Bauer Media is a large global media company founded in 1875. It publishes over 500 magazines, including Q magazine. Q magazine focuses on rock music and was founded in 1986. It has a monthly circulation of around 48,000 and is sold for £3.99. Bauer Media uses various platforms like social media, websites and apps to promote Q magazine and expand its reach. Q magazine targets a demographic of 70% ABC1 consumers, most of whom are males between 15-24 years old.
1. OCR –
Level 3 Cambridge Introductory
Diploma in Media
Unit 01:
Analysing Media Products and
Audiences
Evidence
Name: Sophie Lyne
Candidate Number: 2084
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic
School
Center Number: 64135
Set Brief - Print
Project/Brief –
Music Magazine & Promotion
2.
3. 1. Focus Publisher and Product Slide 4
2. Ownership Structure Slide 5
3. Operating Model Slide 6
4. Brand Ideologies and Ethos Slide 7
5. Technological Convergence Slide 8
6. Associated Products Slide 9 and 10
7. Market Position Slide 11 and 12
8. Competitors Slide 13, 14 and 15
9. Front Cover Analysis Slide 16, 17 and 18
10.Double Page Analysis Slide 19
11.Contents Analysis Slide 20
12.Production process Slide 21
13.Synergy Slide 22
4. Publisher
Bauer Media group have had a turn over of over 2 billion euros and
have more than 570 newspapers, over 300 digital products and 50 TV
and radio stations. The business was started by the Bauer family 138
years ago and the CEOs of Bauer Media group and its ‘sister’ company
are David Goodchild and Paul Keenan. Their offices are located all
across Europe and in Australia. Bauer Media are now in their fifth
generation since 2010. Additionally, they now have the slogan ‘We
Think Popular’. In 2011 business area such as sales decreased but
then by 2012 they increased again and sales were 2175 million euros.
Product
Q magazine’s first issue was in October 1986 and the founders were
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth. Also it is one single letter because it
would be prominent on newsstands. EMAP used to be the publishers
but then sold it the Bauer Media Group in 2008. It is based in the UK
and has a monthly circulation and is sold at around £3.99 and it
specialises mainly in rock but also indie and alternative. Q have now
expanded into radio and TV and hold annual music awards.
Source:
Q magazine (October 2013)
http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q
5. Bauer Media is a global institution and was founded in 1875 and the
founder was Ludolph Bauer. As well as that Bauer Media are now the
largest consumer magazine publishing company in the UK. The first
magazine published was Angling Times in 1953. Bauer Media is the
sister company of H Bauer Publishing.
Source:
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/about
7. ‘We think popular’ is Bauer Media’s slogan and it’s used because they are an extremely
popular media company and Bauer are involved in millions of peoples lives daily.
Additionally, it connotes to that Bauer Media are covering a range of audiences and they
are up to date because they think ‘popular’ and people agree with this slogan because
sales have increased over the years. Bauer Media have values of and are passionate about
the product, their team, working hard and beating the competition. Lastly, Bauer Media
produce magazines with genres of music, photography, nature, sports, trains, pets,
family, cars, gossip and fashion.
Q magazine have the slogan: ‘The UK’s Biggest Music Magazine’ and it connotes that Q
have a lot of up to date content and are one of the best music magazine because of this.
To say it’s the UK’s biggest magazine is quite bold because they are mainly sold in the UK
and so they must be better than other rock and roll magazine and have huge competition
between the other companies.
Source:
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands
8. Bauer Media are in synergy with broadcast and social media websites;
such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube etc. They use Facebook and
Twitter to advertise who will be in their new issue of a certain magazine
and what else will be featured in it as well as other sections of Bauer
Media. Q magazine do have a website and you can subscribe online.
9. Bauer Media are linked to broadcasting on the radio and TV as well as
mobile and online. A few examples of their radio stations are Kerrang!,
Magic, Absolute and Kiss. Examples of their TV stations are Heat, Kerrang!,
Kiss and Magic. Their mobile and online consists of their magazines and
radio companies.
If Q magazine have a 48, 535 circulation and are sold at £3.99, that means
there is a £192, 928.47 profit over 6 months.
