Saturday morning after a bruising week. It’s a precious time for
the overworked professional - this is when you are ready to be
inspired.
Perhaps this weekend you will crack the idea which delivers that elusive
mortgage-free future.
About 490,000 of you turn to the Financial Times on Saturday for that
inspiration. Before the FT introduced its new magazine, The Business, it
was already a great read.
Concise news, the best personal finance in the business and a great
weekend section on the arts.
So as I turned to The Business, my expectations were high. It’s good but
not great. I’m giving it a ’hold, bordering on buy’ recommendation.
From the house of the FT, I expect the best.
When you first pick up the title, it does look the business.
The design is superb and puts the competition to shame. It is modern and
sharp without using silly typographical trickery, and has a distinctive
and appealing identity.
So now I’m up for a decent read and there, as they say, is the rub.
Don’t get me wrong, there were some good articles in this week’s
edition. The feature on Nokia, the storm-trooper of the mobile telecoms
market that single-handedly reversed the economic fortunes of Finland,
was fascinating.
And the piece on Steve Shirley was equally compelling. She changed her
name from Stephanie to Steve to make pounds 63 million in the
male-dominated software market. Her company reports don’t just talk
about management innovation - she’s been doing it for more than 35
years.
But as I read on, I felt that The Business was schizophrenic. I was
moving from what makes a great leader to what makes a great butternut
squash risotto.
If any title in the UK has well-defined reader interests, it has to be
the FT. I was looking for something that focused on business, innovation
and the people that actually make the millions rather than dream about
them.
So, the magazine looks great and there are some good reads. With more
confidence, as the title evolves, it could turn a ’hold’ into a
’must-buy’ recommendation.
Publisher Financial Times
Cover price Financial Times on Saturday, 85p
Frequency Weekly
Circulation 230,000
Ad rate full-page colour pounds 8,000
Advertisers include Mitsubishi, Lexus, Peugeot, Austin Reed, Egg, Bang &
Olufsen, Habitat
