Reporters’ bylines will be as prominent as headlines. But were they worth the wait? From the story’s lede: “News articles will be broken into sections distinguishing facts from opinion. The latest Times on Semafor action, published on Wednesday of this week, provided more of those “specifics” that Justin Smith has been hoarding. Can we expect more news on this front? Perhaps a gender reveal?
NEW YORK TIMES SUGAR STORY REGISTRATION
16 federal trademark registration filing for Semafor. The guessing game that Smith commenced ended inside the week after Axios newshound Sara Fischer discovered and published the name: Semafor, a phonetic variation on “semaphore.” This produced yet another Times story about the Smith and Smith venture, this one about the site’s global name. “There’s not a huge advantage when you’re starting a new company to be giving away all the specifics,” he said. Smith was fairly transparent in his showboating, telling the business school club why he was leaving so much unsaid about his startup while also talking about it a lot. With “Call on me, teacher!” enthusiasm, the Times assisted Smith’s prelaunch publicity stunt by noting that “taxi, tea, coffee, chai, sugar, pajama, radio and soup” have the same meaning in a number of languages.
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This calculated tease produced a flurry of speculation from the press, including the Times.
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“It is very intentionally going to be able to live in Asia or Europe or the Middle East or America.” “We’ve chosen a brand that we’re going to be unveiling in a couple of months that is the same word in 25 or 35 different languages,” the paper reported Justin Smith telling a Harvard Business School Club event via Zoom.