June 15, 2009

FT ad campaign draws on Barack Obama endorsement

The Financial Times has today unveiled a new advertising campaign featuring an endorsement from US president Barack Obama.

Obama admitted that the paper was a favourite of his in an interview FT editor Lionel Barber in March.

During the interview, which was his first with a global publication following his inauguration, Obama said: “I read the Financial Times before other people read the Financial Times. Now it’s trendy and everybody carries around a Financial Times.”

The advert pictures President Obama addressing a Democratic campaign rally in Portland, Oregon last May and includes the question: “Who does the man everyone listens to, listen to?’

The new campaign is the latest stage in the FT’s move to build its global brand. The paper claims a worldwide readership of 1.3 million, with 23 print sites around the world.

The latest ABC figures for May revealed an average daily circulation of 410,928. About 70 per cent of this – 291,467 copies – came from outside the UK and Ireland.

FT director of brand and B2B marketing Caroline Halliwell said: “President Obama telling us that he was an FT fan shortly after he took office demonstrates that some of the world’s most powerful people turn to us as a trusted source of news and analysis.”

Sam Oliver, creative director at DDB London, which produced the ad, added: “The fact that he trusts in The Financial Times says volumes about both its quality and its influence around the globe.”