Financial Times Ponders New Look To Boost Sales
The Financial Times has confirmed that it is considering a number of changes to its UK edition as part of a concerted effort to revive its fortunes and improve falling domestic sales.
The paper told NewsLine this morning that FT features editor Andrew Davis has been handed the full-time task of looking at ways to improve the paper. He will work with the commercial and design departments on ideas for a new look.
A spokeswoman for the Financial Times said: “Andrew has been looking at some design changes and the impact they might have on the commercial side. We are re-evaluating things like page-layout and type-face, but are not considering anything major at this point.”
The paper has been keen to dismiss wide-spread speculation that its editor, Andrew Gowers, was considering downsizing the title to the Berliner format adopted in France by Le Monde and recently embraced by former tabloid Les Echos.
The spokeswoman added: “We have been considering making some changes to the design of the UK edition for some time, but the format of the paper is not something we are looking at. Andrew is going to come back to us with some ideas but we don’t know whether they’ll be taken up or not.”
The Financial Times relaunched last April with a greater emphasis on sports, reviews and the arts. The move was backed by an extensive £2 million cross-media advertising campaign with the strapline: “No FT, no comment” (see FT Pushes Redesign With £2 Million Branding Campaign).
However, the title has been hard hit by the recession in financial advertising, which caused it to post a loss of £32 million last year. The business daily recently embarked on a major cost-cutting programme, but this has so far failed to stem losses, which were £9 million higher than in 2002 (see Losses Widen At FT And The Outlook Remains Uncertain).
The latest monthly ABC results for April also brought less than impressive news to the Financial Times, which saw its circulation decline by 5.7% year on year to 443,685. However, long term analysis shows that the title has seen sales almost double over the last ten years, from just 298,971 in April 1994.
Financial Times: 020 7873 3000 www.ft.com
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