Category: Creative Critical Reflection 1

I have written a letter to a future A-Level media student explaining the skills they will develop throughout this course. My letter is shown below:

MP3 RECORDING:

Here is my MP3 voice recording of myself reading my letter out, incase your preference would be to listen instead.

This is my screen castify answering CCR2.

VIBE is a music magazine that I have designed and created myself. I have spent a good period of time preparing by planning and completing photoshoots, researching my targeted audience and what they acquire from the product, creating a magazine name and planning what information goes into the magazine in order to keep my audience engaged. My music magazine is called VIBE, the genre is 90’s pop that focuses on that specific era of music, the newest pop stars and upcoming album release dates. My magazine is fun and inspiring that intends to interest and excite others so that it can maximize its target audience and become successful. 

VIBE is a creative, fun, new to the market magazine that is bright and colorful so that it exemplifies the bold, energeticness of the genre and attracts others so that they want to know more. VIBE focuses on the power of the 90s era of music including interviews from famous pop stars during that time as well as showing what they have accomplished between then and now. We will be keeping you up to date with the latest information on new upcoming albums and singles as well the release of tour dates. VIBE as a brand aims to produce an inspiring, uplifting product that encourages young people and adults to be confident and happy within themselves and achieve this through the love of music. We are very passionate about our content and what we have created and hope that others love it too.

In order to find who my target audience are and the typical age range for my magazine I had to do some research. I used a website called YouGov which provided me with relevant information and statistics, furthermore the age range for VIBE are young adults aged between 35-44 who enjoy listening to famous pop artists such as Spice Girls, Mariah Carey and Cyndi Lauper. My specific target audience also enjoy attending festivals and concerts.

The uses and gratification theory by Blumer and Katz is used to understand the motivations I chose in order to engage my target audience. I used four different elements to do this, these included;

Entertainment/Diversion- My music magazine is aimed to entertain my target audience by containing relevant contextuality relative to my genre and content. My target audience can escape from their everyday lives and engage in positive, uplifting content by reading my article on my double page spread. This includes a story of a young individual called Zoe Carre that pursues her dreams through consistent hard work and positive attitude and portrays the message that anything is possible through working hard and commitment. 

Social Interaction- There are many opportunities to socially interact within my magazine. For example inviting questions within my magazine to engage my audience.

Personal Identity- There are many ways within my magazine that allow my target audience to express their personal identity. For example, my double page spread features Zoe Carre expressing her ideas and beliefs. She speaks about following her dreams and overall overcoming adversity within our current society. This then allows my audience to be inspired and motivated within themselves.

Information/Surveillance-My contents page provides applicable information that informs the audience about what topics they should expect throughout the magazine. This also includes captions of where you will find the models shown and what story is associated with them. I also included a release date for an upcoming album from my main cover star.

Secondly, AIDA refers to a marketing strategy which consists of a process where you attract your target audience to your magazine. This includes Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. I will now explain how I have used these strategies within my magazine. For example, Attention, you need to grab the attention of your target audience by making the product bold and interesting so that it stands out. Interest, making your magazine interesting is key to creating a wider audience, if your magazine doesn’t contain information that is exciting, interesting and eye-catching then others won’t purchase it as they won’t be intrigued. Desire, my magazine was made desirable to my specific audience. I have done this by creating a free Mariah Carey CD and using this on the front page of my magazine to help engage and involve my audience. Finally, Action, this is where I made an action of producing and putting the work into my magazine in order to make it professional and successful. 

With regards to how I distribute my magazine, I would love to work with Bauer Publishing as they are the UK’s biggest selling magazine publisher. I would love the opportunity for them to assist me in publishing my own music magazine and making it iconic and influential on my target audience. My preference would be this company as my magazine fits in well with their existing publications, for example ‘HEAT’ and ‘YOURS’ magazines both are aimed at women as is mine, they also both include topics on fashion, beauty, music and empowering women. These magazines are near enough both aimed at the same target audience as mine and fit into the exact target market as my product, this is why this distributor is a great choice for my magazine. Bauer own 5 different radio stations across the UK which is an advantage for me as it will give me the opportunity to benefit from cross media convergence, for example using different media platforms to promote my magazine. 

I hope to attract as many advertisers as I can, preferably ‘Doc Martens’ as this brand is hugely influential on my specific target audience and receives huge revenue which could potentially increase if I was to use one of their advertisements within this magazine, I believe this could happen as I have a wider audience to provide content for which means they will be inspired and more inclined to purchase. I would also like to attract the brand ‘Nike’ was hugely influential during the era of my magazine and is loved by many, specifically my age range of audience. I believe this would have a huge impact on my magazine and their own brand as profits will increase and so will the value of their brand. For example, when researching for my two adverts I made sure I understood which adverts would fit my demographic audience best and which ones they would find interesting, my first advert includes pop singer Rita Ora, she is popular during the pop music industry and attracts many audiences of my age group. Secondly, I chose an advert that features Doc Marten boots as this is a huge fashion trend during the era of my magazine which will gain interest by many within my target audience.

I have decided to distribute my magazine digitally, this is because my target audience is aimed at young adults and fits my demographics as online platforms are mainly used by my specific age range of audience. By distributing my magazine digitally I will potentially widen my audience and gain increased sales because social media and online platforms are used daily by my target audience. Statistics show that 68% of magazines are being sold through online sales rather than a printed magazine bought through shops. I am confident this is the best decision for my product as sales will increase more and I will gain a higher profits from this. To assist with my magazine surviving in the current digital age I will promote my product through the use of different social media platforms as I am guaranteed others will see it.

My response to CCR1 is shown below.

A Media Diet refers to the time we spend infront of our ‘screens’, and what type of media we consume whether it’s movies, games, online shopping, messaging apps and so on. We all consume media in different ways and some we don’t even realise.

Everyone has their own media diet, this is mine. I use Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat for personal entertainment as well as information and communication, I can use these apps for messaging as well as keeping up to date with social media influencers and most of the time celebrity news. Pretty Little Thing, ASOS and Shein I use for personal identity as these apps allow me to choose my own style of clothing which links into what I like to wear and having my own fashion sense. I added Netflix and Disney+ which I use for personal entertainment which allows me to enjoy series, movies and documentries.

I have learnt that when I come to do my music magazine I will consider all these aspects of why people enjoy using media on a daily basis as I will be sure to include these when I come to do my music magazine as I want to make it as successful as I possibly can.