10. Other genres that Bauer Media do is fashion; Grazia magazine in one of them. Compared to Q
magazine, Grazia have a bigger circulation and readership, as well as a greater female and
ABC1 percentage. Although Q magazine has a monthly circulation and Grazia is weekly and Q
magazine have a higher percentage of the age range 15-24. Recently, Grazia has been sold at
around £1 and with circulation at 155, 289 that means there’s a profit of about £155, 289,
which is £37, 639.47.
Source:
http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/grazia
http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q
12. Bauer Media have
three magazines in
the top 6 rock
music magazines.
These are
Kerrang!, Mojo and
Q.
Total Net Circulation
Bauer Media
IPC Media Ltd
Music and Media
Solutions Group Limited
Total Net Circulation- Bauer
Media
Kerrang!
Mojo
Q
From this pie chart it
shows that out of the
three magazines, Q
magazine has the
second highest net
circulation.
22%
24%
54%
45%
34%
21%
Source:
http://www.ppa.co.uk/marketing/research/abc-figures-january-to-june-2013/
13. Immediate Media
Immediate Media had predecessors such as BBC Magazines
and it was founded in 2011. Also the CEO is Tom Bureau.
The companies net worth is £106,798,000.
The National Magazine Company (Nat Mags)
Nat Mags was established in 1910 by William
Randolph Hearst. Although in 2011, they merged
with Hachette Filipacchi Médias to make Hearst
Magazines UK, which is a private company. The
Hearst family now have a net worth of $35 billion.
Future Plc
It was founded in 1985 as Future
Publishing by Chris Anderson but
now it is known as Future Plc.
Additionally, they have a net worth
of £80,325,000.
Time Inc. UK
Time Inc. UK was formally known
as IPC Media and it was founded
in 1968. Time Inc. UK now have a
net worth of £211,930,000.
Condé Nast
The company was founded in
1909 by Condé Montrose Nast and
it is mass media. Samuel Irving
Newhouse operates Condé Nast
magazines and has a net worth of
$9.2 billion.
Source:
Guardian online
14. Kerrang!
Bauer Media are the publishers, like
Q, but they have a 51% readership
of ABC1 demographics whereas Q
have 70%. Also they have a higher
percentage of 15-24 years of ages.
Kerrang! have a circulation of 33,
024 and a readership if 293,000
which is lower than Q.
NME
The publisher of NME is Time Inc.
UK. NME have a circulation of
23,924 and they have a weekly
frequency. The difference is that
Q have a higher circulation and a
monthly frequency.
MOJO
MOJO’s publishers are Bauer Media and
compared to Q magazine, they have a lower
percentage of ABC1 readers, their age range is
45-54 and more of their readers are male. As
well as that, MOJO have a larger circulation
(70, 667 ) but a smaller readership (210,000).
VIBE
It used to be published by Time Inc. but
Intermedia bought VIBE. Also they have a
large circulation of 600,00. also the monthly
magazine have a readership of 863,00.
15. Advantages Disadvantages
Kerrang! They have a higher
percentage of 15-24
year old readers.
Lower circulation and
readership compared to
Q.
NME Has been around longer
than Q so they could be
known a bit more.
They have a lower
circulation than Q
magazine.
Vibe They have a higher
circulation and
readership compared to
Q magazine.
Q magazine has been
around longer, could
then possibly be more
recognisable.
Mojo They have a larger
circulation than Q.
But they have a smaller
readership than Q.
16. Main Image: The band is in front of the masthead which shows
that they are the main focus. Also because the image takes up
most of the cover it means that consumers can see the band
and know straight away who is the feature instead of having to
look at a smaller image and then recognising the band.
Strapline: By the magazine
being the ‘biggest’ it means that
it could be the most reliable and
most interesting magazine
because that could mean it’ll
have better client than other
magazines with the same genre.
Cover Lines: The bands and
artists are bigger and bolder
than the quotes and
statements because the
consumer would rather know
who is in the magazine and
then what they have said.
Main Headline: This follows convention because the headline is positioned at the
bottom of the page. By having a quote from the band saying they’re ‘chaos’ it then
links to the short phrase ‘let’s rock’. This connotes that the band can get straight back
to business by starting off with this feature and so it should persuade the customer to
purchase the magazine.
