Research and Planning; Distribution

There is a big difference between Major and Independent distributors of magazines in the UK. It is a recurring pattern that is also evident within major and independent music labels; major labels look to generalise things so to attract the widest audience possible, whereas independent look toward a more niche audience and tailor their magazine to their audiences needs. For example, Frontline are a major distributor and they distribute KERRANG! This is a magazine which is directed at a range of people who are interested in certain bands, for example, Slipknot, and this may seem all well, but in reality SO many people listen to Slipknot that the magazine cannot be seen to direct itself at a certain audience, as all of it’s bands and features’ readers would have many different characteristics. KERRANG! Is distributed on a multiplatform level, this means that Kerrang magazine use many different types of media to distribute themselves, for example, there is radio, internet, and television channel and, of course, the magazine. Kerrang’s reader is someone who is constantly giving the finger to passers by, and always thinking about the next gig they’ll be at, and how they’ll get the money to buy enough E. Vice distribute their magazine in a very different way to conventional ones. Firstly, it is free, this would be a major pull for me as a student as money as ALWAYS low. Secondly, the magazine is only provided within places where they know their target audience go, for example, the readers are very cool and probably buy most of their clothes or furniture from Urban Outfitters, so they provide it in there. This has been done very cleverly by the distributors as it has given them a 100% pick up rate, no magazine is ever left untouched or taken home. No doubt that this 100% pick-up rate stems almost directly from the very well thought-out distribution plan. Vice can be accessed via picking it up (see where here http://www.viceland.com/issues_uk/about.php), or going on it’s website. Vice are quite big headed and seem to be very selective about who they direct their magazine at; they have to be ‘cool’. I would describe Vice’s audience as people who would rather spend the night out for a drink at a glossy bar in Leicester Square with friends, than stay at home with the family watching Eastenders. The audience all wear trendy clothes and drink only the finest wine or foreign beers. They have the new iphone3g and talk about all of the cool apps they’ve downloaded. They pick up the magazine in Urban Outfitters whilst purchasing the newest jeans in stock, or they’ll flick through at the bar and find something interesting to discuss with their friends. The brand identity of the magazine is really the same, they want to put out the persona of über cool, high fashion, and caring a little too much about ones appearance, but this is all viewed as correct. Their ideal readers would include the likes of model Daisy Lowe, Lily Allen or singer Frankmusik. I will distribute my magazine via a major distributor, this is because I think that my magazine will attract a wide audience and a major distributor, such as Frontline, would help me get my magazine to the widest audience possible. I will have a multi platform strategy, I will have a website which has information about the latest issue and features of its own, such as online competitions, quizzes and some exclusive interviews. I’ll be looking to distribute my magazine in most large stores such as Tescos and Sainsbury’s, but also all corner shops and maybe even some clothes shops where my audience may shop, such as New Look.

Audience Profile:

The age of my audience ranges from 10-13, also reffered to as 'tweens' (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tween). I am directing my magzine at girls, this is because i am a girl and i was once that age, so i think that i have a good idea of what this audience wants from a magzine, and along witht he help of friends and family in this bracket, i'm sure that i shall succeed.

The audience that i am targeting at LOVE music, they listen to it on thier ipods, with thier friends, at home, anywhere they can really. The audience care about which popstars are seen as cool and want to do what they do at the weekend, obviously they can't because of the age problem. Some of their favourite singers are; Miley Cyrus (great role model, rich, pretty, 'celibate'), Taylor Swift (i have no idea, but this audience seem to love her), Beyonce (a sweetheart, we all ♥ Beyonce). Although these are some of young girls' idols, i have discovered by asking a friends sister (13), that they also seem to like some slightly (i mean slightly) more indie stuff. For example, my friends sister, we'll call her C, said that her and alot of her friends like Chipmunk, he is a grime artist that has been signed now to a major label, but we can still recognise that his rose to fame was with and independent label.
Twilight. My magazine readers love Twilight. It is thier favourite film and they cannot wait for the next sequel to come out, they even know the date it come out, and have planned how they're getting to the cinema and back, even though its in six months. My magazine readers' other favourite films include A Cinderella Story, The Hannah Montanna Movie, the slighlty older end of the age range enjoy such films as Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. And, ofcourse, at some point in thier life they have loved High School Musical.
They watch television whenever they aren't Beboing/Facebooking, and they like to watch, Disney channel, mostly. Also Big Brother and Hollyoaks play a big part in thier evening schedule.
As far as radio is concerned it would probably only be done via the internet or TV (or in Moms car listening to radio 2 YAWN!), for example KISS radio on sky or maybe even SmashHits.

