HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUP?
My music magazine represents particular social group through the use of codes and conventions showed within my product. We can automatically infer this from the logo of my magazine which is titled 'Stereo Beat'. The combination of two music symbols creates an image of people who like loud and expressive music. This description matches well the stereotypical description of young people who are just starting their adult life. This clearly supports my questionnaire results as I targeted my magazine at people 18+ who like to be aware of the current trends and currently changing hits. Besides, we tend to associate young people with being open to different types of music. This is why my magazine focuses on alternative music, which is balanced with pop sound and touch of rock. I think I am clearly expressing this through the house style of my magazine which is focusing on white, red and black, Q magazine inspired me to portray the alternative music through expressiveness or red colour whereas the pop and rock sounds through vintage fonts.
Another way by which I can describe a social group of my product is through the images. The choice of the model already indicates that I was tying to aim my target audience at 18+. The model himself represents this age group and this can be clearly seen, particularly due to the medium close up which reinforces the facial features. Another element of the image is the hair stylisation which again underlines the person's interest in alternative music or rock. This might also apply to my social group who can be associated with these kind of hair styles. In terms of the clothing, the model is wearing a red leather jacket which again can be associated with rock / pop stars. However, leather jackets can be worn in any age bringing more focus to the genre rather than specific age of the audience. Overall, I think the artist looks quite casual. He is wearing a white t-shit signifying the simplicity and regularity. He is not dressed as a stereotypical celebrity. The clothes are subtle showing that he doesn't differ from others and that the audience is more likely to appear like him. Another photograph which says a lot about the social group of my product is the image within the contents page. The model's posture is quite confident and relaxed. I think these associations can be clearly linked to my social group/ target audience. Again the simplicity of the clothing suggests that the magazine is aimed at middle class people, who like to dress casually and classically, as you don't need
much to look good. However, the microphone prop significantly allowed me to apply the idea of young people loving to party, especially going to gigs and festivals. This can be strongly supported through my research which showed that people aged 17 to 25 want to hear about upcoming events such as festivals or concerts. I supported this perception of young people even further by adding appropriate features within my contents page. The last image taken from my double page spread portrays the social group of my product as people who have strong interest in music. This is supported through the use of props. The headphones can be seen as a symbol which is taken around by young people everywhere they go. This is why we tend to stereotypically associate them with music 'maniacs'. Another prop is a guitar which might also indicate young people's love for instruments and interest in classics, as it's an instrument which can be used wisely, across different genres of music.
Another important element which shows relation to my social group is the use of language. Throughout my front cover, contents page and double page spread I've been underlining the use of language by placing a pull out quote ''My whole starting point is that I have nothing to lose''. I think this is a strong and aspiring quotation which would grab young people's attention. At the same time this could encourage young people to follow his life style, experiences as well as advises which he portrays within the interview. For example; in the DPS I've written 'I think everyone should have a plan B' or 'It's all about to be determined and completely fulfil your goals'. This again could portray the social group as aspires who take Jason Posner as a role model, especially due to the fact that my target audience is quite young meaning they need someone to look up to.
Within the contents page I've also included features based on my Survey Monkey results. I've established my features on upcoming gigs and events as this was one of the main gathered results. This already tells quite a lot about the social group of my magazine which shows that my audience likes to view new places and be in a community with people with similar interests and passions. The social group could be also interested in 'keeping up' with famous artists lives such as Sam Smith or Ed-Sheeran as the results showed they would want to see and hear about famous artists. This is why I can interpret that they would be more likely to gather inspiration and treat the artist's as role models.
Moreover, the price of my magazine is £2.50. I think this is fairy cheap comparing to other music magazines, for example Q magazine is £3.99 while NME is £2.20. This shows that the price of my magazine isn't too high or two low, specifically while considering my social group which is less likely to pay more than £3 for a magazine. This can be also linked to research (which was mainly carried out by young people) this showed that people are not willing to pay up to £4 for a magazine as it seems to be too much. Besides, this portrays that the middle class people, male as well as female expect quality for reasonable price of £2.50.
Furthermore, I would consider my social group to be at least partly educated with a high ambition to be an aspire. (They might be included in the BCD sector). Although the features reflect a lot of partying and going out, the text within my magazine shows that there is a balance. You should never give up on your dreams and aim to succeed, but there's nothing wrong with following trends and hits.