Convergence, Barcode, Price and
Month of Issue: The convergence is Q
magazine’s web address and they may
add this so people will go onto their
website and become for interested in Q
as a company and not just a magazine.
Masthead: Only has one letter
so that it stands out on
newsstands. Also it has a red
background the denotation
could mean anger because
sometimes rock and roll can
have anger or aggressive tones
in that genre of music. The
capital letter may mean that it
has authority.
Anchorage text: To link to the main
headline, what the feature could be
about. Also ‘They’re back. Let’s
rock.’ and the fact that its white
connotes that they are a blank canvas
and are ready to start touring and
making new music.
There is no puff, pug or secondary
image on the front cover. However a
puff is a shape with writing around it
and a pug is what’s inside the shape
and a secondary image is another
image on the front cover that could be
smaller, such as another band/ artist.
17. On the front cover they have the main headline in white font and
because they use an anchorage of ‘They’re back. Let’s rock.’ it
connotes that they are a blank canvas and are ready to start
touring and making new music.
Some people may find Green Day iconic because they are well
known in the music world and so because they are on the front
page, readers are going to want to buy the magazine. Although
the iconography on the front cover may not lead to think the
genre is rock because the band are wearing blazers.
The significance on the front cover is that they probably used a
green background specifically because of the band. Also because
red and green are complimentary colours, the red masthead will
stand out more so Q magazine will be more recognisable.
18. The purpose of the magazine is to inform and educate (Katz) so the
consumer learns something from buying the magazine with the
content on keeping them up to date on upcoming tours, artists and
they feature exclusive interviews. Furthermore, most of the content
is to do with rock and roll which is the genre of the magazine. The
form and style is simple by using main colours of black, white and
some red. As well as that the font style is simple and this could
appeal to the reader because it would be easier for them to read the
magazine.
19. Issue month
and year/ Page
number/ logo:
It is consistent
throughout the
magazine and is
important so
that Q can
become even
more
recognisable.
No distinctive separations of
who is speaking: a band
member is usually introduced at
the beginning of a sentence: Set
out more like a story rather than
an interview.
Quote from one of the band
members: From this the reader can
get an insight about what is included
in the interview and what they will
talk about. For example, they could
use this quote because the cover story
is about their comeback and it
explains part of their story.
Drop Capital: They use the drop
capital to then go into a different
section of the interview, such as
talking about a different topic.
Also they may use the colour red
to keep it the same as the
masthead and to stand out against
the white background.
Caption to
support images:
They would have
captions to
support images
so the reader has
more of an
insight on why
the magazine
have included
them and what
relevance it may
have to the cover
story.
Main image and
smaller images: Q
magazine may
have chose images
of the band
performing and
being together
because the story
is all about their
comeback and so
the images can
convey this story.
20. Some reviews are about new albums such as Arctic Monkeys and The Manics and so this would
inform the reader on whether they should buy the album. Also the cover story is the biggest on
the contents page because it’s the main focus in the magazine and so they are going to want the
reader to be drawn there to then find out what page(s) it is on.
They show the double page
spread article at the top because
it’s the most important story.
Article name in read so that it
would stand out against the page
number and information.
Page number in balk and bold
so it is easy for the reader to
see what page they need to
go to.
The reviews have their own
section because they have
different categories. For example,
new albums and live.
21. The standard steps to producing a magazine are:
1. Set a date for publication.
2. Manage a schedule to prevent any mishaps: also it is to keep on track and can
publish the magazine on time.
3. Editorial and budgetary decisions: at this stage editors can decide on how the
money will be spent during the production and features in the magazine.
4. The content of the magazine to be planned: without any content there would be
no magazine so during this step the company decide what will be featured and
then journalists will start interviews and researching.
5. Sub- editing: is important because this is when the company need to make sure all
the facts are right and then needing to sort out house style and colours.
6. Page Layout: this is important because it needs to look interesting and make the
consumer want to buy it.
7. Proofreading: so there are no mistakes in the magazine.
8. Printing the magazine.
9. Distribution: When the magazine is sent out to stores and newsstands to be sold.
The writers and editors of Q magazine are: Chris Catchpole, Matt Mason, Niall
Doherty, Paul Strokes, Phil Alexander, Simon McEwen and Ted Kessler.