The readers of my magazine wear very fashionable clothes. They like to keep up with the style of thier idols, for example, New Look is perfect; affordable, fashionable and everyone else is wearing so why shouldn't you? An i deal outfit for TED day at school would be skinny jeans, dolly shoes (latest ones in New Look), the brand new top from the shopping center that you thought no-one would have but that girl Jenna is wearing it and told you that your copying her, the black cardigan, because thats a 'staple'. To the birthday parties you wear sparkley dresses or minskirts with a belly top, along with your sister's (alternitavley mothers) high heels.
As far as jobs go, you do jobs around the house to get your £5 pocket money whcih you spend on sweets, accessories, clothes and the upper end of the age bracket may even spend it on alcohol for the school disco!
You've probably already started your first diet after the boy in maths said you had a chubby face, you got the idea from your Moms Slimmers World magazine, and now your not eating carbs, although you still love to stuff your face with sweets, chocolate and roast dinner on a sunday. (This will only apply to the older end of the age range).
In your spare time you go to friends houses and talk about Hannah Montanna and how excited you are to see the next Twilight. You sing and dance in the mirror with your hair brush (or anything of the sort really), planning the moves you will make in clubs when your old enough. Your parents shout at you for the loud music, but they idolise thier precious little girl, FOR NOW!

Due to the age of my audience i cannot give them a reading on the jicnars scale but i can give one to thier parents; The parents of the readers of my magazine would be either suceeders or aspirers, they either have exactly what they want from life, or they are almost there. They have names like Mark and Karen, on the jicnars scale they would read from C2 to a B, they have quite well paid jobs such as a manegerial or administrative job. i believe that thier approach to parenting would be rather traditionalist, they would want to bring thier child up as they were brought up.

Summary of my research into exsisting magazines:

My research into exsisting magazines has been incredibly beneficial to the planning of my own magazine. I have found out lots of information that wil help me to attract more readers.

One of the most important things that i have learnt from this is that a front cover is the most important thing to attract readers. The layout, colour scheme and features inside noted on the coverlines, is what will enitially attract readers. To apply this to my genre i will have a picture on my cover that relates to modern pop culture with a bright and girly colour scheme, most probably including pink.

I have learnt that features inside the magazine attract readers. All of the magazines i looked at, in the genre i am directing my magazine to, had articles on boys or gossip, many of the things that i talked about at that age, so i think that this has really shown me that i have chosen the right genre and target audience to go for.

Despite the magazines i have looked at being a big help, i have also noticed that there are some things that i should be aware of, things that didn't make the magazine as attractive as it could be, for example, Smash Hits' front cover looked too busy, and it made the magazine connote that it might be directed at a lower class, becuase it looked tacky and disorganised, but, MIZZ's cover connoted formality, i don't think that a cover like that would attract a large audience. This is all very important to remember whilst producing my magazine as it will help make it more attractive to my target audience and would therefore, sell more copies and make me more money.

Magazines in my genre: Sugar

Sugar is a teen magazine, directed at girls between the ages of 10-14, slightly older than my target audience. I connote that this magazine is slightly more up-market than the other two magazines i have looked at. The magazine has articles inside on celebrities, make-up, boys, gossip and information about fashion.

