1. OCR –
Level 3 Cambridge Introductory Diploma in
Media
Unit 13:
Planning and Pitching a Print based Media
Product
P1 Evidence
Name: Carmel Seager
Candidate Number: 4127
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number:64135
Set Brief - Print
Project/Brief –
Music Magazine & Promotion
2.
3. Slide No. Contents
3 Contacting Bauer Media
4 Bauer Media Group
5 About the magazine
6 About the magazine
7 Similar products/ Genre
8 Production process of a
magazine
9 Form and style of the magazine
10 Denotations and connotations of
Q- Contents page
11 Denotations and connotations of
Q- Front cover
Slide No. Contents
12 Denotations and connotations of
Q- Double page spread
13 Target audience
14 Relationship between magazine
and consumer
15 Q magazine website
16 Social Media
17 Advertising of magazine
18 Advertising of magazine
19 Advertising within the magazine
rates
20 Advertising inside the magazine
21 Conclusion
LO1- Contents page
4. Contacting Bauer Media
Before I started my research into the magazine I contacted Bauer Media to help me with my
research for the magazine. This was in hope to get a deeper insight in the way that they
produce a monthly magazine. This would help me to expand my knowledge and research. I
asked a few questions in hope to get a reply back with the answers.
Unfortunately I never received a reply to see the production process of the specific magazine,
but with my knowledge of the simple standard production process of a magazine I will be able
to apply this to my research instead.
5. Key Job Roles within institution:
Senior editor- Matt Mason
Art director- Daniel Knight
Associate editor (Prod.)- Simon McEwen
Associate editor (Features)- Ted Kessler
Associate editor (Revs)- Niall Doherty
Associate editor (Digital)- Paul Stokes
Now editor- Chris Catchpole
Associate copy editor- Matt Yates
Art editor- Salman Naqvi
Pictures- Dave Brolan
Picture researcher- Ian Whent
Editor at large- Mark Blake
Managing editor- Harriet Southgate
Editor – in chief /Associate publisher- Phil
Alexander
(Source: Q magazine)
About the publisher:
Bauer Media is a UK based media group with many platforms, divided into two main
sections- Radio and Magazine. The magazine started in 1933 when Angling Times was
launched, since then the business has grown rapidly to become one of the biggest multi-
platform media groups in the UK. Selling over 300 different magazines in 15 countries. Now
Bauer Media spans over 80 influential magazines. (Source: http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/about)
Bauer Media Group
6. About the magazine
The masthead:
The title of Q magazine was originally going to be called ‘Cue’
this was to stand for ‘cueing the record’. The title was then
changed to Q because the founders thought that the
magazine could be misinterpreted as a snooker magazine.
The use of a one letter title makes the magazine more
memorable and stand out compared to any other magazine
on the shelves because it is a short, snappy title.
The strapline:
The strapline of the magazine is ‘The worlds greatest
magazine.’ this highlights that the magazine is one of the
leaders in the music magazine industry. This can connote that
the magazine strives to always be one of the leaders, if not
the leading brand of music magazine. The strapline can also
connote that the magazine believes itself to be the only
important magazine in the industry, meaning that none of
the other magazines compare to Q.
Frequency of the magazine:
The frequency of Q magazine is monthly, each new edition is
released at the end of each month ready for the next month.
The magazine will take a month to produce all the content
that needs to go into the magazine.
7. The date of first publication:
Q magazine was first published in October 1986 by EMAP
media group. Becoming different to its competitors by
adding more printing, photography and being one of the
only magazines to publish monthly.
Product associated with Q magazine:
Mojo and Empire are also magazines owned by the
Bauer Media Group which could be associated with Q
magazine. (Source: http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands/#)
Readership and Circulation:
Q magazine has a huge readership within the UK hitting
figures within the 300,000 point last year. The circulation
of the magazine is also very high with 48,000.
(Source: http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q)
About the magazine
Brand Extensions:
Q magazine has expanded their brand by branching out
to new platforms of media to gain more customers.
Some of these brand extensions include:
The Q Awards, Qmusic.com and Q for iPad.
The Q Awards:
The Q awards first began in 1990. They are one of the
most famous UK music awards. Celebrating and
awarding achievements within the music business.
