Revisions (Cover Page)

I changed a lot of aspects to my front cover of my magazine. I ended up changing the background image, font, font color and size, and added more subtitles. I made all of these decisions due to the visibility of the text with the previous background photo. I figured the magazine cover would look nicer with a simpler photo than one with many details and colors.

Original Cover

New Cover

Super Bowl Commercials

The Super Bowl of 2018 included it's very own unique and funny commercials to help advertise products. Each of these commercials had a target audience. Specifically I will be talking about the commercials: Touchdown Celebrations to Come, Alexa Loses her Voice, and Doritos/Mountain Dew with Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman.

The commercial Touchdown Celebrations to Come with Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. is based off the movie Dirty Dancing which allows it to appeal to both women and men. It appeals to men since it included football celebrities and it appeals to women because it involves the football players performing a famous dance routine from a chic-flick movie. The age range for this commercial would range from teens to middle age adults. The use of Odell Beckham Jr., and Eli Manning brings in a younger generation. Using the Dirty Dancing song and routine brings in the slightly older generation. Since my product is a magazine, I can't really use any music or moving visuals do to it being print. However, I could use the celebrity factor to bring in some more customers by including a celebrity interview.

[Touchdown Celebrations to Come ]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUoD-gPDahw

In the Alexa Loses her Voice Commercial, celebrities and humor are a big contributor to its success and bringing in a greater audience. The celebrities in the commercial are Gordon Ramsay, Cardi B, Rebel Wilson, and Anthony Hopkins. With the range of celebrities involved, this helps to bring in an age range of viewers. Also, there are actors that show the many uses of Alexa as well as the people who are most likely to use it. When humor is brought into this clip, it makes a huge difference rather than just an informative ad. Again, since I chose the magazine project, I won't necessarily be able to use all of these techniques for my product. I may be able to use a celebrity influence like this commercial and the previous one but I don't think humor would be as easy to portray in a print magazine.

[Alexa Lost her Voice ]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2018, from https://cdn.stacyblackman.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/Alexa-Ad-734x378.png

The final Super Bowl commercial I will be analyzing is the Doritos/Mountain Dew with Peter Dinklage and Morgan Freeman: Blaze vs. Mountain Dew Ice. Like the two above, it includes humor and celebrities. The humor side of this commercial comes from Dinklage and Freeman lip syncing famous rappers and competing against each other. These rappers are Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott. With the use of the well known rappers as well as the actors, the audience brought in ranges. This age range would probably begin at teenagers and go to middle-aged adults. Since the actors and rappers can be referenced from some older films or songs this allows the viewers to come in and enjoy the commercial even at a slightly older age. Also, many teenagers are into rap so the use of rap music helps bring in this audience as well. Like I stated before, it is hard for me to use similar techniques as a commercial to bring in my target audience since I chose the magazine project. The main aspect I have taken away from this commercial that I could use in my magazine is the use of celebrities.

[Doritos vs Mountain Dew]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2018, from https://dg6qn11ynnp6a.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/17112434/PepsiMTN-Dew.jpg

Target Audience Research (Lonely Planet)

As previously stated in the Coastal Living and Travel + Leisure target audience research posts, the target audience for my magazine Life in Paradise would be from the ages of young adult and up, the gender of my target audience would be male and female, and the income level of my audience would probably range.

The magazine, Lonely Planet, has a similar target audience as my magazine Life in Paradise because it is a travel magazine. Even though my magazine is not focused on travel itself, it is on the tropical lifestyle and traveling aspects around it. Marketing of Lonely Planet's magazine had related techniques to the other two magazines. There are subscription cards included, however, there are more included than compared to the other two magazines. Along with this, Lonely Planet also included a page after the table of contents with many contact information sites and links listed. For example, there website is listed, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Youtube as well. The form of media used was therefore print with the subscription cards and digital with the social media links. The aspects I would use to market my product would definitely be the subscription cards and social media links. I would also maybe add the website by the page number instead of just the name of the magazine.