DEMOGRAPHIC: As I mentioned above my magazine is aimed towards people around the age of 18/+. I would expect my target audience/ social group to be students or young professionals from a working or lower class with disposable income, who can comfortably afford to pay £2.50 a month of my magazine. In terms of the general registrar scale, they are more likely to be in the BCD sector which focuses around semi-professional jobs. They could be also in part time education but with high interest in alternative pop/rock music. The Stereo Beat magazine is aimed at both males and females, which can be supported through the house style of my magazine, particularly typography and colour scheme.
GEOGRAPHIC: Stereo Beat magazine is mainly targeted at people living in the UK due to the included features of upcoming gigs and events which are mostly taking place around the UK. However, as I mentioned before I have chosen Bauer Media as my distributor which publishes magazines across 15 countries meaning that my magazine could be targeted at people from other countries. However, my edition of the magazine is particularly aimed at people living around bigger cities of UK such as London. This would be appealing to the audience as they would have easier access to attend upcoming events such as concerts or festivals which tend to be arranged in bigger cities. I can supports this through one of my cover stories titled 'Who? What? Why? Where? UK TOUR'.
PSYCHOGRAPHIC: In terms of the psychographic, my audience will tend to be a mixture of main streamers and aspires, as they will have disposable amount of money to pay £2.50 per month for the magazine. They will tend to gain inspiration from known artists who are willing to pass on their advises and life experiences. They could be considered as main streamers due to the interest in well known artists / bands such as Coldplay, Fall out Boy or Arcade Fire which they could consider as role models due to their fashion style, music taste or other individual interests. They are also more likely to attend live music performances such as gigs and concerts.
Another way of presenting the social group of my magazine would be through audience profile, which I created in a form of a table:
Furthermore, I would consider my social group to be at least partly educated with a high ambition to be an aspire. (They might be included in the BCD sector). Although the features reflect a lot of partying and going out, the text within my magazine shows that there is a balance. You should never give up on your dreams and aim to succeed, but there's nothing wrong with following trends and hits.
To conclude the evaluation of my social group I came up with
MARKET SEGREGATION:
DEMOGRAPHIC: As I mentioned above my magazine is aimed towards people around the age of 18/+. I would expect my target audience/ social group to be students or young professionals from a working or lower class with disposable income, who can comfortably afford to pay £2.50 a month of my magazine. In terms of the general registrar scale, they are more likely to be in the BCD sector which focuses around semi-professional jobs. They could be also in part time education but with high interest in alternative pop/rock music. The Stereo Beat magazine is aimed at both males and females, which can be supported through the house style of my magazine, particularly typography and colour scheme.
GEOGRAPHIC: Stereo Beat magazine is mainly targeted at people living in the UK due to the included features of upcoming gigs and events which are mostly taking place around the UK. However, as I mentioned before I have chosen Bauer Media as my distributor which publishes magazines across 15 countries meaning that my magazine could be targeted at people from other countries. However, my edition of the magazine is particularly aimed at people living around bigger cities of UK such as London. This would be appealing to the audience as they would have easier access to attend upcoming events such as concerts or festivals which tend to be arranged in bigger cities. I can supports this through one of my cover stories titled 'Who? What? Why? Where? UK TOUR'.
PSYCHOGRAPHIC: In terms of the psychographic, my audience will tend to be a mixture of main streamers and aspires, as they will have disposable amount of money to pay £2.50 per month for the magazine. They will tend to gain inspiration from known artists who are willing to pass on their advises and life experiences. They could be considered as main streamers due to the interest in well known artists / bands such as Coldplay, Fall out Boy or Arcade Fire which they could consider as role models due to their fashion style, music taste or other individual interests. They are also more likely to attend live music performances such as gigs and concerts.
Another way of presenting the social group of my magazine would be through audience profile, which I created in a form of a table:
In conclusion, I have clearly showed variety of methods which I used in order to represent the social group of my media product. I mostly accomplished this through the mise-en-scene including costumes, props, body language but also other aspects such as hair stylisation. I also taken into consideration the market segregation which helped me to identify even more aspects about the social group of my magazine through demographic, geographic and psychographic sectors.Additionally, I created an audience profile which allowed me to portray different views about my potential social group.
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