QMusic.com:
On the website there is information included such as
news within the music business, they also run their
own festival called Bigsound in Australia. On the
website people can find all the information on the
festival including the acts performing, the dates and
the location.
Q for iPad:
In 2012 Q launched an app version of the magazine.
This helped them to reach a wider audience and keep
up to date with the changing technology in the world.
On this app it also includes interactive features such as
videos and more photos.
8. Similar products to Q magazine
Genre of the magazine
Kerrang! Magazine
Kerrang! Magazine is also published by Bauer
Media group, this is also a music magazine. But
this magazine focuses on the rock genre.
The magazine has featured ‘stars’ such as
Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Paramore
and 30 seconds to mars.
Mojo Magazine
Mojo magazine is published by Bauer Media
Group, similar to the other products it is also a
music magazine. Very similarly to Kerrang! It is a
classic rock magazine.
The magazine has featured ‘stars’ such as Bob
Dylan, John Lennon and The Beatles.
The genre of the magazine is mixed with a main focus on indie, a magazine that is very similar to Q
magazine is The Wire, this is also a indie magazine covering different types of music genres within the
content.
Genre “constitutes the particular conventions of content”
– Daniel Chandler
With my magazine the conventions relate to the themes of
indie music. Steve Neale (1980) states that “genres are
instances of repetition and difference” and so I have
chosen to ‘repeat’ some of the main conventions displayed
by Q magazine but I have developed these to create
something ‘different’.
9. Production process of a magazine:
Date of publication-
The date of which the final product will be released to public is
decided.
Managing the schedule-
The team create a schedule that needs to strongly be followed to
make sure that the release of the magazine is successful.
Editorial and budgeting decision-
The editorial decision is the point where the team decide what
topics will be covered within the new magazine. The budgeting
decision is when the team decides how much money is available to
the magazine.
Content Acquisition-
This is the most important process of producing a magazine. All the
content that will be included in the magazine is gathered.
Sub-editing-
This step focuses on quality control, making sure that all the facts,
spelling and grammar etc. are correct.
Page layout-
The layout staff decide the most suitable layout for the content.
Proof reading-
A team check all the text and make corrections if needed.
File emailed to the printer-
The final product is sent to the printing company to print.
Distribution-
The printing company package the magazines and send them to a
warehouse to be distributed to the stores.
10. Form and style of the magazine
Dimensions/Size of Q Magazine:
Through researching Q magazine I have found out that the dimensions of the print version of the magazine is
approximately 30.6 x 22.2 x 1.2 cm. This is around the average size of a magazine, where as the dimensions of the
online version depends on the device that the content is being read on.
Print and Digital:
Q magazine publish their magazine in print and online format, this means that they are giving their audience a
variety of ways to see the content. On the website they advertise their subscription, targeting this at a younger
audience as this means they would get a discount. This is also helps Q to ensure that in the months of low sales
they will still have some income from the pre paid subscription sales.
Style of Q Magazine:
The style of Q magazine is very consistent throughout the whole magazine, this includes font, page layout and
images that are used. By having this consistency of house style it raises the brand awareness of the magazine.
This is because the more the audience see the colours red, white and black they could think of the magazine.
As well as it makes the magazine unique to any other magazine as no other magazine uses this house style of
colours, fonts and layouts.
11. Denotations and connotations of Q magazine
Contents page
On the contents page of the magazine it shows the main stories that are
included in the magazine. On each one there is a little explanation of what
each story includes to sell the story and make the audience want to find the
page to read it.
On the next page there is a ‘editors letter’ the editor explains the process
that they went through to create the specific edition of the magazine. At the
end including ‘enjoy the issue’. This could create a friendly atmosphere to the
reader.
Page number
Brief description
of story
Image of article subject
Summary of page content
12. Denotations and connotations of Q magazine
Masthead
The denotation of the masthead is ‘Q’. The way the font is large
and bold connotes that the magazine is a powerful one.
Main headline
The denotation of the headline
is ‘OASIS NOEL: “THERE WAS A
LOT OF TRAUMA…”
This could connote that the
main story is going to be
dramatic and the audience will
want to read it.
Cover lines
There are many cover lines
on this magazine, this could
connote that this magazine
has many important stories
within it that the public
would be interested in
reading.
Main image
The denotation of the shot type for
the main image is a close up. The
technical code of the close up could
connote that the audience is going
to get a close up of the story.
