FT's How To Spend It goes online

Posted by Helena Humphrey on October 5, 2009 at 11:14 AM

This weekend saw the launch of the Financial Times' latest venture; a website version of the glossy supplement which appears alongside the newspaper 28 times a year - How To Spend it online, the Guardian reported. Launch sponsors for the standalone site include top end brands Rolex, Krug and Harry Winston.

The content of the unashamedly indulgent magazine has been replicated on the site in suitably stylish and innovative digital format thanks to its design partner, Razorfish. Gillian de Bono, the magazine and now online editor said:

"How To Spend set the benchmark for luxury lifestyle magazines 15 years ago and now we want to establish the brand as the benchmark for luxury lifestyle websites too. To this end, the print and online operations are fully integrated, produced and edited by a single in-house team using the same top tier writers, photographers and illustrators. The site will feature larger-format ads to appeal to luxury advertisers."

The launch has been met with predictable criticism in various media circles: In light of the current economic climate it has been deemed "ill-timed" and even "distasteful" by some, yet de Bono states: "There are still an awful lot of wealthy people in the world who don't read How To Spend It." Despite the recession, business titles continue to chase luxury-advertising revenues: Last year the Wall Street Journal launched WSJ, an international, large-format glossy magazine covering finance to fashion. The Economist publishes a quarterly lifestyle magazine called Intelligent Life.

Judgements aside, there are still questions to the feasibility of the website: Can the experience of enjoying a luxury magazine be replicated on screen, and crucially - will the all-important advertisers follow it there? Without doubt, part of the web's lure for luxury goods advertisements is the ability to measure their pulling power. By venturing into online territory - which incidentally, unlike FT online, does not (yet) charge for its content - it is expected that the FT's luxury advertising revenues, from newspaper and online, will see an increase this year.

Source: Guardian