Source: http://hosbeg.com/the-magazine-production-process/
22. Q magazine use social media such as, Twitter and Facebook.
This is so Q magazine can let their readers know what is
coming up in the next issue and to keep their readers
interested.
Also, you can get Q magazine online and as an app so they can
expand on a worldwide scale and then they can possibly get
more readers.
Moreover, throughout the magazine, they mainly advertise/
promote any up coming gigs or albums and then where you can
buy any tickets and what the best songs are on the album.
23.
24. 1. Demographics Slide 25
2. Audience Theories Slide 26 and 27
3. Primary Research Slide 28-33
4. Secondary Research Slide 34
25. Q magazine has a demographic of 70% ABC1 consumers and has more of a
male readership. Also their age range is young with the highest
percentage being 35.5% with 15-24 years of age. In this age range the
spending power will be quite low because the majority could still be
students and so they wouldn’t earn a lot of money if they have a job.
http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q
26. Uses and Gratifications (Katz)
This theory is about how everyone uses the media
differently and that they make their own choices on
what they want to do. When doing so, they are
supposed to get gratification instead of just reading or
watching something. The readers in Q magazine would
be a variation of inform and educate as well as
diversion because from reviews and other information
they can learn something and some readers may be
intrigued with what’s in the story or interviews.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
This theory is about how people are motivated to
achieve specific needs and once they do this, they try
to achieve the next need up, like a pyramid. of Q
magazine would more likely to be explorers because
these are the people influenced by social change and Q
include features of (for example) what bands/artists
will be doing next.
27. Demographics
Socio-economic needs is groups with people
out into groups due to what their job is. For Q
magazine, the socio-economics is mainly ABC1
and this is shown on Bauer Media’s website
saying that it is 70% and so the rest would
probably be an E group because students
would also read this magazine.
Psychographics
This is about stereotyping and what sort of
people go into each category depending on
what they look like and how they act.
Consumers of Q magazine would mainly be
men and look possibly quite dark and grunge
looking. Also they would be young readers
because you don’t get many old people
listening or reading about rock.
29. After getting results from my survey,
apart from one person, it tells me
that 7 of the 8 are 16 so students
may buy magazines, possibly in
music.
Furthermore, the majority of the
people are female which could
mean that females could buy more
magazines than men.
30. Looking at the results it shows that 28.57% only buy magazines on a monthly
basis and 71.43% do not buy one often. This could be because they may not like
the specific content in the issue or the magazine they do buy has a monthly
circulation.
With the main genre being linked to rock, collectively 50% buy a rock magazine
and the remaining percentage buy a pop magazine. From this you could say that
the people from the survey prefer rock music compared to pop or rap.
31. After seeing why people buy
magazines, it is because of the
general interest which is in that
issue. Additionally, only 14.29% buy
an issue because of the information
so from this you could say that
conventions such as images are more
important.
Anyone who answered other from
question 5 had gave these reason which
are on the right and as well as other
conventions, such as images,
advertisements are important as well.
32. When it comes to buying a magazine the price is important because no one really
wants to spend a lot and after asking this question it proves this due to that fact
that 71.43% said they would only spend £1-2 and it could be because even though
the magazine may have good content, they may not want to spend all their money
on one magazine.
In some magazines there’s usually a chance to get a free gift and when asked, no
one said no which means that buyers of specific magazines wouldn’t mind getting a
free gift as well as a magazine they enjoy reading.
33. After getting reason why they would be
persuaded to buy a magazine with a
free gift is mainly because it is free and
the fact that would wouldn’t want one.
Also others think they would maybe buy
the magazine but it depends on what it
is so any magazine deciding on what
free gift to add, it would more likely
have to be reverent in peoples daily
lives.
For the last question it would be
important to know why people would buy
a magazine and the main answers were
that there had to be a lot of pictures so
then it would be more appealing to the
consumer and that the information has
to be relevant and include updates which
means if it doesn’t people wouldn’t be
interested in buy the magazine.
