Proposal for Regional Magazine

Title:iLondon

Format:A4, A3, colourAlso available on iPad and iPhone

Target audience:Based on our primary research that we have carried out, we have decided to aim our regional magazine towards the target audience of 15-25 year olds. This is because we found a gap in the market for a regional magazine in London aimed towards a youthful generation. There are currently no magazines which offer a regional magazine specifically for this age group. Time Out magazine are more national based rather than regional, and appeal to more of a mass market. Our magazine will be aimed towards a unisex audience; therefore our magazine will include topics that will be appropriate to both genders such as music, food & drink, fashion, things to do, arts and education because these are universal topics. Therefore, our magazine aims to fill a niche in the market that will satisfy our customers. Our magazine will be specifically aimed towards people living in London. However, commuters in particular will identify (uses and gratification) our regional magazine from locations such as bus stops and tube stations. This will give them information (uses and gratification) in regards to price and content. We would expect our consumers to come be either still in education or working and will be likely to come from a working to middle class background. This is because the topics in our magazine will appeal to people of the social-economic scale; for example they would be able to afford to go to take part in activities that are being spoken about in our magazine. For example in our food and drink section, we will be advertising places where the target audience can go to enjoy food and drink in which we expect our target audience to take on board. This is because we want to the hypodermic needle theory so when our target audience read our article, they are enticed which will make them want to visit the places which we represent in our articles.

Target audience profile:Name: Holly-Anna ValavaniAge: 17Gender: FemaleEthnicity: GreekClass/status: Middle class. Lives in palmers Green. Mother works full time as a teacher. Hobbies: Dancing and actingInterests: Shopping, eating/dining, going to the theatre, socialising, photography, watching films – in particular teenage chick flicks and romantic comedies e.g. Bridget Jones Diary. Favourite magazines: Heat, Time Out, Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire

Name: James AndersonAge: 25Gender: MaleEthnicity: EnglishClass/status: Middle class. Works as a junior accountant earning approximately £30,000 per annum. Hobbies: Tennis, writes soft rock music and plays guitarInterests: watching films – action movies such as Fast and Furious, socialising, sports, music

Favourite magazines: Vibe magazine, NME, Time Out

Circulation:The circulation of our regional magazine will be distributed to the public on a monthly basis. The regional magazine will be distributed in newsagents across London, for example independent newsagents and chain newsagents e.g. WHSmith. We expect to reach circulation figures of at least 250,000 in order for our product to gain a good revenue. Also, we will have a website for our magazine and will make our product available online through web 2.0. This is easily accessible for the target audience as the majority of our target audience, being young people will have access to the internet and therefore will be attracted to the fact they can view the magazine online as it is convenient and saves them having to go out to the shop to buy it. This will therefore increase readership. We will also have an app for our magazine to be used on smart phones. This is an example of convergent technology and is effective in gaining a wider target audience as the majority of the young target audience own smart phones and would be attracted to the use of technology. To add, London has the highest number of smart phone users in the UK showing how the city are hugely dependent on technology and use it as a part of their everyday lives. Therefore, as our target audience is aiming towards Londoners, the use of an app will be an appealing way for the target audience to view the magazine.

Price:From carrying out primary market research of our graph analysis, we were able to identify that the majority of our target audience are willing to purchase a regional magazine for £2.50-£3.00. We have come to the conclusion that we will price our magazine at £2.50. This is because this is what is in our target audience’s price range; therefore we would like to satisfy our consumer’s needs. As we aim to appeal to a youthful target audience, we do not expect them to spend large amounts on our magazine which is why we have also decided to distribute our magazine monthly as it will not be expensive for them. This heightens our chances of gaining a higher customer base. Also, the content in our magazine will reflect the price, for example anything being advertised in the magazine, such in the ‘things to do’ section there will offers and deals on things being advertised which meets the needs of our target audience and ensures that they can afford to do what is being advertised, which will then attract them to the magazine. For example, Holly-Anna Valavani from our target audience profile, will identify sales and offers in the fashion section and will therefore be attracted to the magazine and will want to read on and find out more information (uses and gratification) as she can afford the clothes being advertised. If expensive designer brands were being advertised in the fashion section, this would not appeal to our target audience as they cannot afford to buy this. Therefore, it is important the content of our magazine correlates with the price we are offering our magazine at.

