Financial Times appoints creative agency

The Financial Times has named New Commercial Arts, the indie creative shop acquired by WPP and now within Ogilvy, as its lead creative agency after a three-way competitive pitch.

The final shortlist included NCA, VCCP and Joint. The review, which kicked off in September, was managed by Ingenuity+. 

FT's brief included "recapturing the essence” of its 1980s and 90s advertising for today’s media landscape, as well as a creative platform that “draws on the timeless appeal of trusted journalism."  

Graham MacFadyen, FT consumer marketing director, said: “We are delighted to be working with NCA. 2026 will be an important year for the FT. News media ecosystems are going through a period of unprecedented upheaval, but there has never been a greater need for authentic, authoritative journalism, evident in the FT’s growing subscriber base and strong commercial performance. We're excited to keep building on that momentum, raising our creative output to meet new challenges.” 

Last year, the newspaper picked Orange Panther Collective to launch a global campaign. 'Source: FT' ran in the UK, US and Germany.  

Previously, the Financial Times released campaigns such as 'Reach our readers' by Motel and 'Lead without example' by The Brooklyn Brothers.

Campaign understands the newspaper worked on a project basis with agencies following its creative relationship with The Brooklyn Brothers, which shut its London business in 2022.

Hannah White, chief executive of NCA, said: “The FT is a brand you dream about working on. It is a privilege to work with their team, especially at a time when the unbiased journalism and in-depth research of the Financial Times is of such critical importance in our society. We cannot wait to get started.”

In April, the Financial Times concluded a global media review, picking independent media agency the7stars.

Joint, VCCP and Ingenuity+ have declined to comment.