Evaluation 5: "How did you attract/address your audience?"

  Transcript:

Throughout my magazine, I needed to make sure I included many aspects that would of fitted in with and attracted my target audience. To make sure my magazine would sell, I included crucial features that would clearly have a high demand from my target audience which are males and females (but mainly females) between the ages of 16-30.

Firstly, the fact that the majority of participants voted for R&B as their most favourite type of music has really reinforced my reasoning for wanting to make my magazine’s genre R&B. These results reassured me that I have definitely made the right decision in picking this genre.  Also, the top-voted name suggested for my magazine through my questionnaire was ‘The Game’ and the least-voted was ‘Rhythm’. This suggests to me that my target audience like to see things that sound more exciting and suggestive (e.g the name ‘The Game’ which is inviting and fun) rather than going for things that seem less daring and more plain and predictable (e.g the name ‘Rhythm’) reinforcing my reason for making my magazine’s name ‘The Game’. I knew from these results that my choice of making this its name would instantly attract my target audience to its fullest.

The first method in order to attract my target audience would be through my front cover. This is the first thing that they see and it is highly crucial that it stands out to them amongst many other magazines on the shelf. I made my front cover stand out by using a mid-shot of my model which brings attention mainly to her face and body since she is closer up to the lense. As you can see, my model’s body language is welcoming with her arms open behind her head. This will attract the audience as it may make them feel that the magazine offers a lot and that the main artist is very inviting. Mise-en-scene-wise, the main artist of my front cover uses direct eye contact with the camera lense creating a personal connection and sense of equality between the artist and the reader which may attract them as it may make them feel less daunted/intimidated by a successful artist and instead feel as if they are ‘the same’, which is very luring. She is also wearing bright red lipstick which I adjusted the colour of to make it stand out more, and this use of makeup will make my model look feminine and create a sex appeal with my male audience, perhaps as will the direct eye contact, representing confidence that males are attracted to and females may admire. Her curly, bouncy hair creates a flirtatious vibe and her colourful floral crop-top is very casual which shows off part of her stomach. This will attract my target audience as this clothing will create the impression of my artist being relaxed which is what most teenagers like to be, and also casual, again making my target audience feel as if they are ‘the same’ therefore intriguing them. The floral pattern on her top makes my artist look very feminine, attracting not only a male audience, but the female audience too. Also, the fact that some of her stomach is showing may create a sex appeal for my male audience as it looks quirky and confident. Also, I edited my model’s skin on a program called Photoshop to remove any blemishes and give her skin an appealing clear and smooth effect. I hoped this would attract my target audience massively because some young females inspire to have good skin beauty-wise, therefore intriguing them; and most males generally find clear skin more attractive. Infront of the picture of my main artist, I put ‘exclusive with..’ and then ‘CASSIE STARR’ in very large, black font to give it a bold effect an instantly catch the audiences’ eyes as it stands out against the pale, feminine colours of the model’s clothing  behind.

            The fact that in my questionnaire I’d received a majority vote towards my target audience preferring a chance to win a freebie in my magazine portrayed that my audience would like to have a chance at winning in a magazine. I don’t think posters are that popular anymore as many teenagers resort to using technology to endure their pleasures so I decided to use a ‘WIN! FREE SIGNED CIARA CD’ feature on my front cover because CDs are something my audience can actually make use out of instead of just chucking it in the bin. Moreover, due to the proliferation of new technology, on one of my pages in my magazine I would alternatively give the option for my audience to receive a free download of Ciara’s CD with a picture of the signed CD included incase someone who doesn’t use CDs wins. This is because CDs are quite dated now. However I think the use of a CD as a prize is still effective because the winner can actually receive it and own it; - juxtaposed with an ordinary download which anyone can perform online.

