The Financial Times launched a branding campaign in the UK to coincide with the newspaper’s redesign. Using the tag line “We Live in Financial Times,” the campaign features three distinct images that represent globalization, mergers and acquisitions and entrepreneurship. The print ads point to the interactive site, weliveinfinancialtimes.com. A series of different-sized sharks, the smaller being swallowed by the larger, represent mergers and acquisitions. World business in one place is depicted with an island containing recognizable business buildings from all over the world, including the Jim Mao Building and Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, Arche De La Defence in Paris, Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, IFC 2 in Hong Kong, Shurfit-Stone Building in Chicago, Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt, New York Stock Exchange, Taipei 101, The Gherkin in London, TransAmerica Pyramid in San Francisco, Landmark Tower in Yokohama. Lastly, entrepreneurship shows the face of Richard Branson made to resemble the iconic picture of Che Guevara.
The Financial Times ads initially ran in London and the South East. The campaign comprised a heavyweight outdoor campaign incorporating poster sites at key commuter locations, branded taxis and transvisions, as well as online advertising, point of sale activity and a direct marketing campaign. It will be rolled out globally later in the year.
The advertising campaign is the culmination of an extensive programme of global customer research, which revealed that whilst the Financial Times is respected for its independence, intelligence and breadth of global business coverage, for non-readers and younger managers in particular, it can also be perceived as somewhat inaccessible and old fashioned.
The irony is that the Financial Times site itself failed to load correctly earlier this week as I looked through the UK, US and Asia segments. Talk about accessibility!
Credits
The campaign was created by DDB London by creative director Adam Tucker, creative team members Matt Lee and Pete Heyes, Damien Bellon and Thierry Albert, Victor Monclus and Will Lowe, head of art Grant Parker, account team members Jonathan Trimble, Tom Ellis-Jones and Susie Braun.
BJK&E handled the outdoor media buy.