In this post, I am going to highlight, describe and analyse three different magazines which are aimed at the male audience, female audience and mixed audience. I will analysing and identifying the characteristics and techniques used to help tagret and market the three different gender categories (male, female and mixed).
The techniques I will look at are title, typography, colours, images, content, gifts/offers (promotional material) and language.
I will just be analysing the front cover of the magazines and the content included on it to help attract and market to the potential customers.
Introduction - Company Magazine (1)
The Company Magazine is a monthly edition magazine which is based at a female audience. The magazine produces articles on celebrities, fashion and lifestyle.
The issue that i am going to be analysing is June 2012.
Statistics
"Victoria White, editor of Company, said: 'The new look gives Company a point of difference at the newsstand which is what our readers are looking for. The size and format of the magazine is completely unique to the UK market. White said the new design was "a total reinvention of the traditional women's magazine."
'Brands that don't engage with their target audiences on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are likely to be left behind and lose touch.'
According to ABC figures for the first half of 2011, Company's circulation fell by 17.1 per cent to 180,162 between 2010 and 2011." (2)
Title
The title for the company magazine is placed in the top centre of the page and it is in upper case bold letters to help grasp the attention and inform the reader on the name of the magazine. The font of the magazine name is of a bold and chunky consistency to help get high awareness from the target audience.
The title colour is always changed according to the theme colours/house styles of each issue, but they are always of bright or pastel colours as this represents the feminine mindset and it will be more attractive for the target audience.
Typography
The typography used around the front page of the magazine to help advertise caption/phrases used within the issue are of long and thin figures in the style of "hand written" or scribbled style. This is because the target audience of the magazine are usually younger females, of around the ages of 14-25.
The use of scribbled handwriting styles used on the front cover of the magazine is to represent the creativity and doodling of teenagers and it helps to relate to the fact of younger females recording their thoughts and inspiration in diaries and scrapbooks.
The use of long and thin writing style figures for the fonts on the front captions are because they wish to portray the ideology of fashion models being tall and thin, which is almost every young girl's dream to have be beautiful and have the perfect figure.
Colours
The colours used on the front cover of the june 2012 issue of Company Magazine are of subtle pinkish tones. This is to help present the seasonal trends and themes of summer, and it is of a feminine hue, which helps make it more relatable and attractive to the young female potential consumers.
The colours that have been used on the front cover of the issue are;
- Pink - to help represent the feminity for the target audience and set a summer tone to the seasonal timings.
- Black and white - to represent monochromatic colours for the font, to help it stand out from the surrounding images and colours
- Green - to represent freshness/new trends and summer time
- Purple - to represent more femenine colours and hues
Images
The images that have been used on the front cover of the Company magazine June 2012 issue is the main predominate picture of singer/songwriter Jessie J, and there are a few surrounding images of clothing and fashion accessories.
The reason that they have placed Jessie J as the main model of the front cover of the magazine is because she is a trending and popular celebrity in time, which is a great oppurtunity for the magazine, being able to get a scoop on the celebrity.
Also Jessie J is a fashionable celebrity, which many young girls look up to and recognise instantly because she has a wide fanbase, so by using her as the main image on the front cover of the magazine, they will achieve instant recognition and awareness from potential customers.
The use of smaller images of clothing and fashion accessories have been carefully selected and placed to show trending and attractive items, which will achieve attention from the fashion-concisous female generation.
Content and language
The content and language included on the front cover of the magazine is in short captions or phrases surrounding the main image of the front cover. The content includes information on the latest trends on fashion and beauty, and it also includes a section on ideal jobs, which helps relate the magazine to the current economic recession, which takes into account the financial climate of the target audience.
The language used on the front cover of the magazine is very empathetic in a fashion point of view (e.g. "express yourself") but short and snappy (e.g. "field style snapped"). This help relates to the female target audience as it relates to the feminine thinking of being emotional and releasing expressions, but it also helps to grab attention of the customers in short captions.
Promotional Material
The Company Magazine does not express any promotional materials or gifts to try and attract the potential customers into thinking that they are getting extra for their money, but from the captions and phrases included on the front cover of the magazine, they are expressing that the magazine is worth the "only £2".
By using the words "only", they are expressing that the magazine is cheap and the content included within the magazine is worth it.
Appendices
(1) http://love212.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/picture-courtesy-of-balconyjumpartists-tumblr1.jpg
(02/07/2012)
(2) http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/node/48579 (01/11/2012)
http://classic.mediatel.co.uk/abcroundup/ (01/11/2012)
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/magazine (01/11/2012)
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/comp_policy/oft1028.pdf (01/11/2012)
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