Demographics
Gender: Female
Age: 29
Socio-economic status: ABC1
Religion: Atheist
Education: Grammar School, BA in Law
Occupation: Lawyer
Income: £39,000
Status: Dating, middle class.
Nationality: British
Psychographics
Emma is a law graduate who works as a junior lawyer for a
top London law firm. She graduated from Kings College
with a degree in Law, and went on to the job of her dreams. At heart, Emma is a
girl who loves to be at home, and is incredibly loyal to brands. However, she
is willing to try new products, and if she likes them she will definitely stick
with them. She loves thinking back to her time at school where she spent
countless lunchtimes practising the violin. She first started playing when she
was six, and at one point wanted to be in an orchestra, but once she developed
her full character she realised she wanted a job that was safe, and had stability.
She still plays in her spare time. She likes shops like John Lewis, Anthropology,
Cos and Reiss, as they bridge the gap between modern and stylish as well as
being trustworthy and reliable. She loves hearing about developments in the way
classical instruments are viewed, and enjoys hearing about ways that teachers
are making classical instruments seem more appealing to the younger generation.
She is a fan of organisation, and needs things to be tidy and everything to be
done and have its place. Emma also loves to go out to bars with her friends and
her boyfriend at the weekend. Her boyfriend is a banker who works in Canary Wharf.
They live in Fulham and either go out around where they live, central London,
or in Shoreditch. She always reads the newspaper, which is The Mail, The
Telegraph or The Times, and sometimes flicks through her boyfriend’s copy of
the Financial Times. When she’s relaxing, if reading books she tries to go for
classics but often reads some “chick-lit”, and when she’s watching TV she
always tries to watch intellectual programs, but normally ends up watching BBC3
or family guy. She loves things that are traditional yet have a slight edge to
them, and hopes to incorporate her unique style into her wedding planning.
Whenever she goes on holiday she likes to mix it up between city breaks, and
trips that are adventurous to exotic locations, or to France.
To ensure my magazine would be appealing and suited to my
audience, I did a survey around people of my target audience (people aged
16-30) My chosen genre is classical/pop crossover, so bands like clean bandit
or music that has heavy influences from classical instruments. Even if a pop
song is played mainly on a classical instrument it is still applicable to the
magazine. Due to this, the people I chose to ask the questions to were people
who were either in the age bracket, or had a keen interest in classical
music/instruments. I chose to ask them verbally and just take notes myself, as
often people give answers which affect the way they want their opinion to be,
rather than their actual opinion. It is proven that when people don’t have the
chance/time to decide how each possible answer will make them look, they will
go with their true opinion.
Questions asked –
·
Do you prefer a band or single person on the
cover?
·
Do you like a cluttered or crowed front cover?
·
Do you like colourful covers, or use of
complimentary colour schemes?
·
Would you like a high budget, monthly magazine,
or a lower budget weekly magazine?
·
What social demographic are you?
Results –
·
Out of the 20 people I spoke to, 16 preferred
the magazine and its cover to be more focused on one artist rather than a band.
They all said that a band of the front made the cover seem claustrophobic and too
busy.
·
When I asked the last question, the majority of
people linked their answer to this question into it. Most people prefer a
minimalistic cover, where everything has a place and it is not being crowded.
·
This was a 50:50 split, with 10 people saying
they liked colourful covers because they were eye-catching, and seemed
positive, but the other half said that the use of complimentary colour schemes
made magazine design instantly more sophisticated and seem more ‘put together’.
·
100% of people I asked said that they would
prefer a higher quality magazine less frequently.
·
90% of people I asked were ABC1
My results will be so incredibly helpful when designing and
constructing my magazine. Most importantly, I think that I must stay true to
the results that I have found. To be in a position where I have a clear knowledge
of what my target audience want, I am privileged. Many publishers have to take
risks to guess what their audience want, and seeing as I have got the information,
I should value it.
Choosing the name of a media outlet is incredibly difficult.
Not only does it need to be catchy and stay in the readers mind, but it needs
to be a word that has the potential to become an entire brand. The majority of
magazine names end up becoming a defining word to describe someone who fits the
typical target market of the magazine. For example, you might hear somebody say “He/she
is so vogue!” This is a prime example of how a name has the chance to become so
iconic its purpose can change from noun to adjective.
I also liked the idea that the name ‘Greyscale’ shows that music doesn’t need to be vibrant and loud to be interesting and complex.
The magazine name I ended up choosing is ‘GREYSCALE’
The definition of greyscale uses the word ‘monochrome’. I
initially had monochrome as my magazines name, but decided that the word seemed
to ‘blunt’ and didn’t seem to have a ring to it, due to an imbalance of syllables
on either side of the word. Greyscale has a smoother sound, and also means
similar. The importance of monochrome or greyscale being used was the
fashionable connotations of the words, as I pictured my magazine as a
publication which is modern yet also not so outrageous it couldn’t be timeless.
I also liked the idea that the name ‘Greyscale’ shows that music doesn’t need to be vibrant and loud to be interesting and complex.
Publishing in the UK is dominated mainly by two large
companies, Bauer Media and Time Inc UK.
Any form of text that is published is usually produced and
regulated by a publisher.Bauer Media
Bauer Media is a branch of the Bauer Media Group, a large
media group which manages more than
600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations around
the world. This makes it Europe’s largest privately owned publishing group. Bauer
Media Group is now headed by Yvonne Bauer in Hamburg, Germany. In the UK there
are two divisions of Bauer Media, The main UK business trades as H Bauer
Publishing, under CEO David Goodchild. Its sister company is known as Bauer
Media (Bauer Consumer Media Ltd) with CEO Paul Keenan. Bauer media currently
publishes the music magazines ‘Q’ and ‘Smashhits’.