            Aswell as this, on my top banner it states “MOBO AWARDS & CONCERTS”. I’d concluded that from my questionnaire data concert and gig reviews were the second most wanted feature on a magazine, so I used this to my advantage and made sure that a mentioning of concerts was at the top of my magazine to attract my target audience instantly. Aswell as that, Mobo awards are awards given to R&B and hip-hop artists, so I knew that the mentioning of Mobo awards would be a lot more relevant to the R&B genre than a mentioning of the Brit awards for example. On my bottom banner I have ‘HOTTEST & LATEST R&B MUSIC’. I figured the adjectives ‘hottest’ and ‘latest’ would have a great luring effect on my target audience because it will give the impression that my magazine is up-to-date and ‘in’ which is what most young audiences aim for. Also, with my sell lines ‘BACK STAGE WITH..’, ‘TICKETS TO SEE..’ and ‘PRIVATE GIG WITH..’ along with the artists’ names, I have made sure to include Beyonce’s name there. This is because, when analysing my questionnaire’s results I discovered that Beyonce was majority voted by participants as one of their top three most favourite artists. Therefore, I took advantage of this, knowing that people liked her most, so I made sure I included Beyonce here to catch the reader’s attention instantly. Lastly, my house colours are black, white and purple. My questionnaire’s results showed that my target audience would most prefer a magazine with the house colours of turquoise and pink, with the second vote going to a draw between purple & black and black & blue. I wanted my magazine to look classy and basic so that it wasn’t too complex for the reader to look at and its appearance seemed worth the money, so the colour mixture of turquoise & pink seemed inappropriate and tacky for this. Furthermore, because my magazine’s target audience is male & females but mainly towards females, I felt that the house colours black & blue were too masculine and harsh for the magazine I was making. Therefore, I chose purple, black and white to give a classy, simple but bold effect to attract the audience.

On my contents page, I used a bold black script font for my headlines ‘on the cover’, ‘regulars’ and ‘exclusives’ to represent classiness which is quite feminine, attracting my female audience. Then I used a purple colour for the subject headline and a black font for the brief description of the subject afterwards. This therefore makes everything look easier and clearer to read so that the audience are not put off by any complexity and difficulty to navigate around my contents page. I think I used a good variation of images too, because I used another picture of my main artist in different clothing which was a leapord-print furr jacket with a denim shirt and burgundy red skater-skirt, representing quirkiness which is different and will catch the reader’s eye, along with other photos such as a picture of a male doing a casual pose which creates sex appeal for the females but also equality for the males. Next to each of these images I have included page numbers so that the reader can easily navigate to the page they want to. Lastly, I have made sure to include a social networking feature in a purple box including The Game’s twitter username with the Twitter icon which will instantly grab my target audience’s attention because many young people use this social networking site nowadays so they will be familiar with it, aswell as The Game’s app with a realistic photo of an iPhone with The Game’s front cover on it, and also a subscription feature which includes three different versions of my magazine front cover, attracting the audience because it portrays to them that my magazine has a lot of different things to offer for them and that they won’t just be subscribing to the same magazine every month. Aswell as this, the competitions/quizzes feature I have also included will attract my audience as they are at the age where most of the teenagers are fun, adventurous and competitive, wanting to play games and win things.

On the first page of my double page spread the quote I have used states ‘this is just the beginning’. I used this quote as the headline of my artist’s interview because it highlights excitement, making the audience wonder what else the artist has in store for them which is particularly intriguing. My questionnaire portrayed to me that an interview is the most-wanted feature when purchasing a magazine, so I took full advantage of this. On the second page of my double page spread I used an image of my ‘artist’ singing into a microphone therefore attracting the audience because it portrays that she is a performer and doesn’t just sit back and not take action in her career. Futhermore, I have used a black and white grid of different close ups of my model’s facial expressions, representing that she is quirky and has a fun and easy-going side to her too which will be very alluring to my audience. Aswell as this, I have used a ‘CASSIE’S TWEETS’ feature at the top of my double page spread so that the audience know she is active on social networking sites, just like them. Lastly, there is also a feature at the bottom of the page where my artist is ‘talking about other artists’, and since my questionnaire showed me that my target audience appreciate gossip, I gathered that this feature would be much appreciated to the audience.

The last aspect that would attract my audience is the Uses and Gratifications Theory. This theory consists of four reasons which tell us why people use the media. These are: personal relationships. This is where the magazine would create a ‘word and mouth’ effect where friends or family would discuss the magazine, creating their own relationship with another as it is something they both have interest in. Personal identity, which is where if someone becomes a frequent reader of my magazine, it would become something that is personal to them and something that makes them who they are. Then we’ve got entertainment, where my magazine would be entertaining to read and something that the reader would enjoy doing. Therefore this would persuade them into buying my magazine each week. Then, lastly we have information. This is where the main reason why people buy my magazine is to be informed of what is going on in the R&B music industry. My magazine would inform them of upcoming artists, personal details, album reviews etc..