The title 'Sugar', is very good for a magazine directed at this audience because it connotes sweetness, youth and a very girly atmosphere. The masthead itself is in a sans-serif font and all of the letters are lower case, both of these conventions connote a lack of formality and conformity. With the masthead being in a bubble-gum pink colour, we realise that this is further connoting a fun and girly atmosphere. Although we notice all of this about the masthead, looking at the rest of the page, we see that is is all rather formal and plain, it does follow a basic colour scheme but it doesn't exactly jump out of the page to grab attention, this is because most of the strap lines are in white, whereas we can see from just glancing at the page, the main colour scheme is yellow and pink. This cover really doesn't jump out at me and make me want buy it. The picture on the cover is of Leona Lewis, a classic role-model for girls that age which would attract readers. But this picture of Leona Lewis is irritating as the background of pale blue washes out the rest of the cover and makes it look very formal, although this may be the the look that they are going for, we should realise that the target audience would not appreciate this, this is something to remember during the production of my magazine.

We can see from the mastheads and strap lines that inside the magazine they focus mostly on modern pop culture, and doing this by interviews with celebrities, fashion photo shoots and advice pages. Modern pop culture is what we generically associate with this audience, but we should notice that at the older end of the target audience would be thinking about reaching out into different more independent types of culture. I will remember this in the production of my magazine, and to find out exactly what the audience wants, i will ask some people in this age group.

The readers of this magazine are too young to have a reading on the jicnars scale, so i give one to their parents. i think that the parents of the readers of Sugar magazine are from a D to a B, this is because i think that this magazine appeals to the upper class, rather than a lower one, and i think this because the cover is quite formal and it looks altogether more expensive, which would appeal to the upper class. The girls who read this magazine probably go to private school or a well rated public school, they are cliquey and won't talk to anyone outside of their friendship group. You have a dior school bag and haven't eaten carbs for two years cause that's what Keira Knightley does.

You look like this...

Magazines in my genre: MIZZ

MIZZ is a magazine directed at young teens ans pre-teen girls. It captures the attention of the target audience by using familiar celebrity role models for young girls, articles and information about modern pop music and also aritcles and information on modern pop culture today.

The title of the magazine connotes a playful twist on an already feminine word. 'MIZZ', is spelt differently to connote a rebellious edge to the audience and make them think that the magazine may not be so mainstream and will fit exactly to thier style. The masthead is in a sans-serif font which makes it look not so formal and again, slighlty rebellious. IT is coloured in a bubble gum pink with connotes youth and playfulness which would appeal to the audience. The star that has been cut out of the M also shows us that this is a magzine for this age group as this is a symbol generically asociated with this age group and gender, it also makes the title look different to some other mastheads and adds an aspect of individuality.

The colour scheme on the front cover is yellow and pink, but these are in a more pastel shade making us think of sherbet and sweets, and again making us ascociate it with all things sweet and with the age group intended. The editors have added a free gift, which is make-up appealing to the young girls, this would be a good idea for my magazine, to bring in more buyers.

On the cover they have used Alesha Dixon and they have also printed her name in capitols in a sans-serif font, in yellow slightly below this. This is to attract the readers and make sure that they know who is inside and what to expect, for instance, Alesha Dixon's music is mainly aimed at younger girls so having her to front the magazine for this issue is very appealing and would probably atrract more readers as they may want to know more about their favourite stars. On the cover we also see some coverlines on what is inside, one is 'BOYS! what's he thinking?', this would appeal to the target audience because girls of this age group are just starting to get intrested in boys, and would probably like the advice, the is another good selling point. Also on the cover we see a picture of Zac Efron, who is a star of High School Musical, a popular film prbably watched by many of the readers of MIZZ, this would be a pull for more readers because he is a typical teen 'heart-throb'.

MIZZ's target audience is girls ranging in age from about 10-14, slightly older than mine will be. They target girls who range from lower to middle class. As the age group would still be in education, we cannot give them a jicnars scale reading, but we can give their parents one, and this would be a range from C2 to an E, this is because we can see from looking at the magazine that it isn't directed at the upper class because it has girl's real life stories inside which relate to the middle class culture. The readers of MIZZ would we the girls worrying about their SATS and what they'll wear to Josies 13th party. They spend more time talking about lipgloss and boys in thier lessons tan they do actually learning.

They look like this...