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 - Men's Fitness Magazine (1)
The Men's Fitness Magazine is a monthly edition magazine which is aimed for the male target market. The contents of the magazine includes information and articles on fitness, nutrition, and sports, as well as sex tips, fashion advice, interviews, recipes, and surveys.
The issue that I am going to be analysing is the March 2012 edition.
Statistics
"Fitness magazines are a sector which has been holding up well in recent years. Men's Health is now the best selling men's title in the UK with average monthly circulation of 245,932 in the second half of 2010. Dennis Publishing's Men's Fitness sells 68,843 copies a month, and was up 1.2 per cent year on year. " (2)
The title of the Men's Fitness Magazine is positioned at the top of the page in the center. The title is in upper and lower case writing, to help the consumers identify the two factors that the magazine is based on. "Men's" and "Fitness".
The font is in a bold and strong style, which represents the masculinity, which will attract the male target market. This is more appealing to the male mindset as it portrays their beliefs and psychological conceptions of being a strong and dominante "alpha-male". So this is more attractive to the target market, and will increase the chances of sales/attraction.
Also by presenting the title in a thick and striking font, it will be more eye catching for the target consumers as it can been seen clearly from a distance and will catch the attention of the target market.
Typography
The typography used around the page to help highlight what information is included within the magazine have been placed in portions around the main image, so it catches peoples attention easily.
The kinds of fonts, styles, sizes, colours, etc that have been used are of the masculine demographic, e.g. strong hard fonts, bold cool colours, tough use of graphics and housestyles. This is also to help signify the relevence of a mens magazine and it is used to help attract the male population.
Different sections of the information on the front cover has been written in different fonts, colours, sizes, styles, etc. This is so the reader can understand which information links to another.
It also helps reduce the sense of overwhelming or boring the target consumers because the information does not look like a big bulk of writing and customers are attracted to look/explore the different sections. Also, with the use of different fonts, colours, etc. it helps represent and highlight the information which is of higher importance and what is most likely to attract the customers.
Colours
The colours used on the Men's Fitness Magazine for the March 2012 issue are black, white, grey, red and blue. Although these colours can be used in gender-neutral contexts, the hues and shades used of these colours on the front cover of the magazine are very masculine as well as eye catching to the potential target market.
The colours that have been used on the magazine cover have the purpose to represent;
- Black, white and grey - strong and neutral colours to help represent the bluntness and colourless "attitude" tha men prefer (women usually wear more colour, where as men are more conservative and neutral in colour)
- Red - The colour of strength and power (Men's Fitness) helps to represent how the magazine will give you energy. Also it is a flirtacious/sexual colour, which will allow the consumers to think that this magazine will help them to be more attractive.
- Blue - The masculine colour which represents the male population and is seen to be a cool and refreshing colour, which will attract the consumers.
Images
The only image situated on the front cover of the magazine is of a topless male model, who has a "desirable" body. This image has been used for the front cover of the magazine because it will attract the male customers bymaking them believe that they too can achieve the same "airbrushed" results by purchasing this magazine.
Although it would be more appealing to the male population to put an image of the opposite sex on the front cover, it would not relate to the purpose of the magazine, which is to promote masculine helath and fitness. So by placing an image of a male model topless, it would relate to the content of the magazine, aswell as attract the customers, as they to would wish to achieve the desirable results.
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 tips and tricks on making the consumers more attractive and healthier. e.g. "Get big arms" and "Slimmer, stronger, sexier in 5 minutes". These little phrases catch the consumers attention quickly and it gets straight to the point for no hassle and fuss.
The language included on the front cover of the magazine is very agressive and motivational in energy and territorial contexts. For example, "Fat-Blasting workout!" and "Make your gut vanish!".
This kind of language has been included on the front cover of the magazine to help attract the audience in short and snappy phrases as well as motivating and enhancing the quick-fire effects that can be achieved if the target audience buy the magazine.
The language sound more like commands on how to achieve results, which is used in the Army and Navy. This is seen to be a ultimate male challenge and by using this kind of language, they are getting the target audience questioning their masculinity and how they can change/better that.
Promotional Material
Although the magazine does not include any promotional gifts or offers, it provides material on showing how this magazine can be beneficial to the target audience in a recession. At the bottom of the front cover, they have placed in a large banner "this mag will save you money!" showing that it is good to buy this magazine and it will benefit the consumers finacially and health wise.
Appendices
(1) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4_akgXmCiX5_-L7jzFk8kXQoOdOS45ROFwoIPnF_WGtW4voyRXpZ4k_eqRT9AJin2-en8N1sqXsBeyMGVpL5eTGhr4Sd8OTESVChWq2nOrrAf_1zc7wkI-9yyf_9iBc2UJUdMFwIGQOrt/s1600/Mens+Fitness+Magazine+-+March+2012.jpg (02/07/2012)
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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