House Style:The house style for our regional magazine will centre on the iconic colours of the Union Jack flag; red, blue and white. We chosen this colour scheme because we feel that it will appeal to our target audience as they will be able to identify (uses and gratification) the fact that our media product is a regional magazine focused on London.

Our logo will include the title of our magazine, iLondon. We have chosen this because the ‘i’ represents one of the most iconic landmarks of the city of London – The London Eye. It connotes the concept of youth as a lower case ‘i’ is associated with Apple technology such as the iphone, ipad, imac etc. This is not only popular with young adults and youth, but young web industries for example young web based industries. The logo will appear on every page

in the bottom right hand corner, along with the page number. We will fade the opacity of the logo so the page number is visible and stands out when we place the page number on top of the logo.

We have decided to do this as we feel it will create an edgy effect for our youthful target audience. We will be using different types of typography throughout our regional magazine. Firstly, our headings for our articles will be of a bold font to connote sophistication for our older audience range. We will then have a regular, clear font so it is legible for our target audience to read. In addition, this type of typography is stereotypically associated with articles, therefore conventional to our genre. The typography of our page numbers and website will correlate with the title of our magazine, therefore emphasising our house style.

Within the contents page, we have decided to slant the title of the page in the left hand corner which will remain consistent throughout all issues of the regional magazine. We will have secondary images that will relate to the articles featured in each individual issue. These will be placed in the right hand column in the rule of thirds. On the left hand column of the page, we will have other page numbers along with headlines of the articles that will feature in each issue. On the top third of the left hand side of the contents page, we will have an ‘Editors note’, with another secondary image of the editor, as this is conventional to our genre. On the first page of every issue of the magazine, there will be a full page advert to correspond with the feature article.

ContentOur regional magazine will feature regular monthly articles focusing on music, food, fashion, film, arts and education in London. There will be different issues which will also include feature articles every month that will relate to one of the regular topics.

Content specific:Each team member will create a separate issue of our magazine and a separate feature article.Sophia will be focusing on food markets in London, in particular Whitecross market, which is a popular and well-known market for Londoners. This topic will appeal to those who enjoy going out to eat and going to food markets as this provides a cheap alternative option for food.

Sara’s feature article will be focused on music. She will focus her article on a regional independent band in London and will include an interview with them. Melis will be focusing on education in her feature article and will include an interview with Stephen Twigg MP.

Aaliyah will be focusing on deserts in London; focusing on milkshakes and deserts as it is seasonal and links to the summer issue of the magazine. She will review people’s opinions of the deserts and will give a rating out of five to show the audience the best ice-cream parlours in London. This topic will appeal to young people in the summer especially because it is their summer holidays therefore they are always looking for things to do. The information on the article will be appealing to them because it is affordable and connects with their needs.

Competition: Our magazine does not have much competition as there are currently no existing regional magazines that are aimed towards 15-25 year olds. However, we face competition from Time Out magazine as this is a regional magazine focused on London. They distribute their magazine on a weekly basis for free across London and market their magazine at commuters and tourists. Time Out focus on a variety of topics including Film, Shopping & Style, Eating & Drinking, Theatre & Dance, London’s top ten, Art and Music and Clubs. However, our magazine differs from Time Out as we will include an education topic for the young target audience. This is a topic not featured in Time Out’s magazine; therefore we will attract customers by having this included in our magazine. To add, our magazine will differ as it aims to target a niche target audience of 15-25 year olds.

USPThe USP of iLondon is that the magazine is targeting a youthful target audience of those aged from 15-25 year olds. This makes our target audience unique and original as there are currently no regional magazines that are aimed towards this age group. To add, the topic on education will be included in our magazine every month which makes our magazine unique as while we are aiming to attract and entertain a young target audience, we are also aiming to educate them and inform them on what they should know in terms of education.