FT to roll out branded business travel guides

FINANCIAL TIMES   DDB   IPHONE   BLACKBERRY

Hong Kong - The Financial Times will roll out a series of its own FT-branded mini travel guides offered as a free gift to its readers who primarily travel for business.

The "The Little Book of Business Travel" is initiated out of Asia and will feature cities from Greater China from Hong Kong, Macau, Beijing to Shanghai.

It will be given out alongside copies of the newspapers this Wednesday.  

Claire Melwani (pictured), director luxury sales, partnerships & special projects for the Financial Times Asia Pacific, said while most travel guides focus on leisure, FT readers primarily travel for business.

The portable guide will contain information on accommodation and activities as well as articles on business etiquette and business services from local couriers, translators to top dining venues for client-focused entertainment. 

The book will also feature recommendations from FT correspondents such as Tom Mitchell and Justine Lau including high-profile personalities such as Christine Loh, CEO for Civic Exchange from Hong Kong and well known pianist Lang Lang on Shanghai.

Melwani said the guide will first launch in Asia with an iPhone and Blackberry application to launch towards the end of this year. She said additional guides will be rolled out in 2010.

An ad campaign developed by DDB Hong Kong rolled out last Friday in FT Asia with an eDM to be sent out to all Asia FT subscribers and FT.com registered users tomorrow. 

There will be run of site banners on FT.com targeting Asia Pacific this week and point of sales promotion will be available at retail outlets and news stands in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. 

According to an FT spokesperson, vendors could not buy a listing on the guide as the content of the book is editorially driven but Swire Hotels, Hotel LKF, The Peninsula and the Hyatt have bought full page ads in the inaugural issue. ________________________________________________________________________________________

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