34. “Q’s ACCESS is REMARKABLE and UNRIVALLED – Paul Rees
was granted exclusive access to a week’s life on he road with The Boss - Bruce
Springsteen.”
“97% of readers rate Q as a QUALITY magazine. In research
it outperforms competitors on measures such as best interviews,
writing and AWARD WINNING photography.”
“Mark, 29, says he loves reading Q to discover new music.”
From these reviews it tells us that the readers of Q think that it is a quality
magazine and the reason that it is so successful is that they include content
that other magazines that may not be able to get the same information. More
over, with the statistic of 97% proves that it is one of the best due to various
conventions which the consumer would be most interested in such as the text
and images.
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/uploads/Q-MediaPack-2011.pdf
37. Viral Marketing- it’s a marketing technique where companies will send information
electronically and for it to be viral it has to have hundreds and thousands of hits.
Guerrilla Marketing- this is an unconventional form of marketing and is done in an
unexpected way.
TV adverts- when a company advertise on the TV.
Radio adverts- a company advertising on the radio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iccscUFY860 Is an example of a TV advert (John
Lewis Christmas advert; Monty the penguin) and also vial marketing because it was
broadcast on the TV and has currently 19,601,544 views.
The picture is an example of guerrilla marketing because it is
advertising watches in an unexpected way.
38. Q magazine is advertised through social media and on the TV (E-Media). This way they can give a
visual on what is featured in the magazine and so it could interest the consumer more. As well
as that Q have a radio show on Absolute Radio every Sunday and so they probably advertise their
magazine during the broadcast.
In terms of marketing, Q magazine use below the line because they have a synergetic
relationship with twitter and Facebook. They use these platforms so they can promote upcoming
features in the next issue. Q magazine do not use above the line marketing a lot because you do
not usually have billboards promoting magazines.
http://absoluteradio.co.uk/schedule/the-q-radio-show-151/
Vogue magazine use above the line
marketing to promote their
magazine. Music magazines do not
tend to be promoted in this way.
39. Q magazine is mainly in the UK but you can either subscribe to have a print
copy or a digital copy and this can be available around the world, up to 230
countries. If you subscribe for a print magazine you can get it delivered
straight to your house and it is also before it goes into shops. As well as
that you can sometimes get discounts and free gifts that you wouldn’t get
at the shops. Most of Q magazine is published in English and not other
languages.
40.
41. 1. Q Magazine’s Impact and Effect on the Audience Slide 42
2. Relevant Issues on Representation Slide 43
3. Copyright Slide 44
4. Legal Issues Slide 45
5. Royalties Slide 46
6. Ethical Issues Slide 47
7. Complaint Slide 48
8. Q’s Complaint Procedure Slide 49
9. Role of Relevant Regulatory Bodies Slide 50
42. Q magazine influences the strongest influential people in their social group and so
that is one of the impacts on the audience because then other people in their group
will also want to buy Q magazine so then Q’s sales will increase. Additionally, Q
magazine include content which is more on a mature level so it appeals to it’s
majority age range of 24-35 years and so conversations will be about this so in a way
Q magazine are getting more recognition and the people who don’t read Q magazine
may start to after knowing what sort of content they include. One theory that
explains the effect is the hypodermic needle theory because once people read an
article in a music magazine, they would start to believe it because they don’t have
any other information and so music magazines like Q will have an immediate impact
and effect on the audience.
43. Stereotype- A person or thing that conforms to a widely held but
oversimplified image of the class or type to which they belong. For example,
topics on age, gender, race and religion.
For Q magazine their stereotypical audience/readership are people who are
from the male majority aged at least 20 years and above. Additionally, these
people would more likely have a white ethnicity and their look would be
quite casual, for example jeans, plain t-shirts, trainers and possibly a messy
sort of hairstyle.
This front cover of Q magazine is an example of the
stereotype because Damon Albarn looks like the type of
male who would buy this magazine.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/stereotype
44. Copyright- is when there is a legal right which lasts for a certain
amount of years so you can’t print, publish, perform, film, or record
literary, artistic or musical material that already exists.
Since the copyright law changed in 1998, the employee (for example
writers and photographers) have their own rights for photocopying
from a paper version and reproduction in a book. Then the
employer(s) have rights for everything else.