The Bauer Media website
says
“OUR MISSION
“Our aim is to
connect audiences with excellent content through our broad multi-touchpoint
brand platforms. Wherever, whenever and however
they want”
“Winning Together
Through Passion, Innovation and Speed”
We will grow and
win only by working together • We will relentlessly seek out new ideas and
develop existing products • We will always be driven by our customers and their
changing needs • We will respect and trust one another • Innovation and
excellence will be at the heart of everything we do.”
Time Inc UK
Time Inc UK (formally
known as IPC Media) is owned by Time Inc. It is a consumer magazine and digital
publisher based in the UK which sells over 350 million copies per year, making
them Britain’s leading publisher. It publishes the music magazines ‘NME’ and ‘Uncut’. The Time Inc
website says “There’s a
difference between getting impressions and making one. Our 90 iconic brands
open the world to people and your brands like never before, spanning stories,
experiences and passions for a more powerful” impact.
Volcano Publishing
Volcano is an example of an independent publisher. Magazines that are particularly niche seem to usually be published independently, as they have an appeal to incredibly dedicated readers and are published in a way in which they look ‘of the time’ or could be classed as a collector’s item. An example of a magazine like this is Shindig!, which is specific to a certain genre. “A publication put together with genuine understanding, sincerity and utter belief. We seek to end mediocrity in music magazines... to bring the scope and knowledge of old fanzines and specialist rock titles to a larger readership: quality journalism, columns, music and film history; exciting new bands and culture. From the most far-out ’60s sounds through country-rock and folk to soul and electronic experimentation. It's all there.” Is the description put on Shindig!’s website, just proving how niche to a certain time period it is. However it has a steady circulation, with 26,000 readers.
BETH – “No, they’re probably not as popular as the used to
be, but I have faith that people will carry on buying them, in particular
middle aged, ABC1 males who enjoy collecting literature that is appropriate to
the music that they enjoy.
AMY – “Yes definitely, I have never seen anyone with a music
magazine nor have I ever purchased one myself. They seem to have shrunk behind
hoards of lifestyle magazines that offer people more variation.”
HANNAH – “Yeah, you only see older people or emos with music
magazines, so they’re not exactly the people that you aspire to be really.”
Music magazines have somewhat died into the background
recently, with the amount of them decreasing, and the newsstand space they
occupy also decreasing. The point of the
humble music magazine was originally to update and be a side aspect to a genre
of music that the reader favoured. The main difference that time has shown, is
that favoured music magazines are no longer the low budget
magazines that were issued weekly and responsible for the a decrease in the
amount of pocket money left over. Yes, the days of magazines written by
enthusiasts, for enthusiasts and printed on something that was near enough
tracing paper have gone. In their place are monthly published magazine, written
by ‘morph-able’ journalists and printed on fancy paper all held underneath the
glossiest cover you ever did see. This has lead to music magazines being viewed
as a luxury, rather than an item made for everyone. Music magazines have been
shifted up a class, connoting that you must be of a certain ABC1 demographic to
purchase it, and to show a genuine interest,
you must purchase it, which shows a vicious circle of exclusion (and a
vicious circle of middle class teenagers pretending to be kerrang! devotees)
I think that the success of music magazines was due to the
fact that they were all encompassing, and suited every demographic. But I feel
a certain level of snobbery has been introduced in recent magazine
publications, and to buy a music magazine you must suddenly be niche, trendy,
unusual and quirky, as opposed to just fancying spending an hour reading a
review of Coldplay’s new album. Partially, advances in technology are to blame.
People can read all about their favourite artists, and read an album review on
itunes on their phone whilst doing
something else, which is a vital part of this argument. The fast pace of
the modern day has left us unable to do something , unless we can do it at the
same time as something else.
"Most authoritative and valued audience research in use
for print and digital advertising trading in Britain"
What is it and how
does it help?
The NRS is a tool which allows stakeholders of magazines and
various other publishing to view the demographics and facts about their
readers. This can be invaluable, as through learning about the average reader
of their magazine, publishers can tailor many things to appeal to them. For
example, a certain demographic may favour a certain writing type, or news
feature theme. On a more financial side, advertisers may be reluctant to
continue advertising to an audience that is not likely to purchase their
project due to incompatible interests and products. This could make way for a more
conducive advertiser to be chosen, which would benefit not only the advertiser
through increasing sales, but the advertorial company, magazine, and reader.
Readership and
circulation
Circulation exposes how many copies of a certain publication
have been distributed per month through newsstand sales and subscriptions, in
order to make progression and observations on sales, perhaps looking at them
over time so that correlations can be made between different covers or article
styles used in certain issues and the sales of said issue. This is very useful
as it asses the visual appeal the magazine has on the newsstand, and whether
the overall visuals of the magazine are appealing to the target audience
correctly, an issue which can be raised with the art director of the magazine.
Readership, however, focuses on how many people read the magazine, and how this
allows them to see the demographic of them, and what other magazines they read.
All of this enables publishers to learn more about their audience, and the more
they know about their audience, the more they can tailor
the magazine to their preferences. Readers will view this as a better magazine,
therefore sparking recommendations to other people and continual sales.
Negatives
The NRS is not all good however. The point of the survey is
to identify categories in which magazines have more readers. However some
categories can be so broad they’re almost pointless. For example, when studying
what ages read a certain magazine, one of the categories set is 15 – 34. This
is a 19 year age gap, and clearly far too wide. A 15 year old will have very different
interests and priorities compared to a 34 year old. Therefore, some categories
may be seen as inaccurate, and not pose much help or advantage to people who
work for magazine publishers.
