Tuesday 20 October 2009

How did you attract/address your audience?

My magazine is a “student magazine” meaning it should be attractive for all students which is a very large spectrum of people so it was a difficult task to try to appeal to all these types. I did so by including very broad subjects that are enjoyed by the masses (e.g. music and video games) and also intriguing and humorous cover lines such as “Sex, drugs and avoiding mould”. The main sell of the magazine is the picture of the girl; she appears to be to be the average female student which will appeal to girls as there are many things they can relate to, boys may find her attractive and will also be attracted by the cover lines.
I used lots of bright colours so that the cover could be eye-catching and not look like a boring, generic student magazine readers might expect.
The mast head has the title “PULSE” in an electricity-like font which connotes energy and an exciting atmosphere. The puff at the top of the cover is designed to promote the magazine in a way that makes the reader interested, mine uses humour by using over the top slang; “The hippest, illest, most doped out student magazine in Worcester!”. This further gets across the light-hearted nature of the publication.
The first cover line, “Sex, drugs and avoiding mould” is an article providing advice on sexual health, drugs and cleanliness, especially important in summer time as many students will attend music festivals. Sexual health can give students the facts they need to know about things such as STIs and contraception without talking down to them and Drugs can explain the different types of drugs, classes and the dangers that come with them. The title is a play on words from the famous phrase “Sex, drugs and rock n’ roll”; this article has a mixture of humour and useful advice. Many of these issues some students would be too embarrassed or nervous to ask anyone about so may want to purchase this magazine to get this information without having to endure the embarrassment.
My second cover line, “Top 10 Video Games” appeals mostly to male audiences however the article will be split into the top 5 “hardcore” games that will appeal mostly to males such as Gears Of War, Call Of Duty, Metal Gear Solid, Ninja Gaiden and Grand Theft Auto for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and the top 5 casual games that will appeal to a broader average audience such as Mario Kart, Brain Training, Nintendogs, Wii Sports and Wii Fit for the Nintendo Wii and DS. This way it would please gamers as well as giving non-gamers some interesting ideas on things they might like.
I have included a freebies section in which the readers can win concert tickets to the performance of their choice; this will appeal to most readers as music is extremely popular with my target age group.
Underneath this is another music related article: “The cheapest places to download music”. I feel this would be very popular with my target audience as music is very popular with them and students are often without a lot of money to spend on frivolities such as music and can sometimes be tempted to download illegally. In this article I could compare websites/programs such as iTunes as Napster to determine which offers the better deals.
I included the final cover line “Top 10 legal highs” in a partly humorous way but as there has recently been a lot of buzz around legal high culture and this could clear up rumours and give students the truth about it.
On the contents page are pictures of actor Seth Rogan and actress Scarlett Johansson. Both these people appear in films aimed towards a teenage audience and are seen as role models whom young people aspire to be like when they are older. Seth Rogan has written and starred in many films relatable to teenagers such as Superbad which deals with common teenage woes such as first time sex, unpopularity and alcohol whilst still being a comedy. Scarlett Johansson will be an idol for females and have a great deal of sex appeal for the males, she is also starring in the up-coming blockbuster “Iron Man 2” which many teens will be extremely hyped up about.

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