Kent Life magazine was originally focused on wildlife after World War 2 but expanded to include gardening and history of Kent. It targets older audiences, particularly females, based on the elegant fonts and proper English. Landscape magazine, founded in 2012, focuses on gardens and lifestyles with close-up photos on the covers targeting middle aged women. Cornwall Today similarly targets residents and visitors of Cornwall with beautiful imagery appealing to affluent readers, having a predominantly female audience between ages 25-44 like Landscape.

1. Existing Media:
Magazine
Research and Planning

2. Kent Life - Background
Kent Life was first a magazine specifically for
care for wildlife after World War 2. It soon
changed and evolved to appeal to a bigger
audience, by branching out into gardening and
the history of Kent. Since 1963 when it was
first published, the articles have moved on to
news and sightseeing opportunities for
tourists, and also subjects that will interest
residents of Kent.

3. Kent Life - Target Audience
From looking at a variety of Kent Life's
covers, I can make assumptions that the target
audience is predominantly older females. This
is because of a variety of factors such as the
fonts used. Serif fonts are predominantly used
which are more elegant than others (such as
sans serif) and provide connotations of
sophistication, such is the stereotype of
middle aged women. The types of words and
phrasing used also steers my assumptions
towards this audience as there is a noticeable
lack of 'slang' or colloquial terms used
('proper' English is used).

4. Kent Life - Official Statistics
Men
Women
Audience Gender
0
10
20
30
40
<18 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 <65
Audience Age

5. Landscape - Background
Landscape, in comparison with Kent Life,
was formed very recently in 2012. An official
quote from Landscape magazine is that their
aim was ‘to encourage our cash —and time—
rich readership to partake in a wide range of
hobbies inspired by the very best.’ Therefore,
their magazine focusses on the small details of
their readers’ gardens and lifestyles. This is
also symbolised by the use of close-ups on a
majority of their front covers, as shown on the
right.

6. Landscape - Target
Audience
From the dominant use of floral images and
pink colours throughout, it could be said that a
female audience would be most likely to read
and buy this magazine. These details would
appeal to the main body of middle aged
women as opposed to men, and so this points
to older women being the target audience.

7. Landscape - Official
Statistics
Audience Gender
It is clear from these statistics that this
magazine does have a predominantly female
audience. This is probably due to the images
and colours which are mainly used in the
house theme.
Audience Age
The age of the audience tends to be
younger than ‘Kent Life’ which is
surprising, but this means that if my target
audience is younger, then a product based
on a magazine such as ‘Landscape’ might
appeal to larger range of ages than one
such as ‘Kent Life’.
Men
Women
0
10
20
30
40
<18 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 <65

8. Landscape - Regional
Magazine?
It could be said that ‘Landscape’ isn’t a regional magazine since it doesn’t
necessarily represent just one area or place, but the photography focusses on
close ups which could be relevant to wide range of places. I looked at this
magazine as I thought it could be interesting to research a regional magazine
which is not typical of the genre.

9. Cornwall Today -
Background
Cornwall life is similar to Kent Life in that it
aims to appeal to the main body of people
who live in the area and those who are
visiting. They report on items such as events
that are happening and places to visit.
From the magazine:
‘Appealing to the more affluent reader,
stunning imagery and inspirational editorial
continue to deliver a magazine that is both
informative and evocative.’

10. Cornwall Today - Target
Audience
From a first look at the covers, I would expect
the target audience and readership to be
similar to Kent Life’s. This is because the
covers look similar in the fact they display a
shot of a place of interest in the title area,
have taglines of events and local information,
and appealing to the older generations by the
lack of colloquial language and beautiful
imagery. I expect the target audience to be a
mix of middle aged men and women rather
than women dominated, as was true for
Landscape.

11. Cornwall Today - Official
Statistics
Audience Gender
Much like Landscape, this magazine has a
predominantly female audience, and is a
significantly larger proportion than Kent
Life’s which is interesting. This is probably
due to the images and colours which are
mainly used in the house theme.
Audience Age
I struggled to find statistics about the age of
Cornwall Today’s audience but since the
gender statistics are somewhere between
Landscape’s and Kent Life’s, I can assume
that the readership is also similar. Therefore I
guess that the main body of readers are in the
age categories between 25 and 44.
Another statistic that I found for Cornwall
today is that 72% of their readers have bought
the magazine for more than two years. This
therefore means that once someone becomes
interested in the magazine, they tend to
continue buying, which is why it may be more
popular in a certain age group as they may tell
their friends (as 92% of readers also said that
they pass their copy onto friends and family
who are likely to be of a similar age.)
Men
Women