FT Weekend readers can from today access content through the new FT Weekend app, a mobile-first proposition built as part of the FT’s award-winning HTML5 web app. The app is launching across iOS,
Android and Windows 8 devices, and will come with a standalone subscription after the first free month which is supported by Swiss watch manufacturer Ulysse Nardin.
Following an extended period of user testing and feedback, the new app includes a visual, magazine-like feel to showcase the best of FT Weekend photography and design, which has won many awards. It features FT Magazine, Life & Arts and House & Home sections with seamless navigation that makes it easy to discover new topics – from books and travel to arts and property. The new design also benefits advertisers, offering more full-page ad inventory.
FT Weekend editor Caroline Daniel said: “FT Weekend has long been regarded as a premium print product. With this app we are able to deliver a premium digital and mobile-first product too. Our readers all over the world make a personal choice to buy FT Weekend and we want them to enjoy a perfect reading experience, wherever they are. Our exclusive interviews that range from Prince Charles to Angelina Jolie and from Christine Lagarde to Christopher Bailey, add to our ever expanding property section, award winning food and drink coverage, style and travel reporting and practical personal finance advice.”
Financial Times CEO John Ridding said: “FT Weekend is recognised around the world for its outstanding writers and critics. Following the successful FT Weekend global brand campaign ‘Experience a different world’ that debuted earlier this year, we have seen an increase in weekend retail sales and subscriptions globally. We are delighted by the growing demand for the weekend edition and the app will give readers and advertisers more choice and a richer experience.”
The launch is accompanied by a major digital campaign to raise awareness of the breadth of FT Weekend content and reach new audiences. From Tuesday 8 July, readers are invited to submit their idea of a perfect FT Weekend which will be created for one winner. Entrants will be encouraged to gather votes through social media on the hashtag #myFTweekend. The 10 entries with the highest number of votes will be judged on originality and creativity by Caroline Daniel. The integrated campaign will be promoted via e-marketing, FT and FT.com ads and to more than nine million followers on social media.
The global brand campaign ‘Experience a different world’, created with communications consultancy Verbalisation, is currently running across TV, cinema, outdoor, print and digital media. A series of ads that show the effect of FT Weekend journalism on a reader’s mind, finishing with the tagline ‘Read beyond the expected’. The TV commercial – a first for FT Weekend – shows its arts, culture and style brought to life.
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For further information contact:
EMEA
Kristina Eriksson
T: +44 (0)207 873 4961
E: kristina.eriksson@FT.com
US
Andrew Green
T: +1-917-551-5093
E: andrew.green@ft.com
ASIA
Gemma Terry
T: +852 2905 5519
E: gemma.terry@ft.com
About FT Weekend:
FT Weekend is the home of global lifestyle, arts and culture content. In addition to the main news section the product includes print or digital versions of the FT Magazine, Life & Arts, House & Home, FT Money, Travel, Books, Food & Drink and Style.
About the Financial Times:
The Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business news organisations, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing essential news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community, the FT has a combined paid print and digital circulation of 665,000 (Deloitte assured, Q1, 2014). Mobile is an increasingly important channel for the FT, driving 60 per cent of subscriber consumption, 45 per cent of total traffic and 20 per cent of new digital subscriptions. FT education products now serve 37 of the world’s top 50 business schools