter. Glad you’re here 💚
Ever since I presented my trend report FRICTION RELOADED this year, one question came up in keynote after keynote:
If people are so tired of social/algorithmic media,
where the hell are they going?
My marketing trend report already had parts of an answer to that:
More and more people escape to smaller communities (like Reddit) and to a format we all know well - newsletters.
And when we talk about newsletters there is one platform in particular that is gaining a loooot of traction, because it is more than just a tool for emails: Substack.
So today let’s look into
What is Substack?
Why is Substack so popular?
How are brands using Substack?
The biggest challenge for brands on Substack
How can your marketing use Substack?
Before we get started: I am now booking the final Q4 trend report sessions for companies that want to motivate and recharge their teams with new ideas. And yes, you can already prebook your session for 2027.
Let’s chat 🔮 florian@ftrs-studio.com
What is Substack?
Substack started in San Francisco in 2017, founded by Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie and Jairaj Sethi. The idea was pretty simple:
you write
people subscribe
your text lands directly in their inbox.
In a world governed by algorithms and not actually being connected to your audience this direct subscription approach felt refreshing, even if it’s the oldest principle of newsletters.
But Substack is more and works in three ways:
it is a newsletter
it is a blog
and it has an app
Today the people publishing there range from singer Charli XCX and chef Jamie Oliver to actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. And it is not only VIPs, but many brands as well.
The Financial Times, The Guardian and The Economist have specialized Substacks. So do fashion brands Balenciaga and American Eagle, sports giant Nike, the e-commerce platform Shopify, dating app Hinge and beauty brand Rare Beauty or the lingerie brand CouCou Intimates.
Why is Substack so popular?
Today, more people google “Substack” than “newsletter”.
People come to Substack for perspective - not facts, because those you get from AI or good old fashioned Google.
As of June 2026 Substack has tens of millions of subscribers worldwide. In the app alone, 5.5 million people were active every month (July 2025) - that is more users than the Wall Street Journal has. In the UK Substack reached 4.2 million readers within one month and about 3% of global traffic comes from Germany.
You are reading this on Substack, and I am writing it on Substack for currently 2,600+ readers.
So what is all the fuss about?
This is where the free part of this deep dive ends. If you appreciate my work and want to show that you care, there is a super simple way to support me. Get an annual subscription for € 100. With that you get full access to this and all my other newsletters 💜 Thank you to all 134 people who already support my work this way!