Financial Times celebrates 125th anniversary

The Financial Times turned 125 on Wednesday, and it is celebrating with anniversary feature in print and online, a new marketing campaign and subscription offer, and a series of global events.

FT editor Lionel Barber said, “The Financial Times has been the gold standard in business and financial journalism for 125 years and we intend to do the same for the next 125.”

A special anniversary feature, written by Barber, and commentary written by Lord Lawson, was published Wednesday.

The FT’s original masthead will be reproduced in print and online and a four-page pull-out section will reprint a selection of the best front pages and key moments in the FT’s history. The anniversary hub, which includes a history timeline, will gather the FT’s anniversary content throughout the year.

On March 14 the FT and Penguin will publish “Lunch with the FT: 52 Classic Interviews” in hardback and ebook format, edited by Barber, with a foreword by CEO John Ridding. The book features a collection of memorable lunches with prominent personalities ranging from Angela Merkel and Jeff Bezos to Michael Caine and Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs, plus many more encounters selected from the iconic feature in FT Weekend.

To mark the occasion, the FT is offering a special anniversary deal of $125/£125/€125 for a one-year standard FT.com subscription, valid for new subscribers only and available to purchase on Wednesday at ft.com/125.

A global marketing campaign will include a new print and online creative by adam&eveDDB. The campaign features an image of a rolled up Financial Times newspaper and includes the tagline, ‘Still guiding the way for global business.’ The campaign will appear in selected print and digital titles as well as on digital outdoor screens in London.

Over the course of the year FT 125 and FT tablet app shaped hot air balloons will fly over global financial hubs and the FT’s headquarters in London will be lit pink to commemorate the milestone.

Ridding and Barber will host anniversary receptions in London and New York, and will ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on April 30.

The Empire State Building will be lit FT pink on May 1.