Target Audience Research (Travel + Leisure)

As previously stated in the Coastal Living target audience research post, the target audience for my magazine Life in Paradise would be from the ages of young adult and up, the gender of my target audience would be male and female, and the income level of my audience would probably range.

Travel + Leisure's magazine has a similar target audience to mine because it is a travel magazine that also has tropical locations. Since it is travel, the income for this magazine's audience would probably need to be on the higher range. As I stated in a previous post, my audience's income would range due to the information in my magazine, however, most of the reader's would probably be on the wealthier side. Travel + Leisure marketed their product by using print and digital media including subscription cards in their magazine and inserting their website: travelandleisure.com with the page numbers. These techniques are useful because when readers are looking for the page they need, they will look at the page numbers and find the magazine company's website. Regarding the subscription cards, they read "the ideal holiday gift" which can help convince people to buy a subscription.

When reviewing this magazine and their marketing techniques, I would definitely use some of their marketing skills. I feel that the website by the page number is a very useful tool. I would put this website some other places as well though just in case readers don't look at the page numbers. In my previous post, I also talked about subscription cards. I believe these are really helpful in gaining customers as well because it makes it easier to subscribe rather than searching online trying to figure out how to subscribe. 

Target Audience Research (Coastal Living)

The target audience for my magazine Life in Paradise would be from the ages of young adult and up. This would be because starting at young adults who can provide for themselves is the group of people who would enjoy island living and the beach life. The gender of my target audience would be male and female because I have certain aspects in each article that relate to both. The income level of my audience would probably range. They would probably at least need a stable income and be able to provide for themselves along with spending money on a possible vacation. I say this because my whole magazine isn't about the expensive side of the island life. There are also activities you could enjoy that aren't necessarily expensive included in my magazine.

My magazine and the magazine Coastal Living have similar target audiences because they are both about living a tropical lifestyle. Coastal Living marketed their product by including subscription cards and offers inside their magazine. On these subscription cards, they offer a 2-for-1 so potential subscribers are more likely to start a subscription. Coastal Living pretty much kept to relying on print to promote their magazines. Within the magazine they don't list any social media websites for their brand and only place subscription offers inside. To market my product, I would probably include subscription cards inside the magazine like Coastal Living did. However, I would probably add some social media accounts in there as well. 

Feedback/Revisions

I have received feedback on my first magazine submission. With this feedback, I am hoping to improve my project. Mr. Elsbree gave me feedback on my front cover to move around titles and maybe add more article titles. For my table of contents, he told me I should add more articles and their page numbers which I was feeling I should do before he talked to me. For my two-page article, I should brand my page numbers, decrease white space, and add a photo of the person I interviewed. This feedback is very helpful and I will definitely adjust my magazine to reach this criteria.

Use of Conventions

In class, presented out projects in a couple days to the rest of the class in order to receive feedback and improve our projects. When we presented, we were required to answer these questions:

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions of your genre?

2. How does it represent social groups or issues?

My answers to these questions are as follows:

1. My magazine uses or challenges conventions of my genre by talking about different sides of luxuries rather than just the fun. The main article for my magazine project was about island management rather than just the fun spent on a private island. This allows people to know that owning an island involves a lot more work than just vacation. Owners have to worry about employees to hire in order to manage the island and allow it to be a place to go and relax. 

2. My magazine represents social groups because it is about island management and the tropical traveling life. These topics relate to people who are more wealthy than others who can probably afford some of these luxuries. For example, one of the sections on my flat plan for my magazine was current islands that are for sale. This would be useful for people who can afford an island or who are in the market to purchase one. This can also present the issue of people who can't afford an island feeling like others who can afford one are rubbing it in their faces and making them feel less than they are. The whole magazine, sense it revolves around travel, would definitely attract a more wealthy crowd who are able to afford these trips and luxuries.