Throughout Q magazine, there are copyright laws and even when
advertising, you can see the copyright symbol. For example, Jack
Daniel’s advertising has the copyright symbol and the year date.
http://www.copyright.com.au/members/claim-payments/are-you-entitled-to-claim/staff-journalists
45. The link http://media.gn.apc.org/fl/1005grab.html is about how Bauer Media wanted
freelances who worked for them to sign a contract which would take away their rights
and that Bauer can use their work whenever they want without referencing any of
them so then they would lose money. Also because it wouldn’t be right in a business
sense, many workers will not sign the contract and so Bauer could lose workers who
work for the three music magazines who are best-known music writers and
photographers as well as the reliable editors.
As well as that, this time last year Tom Cruise had tried to sue Bauer Publishing for
writing an article about him abandoning his daughter when Tom’s lawyer said it was a
“vicious lie”. He sued Bauer for a defamation and sought compensation for £31 million
($50 million). After a year, Tom Cruise dropped the case because the magazines had
done their research and proved that Tom didn’t see his daughter often and so Tom
didn’t have much of a chance convincing that it was not true to the jury. Therefore it
was a unsuccessful lawsuit.
Even though Bauer Media have been involved in legal issues of their own and that
lawsuit got dropped; Q magazine hasn’t been involved in any legal issues, such as
copyright or defamation issues.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/nov/06/tom-cruise-sues-bauer-magazines-for-50m
46. The NLA are a newspaper licensing company which sell copying
licenses to newspapers and now magazine contents. Also royalties
is when a magazine has included content which is copyrighted and
if someone else includes this information then they have to pay
the original magazine. Therefore, NLA ensures that each publisher
get their royalties. Q magazine and other magazines owned by
Bauer Media are subscribe to the NLA.
http://nlaroyalties.co.uk/faq/
http://www.nlamediaaccess.com/uploads/public/What%20we%20cover/NLA%20MA%20Magazine%20List.pdf
47. If there’s a problem or situation which requires a person or group to
choose whether the alternatives are right (ethical) or wrong
(unethical).
When producing magazines, companies have to follows rules so once
published and sold, it will not cause harm or offence to any
consumers. One of them is that “Particular care must be taken to
avoid causing offence on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual
orientation, disability or age. Compliance will be judged on the
context, medium, audience, product and prevailing standards.”.
If there was any ethical issues, it could be that younger artists are
featured more often compared to older artists.
http://www.cap.org.uk/advertising-codes/~/media/Files/CAP/Codes%20CAP%20pdf/The%20CAP%20Code.ashx
48. When there is a female artist on the cover, like the ones below, there
is a usually a seductive value and it wouldn’t put across a good
message to anyone who is of a young age and I doubt many parents
would want to see their children looking a front covers like this. Even
though the one in the middle of Cheryl Cole isn’t as revealing, there is
still a female, flirtatious look about the image.
49. If you subscribe to Q magazine via Great Magazines and you are not
happy, then you can follow a complaint procedures. On the webpage
there are 3 steps you can follow. The first step is looking at previous
FAQ’s to see whether there is any help on there. After that if you are
satisfied with what they include on the FAQ’s then you can contact a
team leader or write to a subscriber services. Finally, the last step is
when you are still not satisfied with steps 1 and 2 so you can write to
head of customer retention at Bauer Media and this is where they
receive your complaint and a senior member of staff will reply as
soon as possible.
http://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/complaints-procedure
50. When it comes to creating magazines, there is an editors code of practise:
Clause 1-Acuracy
- The press are not allowed to publish any inaccurate or misleading pictures and
information.
- If it is then they must correct it as quickly as possible and also publish an apology.
- Publishes must state the difference between comment, conjecture and fact.
- The publication must have a fair and accurate report for the action od defamation
unless an agree settlement is published or agreed otherwise.
Clause 12- Discrimination
- The press must not publish anything that is prejudicial to an individual’s race,
colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any mental and/or physical ability.
- It must always be avoided unless it is relevant to the story.
Clause 14-Confidential sources
- All journalists have a moral accountability to protect any confidential sources of
information.
https://www.ipso.co.uk/IPSO/cop.html