Convergence- website
The denotation of the convergence
is the website link. This connotes to
the audience that they could find
out more about the magazine by
going on the website.
Strapline
The denotation of the strap
line is ‘The world’s greatest
music magazine’. The verbal
code ‘The world’s greatest
music magazine’ connotes that
the public should not buy any
other magazine.
Front Cover
13. Denotations and connotations of Q magazine
Double page spread
Drop Capital:
The denotation of
the drop capital at
the beginning of
the article helps
break up the text.
As well as connotes
to the audience
where to start
reading.
Main Image:
The main image denotes a picture of
the band Oasis. This connotes to the
audience that the article is about
Oasis in the past.
Stand first:
The denotation of the stand first in this example is a short
amount of information on the band. This connotes to the
audience quick information about them.
Quote from interview:
The denotation of the quote
from the interview is a quote
from Noel Gallagher. This
connotes to the audience what
the interview is about and gains
the interest of the audience.
Page number:
The page number
on the bottom of
the page helps the
reader to go
straight to the
interview from the
contents page if
they wanted.
14. The target audience: varies from young teens to young adults, with ages from approximately 15-
24 being the most popular age range to read the magazine. (Hartley’s 7 subjectivities)
This is because of the content within the magazine, as it doesn’t have a specific genre of music. As
well as, the people that feature in the magazine would appeal to this age.
The gender of the audience is mainly male, this could be explained by the advertisements and
layout of the magazine being aimed to males.
The audience of Q magazine would fall into the categories of A, B and C1 clearly stated by the
magazines research. This is also because of the content and the ‘creativity’ of the magazine and
audience coinciding. (Audience demographics)
The reason why this target audience would read this magazine is to be informed and educated on
the certain people within the magazine. As well as to build up more admiration for the subject
(Katz’ uses and gratifications theory).
I think the people that would read this magazine would be ‘Explorers’ as I think they would be very
outspoken and confident within themselves. (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)
Target Audience
(Source: http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q)
The spending power
of the audience is
not very high as
some of them may
still be in education.
This is shown
in the price of the
magazine as it is
reasonably low for a
monthly magazine.
15. Relationship between magazine & consumer
After looking at the stores that sell the magazine I have found that the relationship between the
consumer and magazine is strong because the magazine can be found in many shops. This helps
consumers to be able to buy the magazine easily without having to theoretically go out their way to buy
it.
The stores that I found to sell the magazine were WHSmith and Sainsbury’s this could help consumers as
when they are out shopping they would be able to find one of these stores easily. Another way that the
magazine helps they consumers out are by offering a subscription as this means the consumer can have
every edition of the magazine sent straight to their house.
Ways that show a weakness in the relationship between the magazine and consumers is the magazine
offers very ways to contact the magazine if there is a complaint to be filed there is no details for this
within the magazine. As well as when I tried to email the person in charge of advertising I never got a
reply which could show that is hard to contact the magazine easily.
16. Q magazine website
The Q magazine website allows the public to look at exclusive content that is not in the magazine. It
also allows them to look at the playlists and music of artists that have featured within the magazine
before. Additionally the public can see music charts and reviews on the website. Another feature
within the website is the interviews, on the website the magazine uploads the full length interview of
the subject within that specific edition of the magazine. These features will attract strong music
lovers to the audience of the magazine as they can get a deep insight to the music industry and win
competitions with prizes that are relevant to the music industry.
17. Social Media
Q magazine has many social media sites, for
example Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and
YouTube.
YouTube: ‘Exclusive’ videos from backstage of
concerts, festivals and award ceremonies. Also
uploads videos from their interviews with stars.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/user/Q4music)
Twitter: Gives their followers updates on the
entertainment business. As well as, promotes the
information that is included in the new editions of
their magazines. Additionally promotes competitions
running through the magazine.
(Source: (https://twitter.com/qmagazine)
Facebook: Shares links to music artists videos, as well
as links to the pages within the websites of Q.
(Source: https://www.facebook.com/QMagazine)
Instagram: Allows the public to see backstage photos
of concerts, award ceremonies and interviews. As well
as, uploads pictures featured in new editions.
(Source: http://instagram.com/qmagazineuk#)
18. Advertising of magazine
This advert was played all over the UK on the TV.
This helped them to attract more customers for
their new edition. By including the people who are
featuring in the edition of the magazine this could
gain the attention of some specific readers.
The music playing in the background of the advert
is rock music this links to the people featuring in
the magazine as well as the audience who may
enjoy reading the edition.
The language/ voice used in the advert are very
persuading and enthusiastic, this could portray that
the magazine is going to be very entertaining to the
reader.
During the advert, follow on text is displayed as the
people talk. This follow on text is in different fonts
depending on the subject of the matter at the time.
The fonts relate to the subject of matter clearly and
could attract the audiences attention clearly.
19. Advertising of magazine
Another way that the magazine is
advertised is in the back of MOJO magazine.
This shows the convergence of
advertisements between the brands as Q
magazine advertises MOJO in the back. This
is because they are both produced by Bauer
Media.
This could also show that the target
audience between both magazines is similar
because if they enjoyed reading MOJO they
could enjoy reading Q.
The TV advert and the advert in the back of
MOJO are the only ways that the magazine
has been advertised, this could show that
they rely on the appearance of the
magazine to gain the customers. They could
also rely on star appeal to make the
magazine seem interesting to the audience.
20. Advertising within the magazine rates
On the Q section of the Bauer Media website it
shows the audience the advertising schedule of
the magazine. This allows the public to know
the sizes that the magazine offers and the
dates that the public can buy/ submit their
adverts for the magazine.
The magazine offers the public to be able to
advertise on their Q iPad app, the Q radio,
within the magazine and on their website/
social media networks.
By obtaining the media pack from the website
for the advertising rates I can see how the
prices compares to the sizes of each advert.
Source:
(http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/d
etail/Q)
21. Advertising inside magazine Issue Date: October 2014
This advertisement within the magazine can connote the specific audience that reads the
magazine, as it is aimed to men.
The fact that there is limited amount of text within this double page advertisement hints that
the audience would know what this advert is about without little explanation.
The lack of explanation to such details as
where to buy the new fragrance can also
show that this advert will appeal to the
target audience. This is because they
would know where to buy the product
without needing to be told.
This advertisement is sleek and simple to
gain the attention of the audience and
appeal.
The title of the magazine denotes
‘Chanel’. This connotes the lifestyle of
the audience as this would attract their
attention. Then they may think about
going out to buy the product advertised.
The look of the subject in the main
image could refer to the product as ‘sexy’
which may strongly appeal to the target
audience of the magazine. This is
because of the subjects posture and
serious/ blank facial expression.
The colours of this advertisement with the magazine creates mystery and adds to the
atmosphere of ‘sexy’ that is portrayed from the subject of the picture.
This advertisement was the first page
that the audience see when they open
the magazine. This helps the company to
make sure that the audience sees the
advert and is instantly attracted to it.
22. LO1- Conclusion
In this learning outcome I researched a existing print- based media products and how it is created. The
existing product that I chose to research was Q magazine, this is because it is a mixed genre music magazine
with a main focus on indie.
When beginning my research into Q magazine I looked at the publishing institution, Bauer Media Group. I
contacted them to see if I could get any answers to my questions via email. As I received no reply I then
looked into the publishing group in more depth via the internet and many sources. By researching the
publishing institution it allowed me to see the level of popularity of the magazine. As well as it helped me to
be able to move onto the next stage of my research which was all about the magazine. This included
information such as the features that create the brand identity of the magazine, the frequency and
readership as well as brand extension. By researching this it allowed me to be able to understand the full
brand identity of the magazine.
Afterwards I researched the production process of a magazine to gain a better understanding of how to
create a magazine for the future when I started to create my own magazine. I also looked at the format of
the magazine and annotated the front cover, double page spread as well as the contents page.
By doing all this research I was able to gain a better understanding of the target audience of the magazine
through the content as well as the publishing institution, Bauer Media Group’s website. Once gaining an idea
of the target audience of the magazine I could then find out the relationship between the magazine and
consumer. This would help me in the future to decide where my magazine was going to be distributed from
and which shops would sell the magazine.
The final step to my research into the existing print- media product was to look at the way the magazine is
advertised to the public, plus the advertisements in the magazine itself. By doing this I was able to realise
how the magazine has become established and one of the main incomes for the magazine.
