TASK 8 TARGET AUDIENCE FOCUS GROUPS

I have decided to focus my magazine on pop music therefore I have chosen an audience of 12-16 year old girls to be in my focus group. I have done this due to them stereotypically being the age range most interested in pop music magazines. The main buck if not all my audience will be females therefore I will be asking young females about my magazine.

To begin my research I will be identifying the stereotype associated with the pop audiences, I will then focus on my actual audience.

The stereo typical audience profile Who mainly listens to that music the genre is stereotyped to be associated with young females. Gender -female Age 12-16 Social class not appropriate Ethnicitynon appropriate Ethnicity and social class here are not appropriate as it does not affect how the magazine is promoted or the amount of sales Interests fashion. Make-up, gossip, pop stars, friends Dress sense pretty, girly which is usually pink, main stream, inspired my celebrities Why they listen to pop for entertainments and to promote the artist, who they might aspire to be like. The music is light hearted and happy which might act as a relief from school pressures. How often they listen to the music very frequently, it can create conversations with friends to gossip and talk about. What they would like in magazines they would like magazines to contain current artist who refer to the genre, interviews, latest news of the stars, fashion, top charts and make up

TASK 8 TARGET AUDIENCE FOCUS GROUPS

My target audience (PROFILE OF TYPICAL AUDIENCE)

Feelings about music magazines General background Name - Emily Age - 16 Ethnicity White Lives in Solihull, West Midlands Currently at the solihull 6th from studying English as her main subject. Wishes to go university She doesnt buy them but knows of music magazines. She thinks they can be a bit childish but does listen and hear about music on the ratio. She likes the fact that music magazines have a range of different celebrities males and females She likes the look of we love pop magazine and some of the fashion magazines. How she uses music She listens to it for entertainment, she doesnt have a favorite artist but if she had to choose it would be Taylor swift a pop artist. She occasionally attends concerts but not very often. She listens to music everyday for personal enjoyment, for her dance lesson and for socializing with friends as background music.
Her music magazine preferences

Loves music, especially pop, and doesnt mind music that could be seen as provocative as long as the music is good e.g. Miley Cyrus

In a music magazine would like to see females with attitude represented positively rather than seductively. Also would like the latest music charts, fashion and make up.

Interest- mainly interested in dance and socializing with her friends

Likes to She l.She loves to hear about celebrity gossip and what they have been up to, especially pop music artists

Loves to wear casual clothes but stylish, inspired by pop music artists. Her makeup is minimal perhaps showing her innocents but likes to wear red lipstick like Taylor swift

TASK 8 TARGET AUDIENCE FOCUS GROUPS As you can see the stereotypical qualities are very similar to my real target audience. As a result of this it will make it easier for me to produce a pop magazine due to myknowledge into the stereotypical audience and therefore attracting my audience. However I can see that some qualities of my real audience are seen as more grown up, accepting and liking music that is seen as provocative such as Miley Cyrus. Although I have gained this knowledge I will not be applying this to my magazine due to my audience of 12-16 still being quite young, making inappropriatemusic, images or text inappropriate. I can also see that like my questionnaire she hears and listens to music news mostly on the ratio therefore I will be making a link to my radio station in my magazine to attract my audience further. I can also see that she enjoys iconic looks like the red lipstick that Taylor Swift promotes therefore I will be trying to appeal this styling to my models to embody celebrity and aspiring styling. Her styling is causal but on tread, making her fashion mainstream. Therefore when it comes to styling my models outfits I will also try to embody this look, making my models appear realistic and relatable to my audience.

Focus Group Feedback Summary

Regarding to the questions I asked

What elements of the main image would attract you to a music magazine? I told my focus group that these elements included the hair styles, the makeup and fashion. I gave them a piece of paper with different styling, from a typical pop Taylor swift to Rhiannon who is seen as more urban From the response I got I gathered that although the audience where very much so interested in pretty styling like Taylor swift they surprisingly liked the urban and grudge styling more out of the images I showed them. They said that they would be more interested in styling such as Rhiannon because they view her as attractive which could be due to her being famous or because of the media presenting her as glamorous. Therefore when it comes to styling my models I will try to encourage didnt fashion types to please my audience. Reocerning What would you like the mise en scene of the cover image to be like? For the front cover my focus group where all in agreement with having a professional white background for my main image. They said that this would make the audience focus on the main image and text, rather than the background that holds little insignificant to my front cover. Therefore I will be having a professional white background for my main images.

Throughout the interview it was required of me to ask different questions to probe their answers, making them more detailed therefore I asked on the spot questions in my focus group

KEY
Additional questions = bullet point

TASK 8 TARGET AUDIENCE FOCUS GROUPS

Do you like the posing in these different images? Are they femaleempowering for my female driven magazines?

They said the poses in the images of the models I gave them previously would attract them to the magazine, they said they were strong and empowering but they also said they enjoyed the natural pose they looked at from 1 of the images. Therefore I will be trying to incorporate both natural and strong empowering poses in my magazine to make it diverse and attractive.

What would you want to see on the front cover apart from the main image?

They said they would want cover lines that promote make up because it is girly and exciting. They also said fashion, saying that as younger people would aspire to be like celebritiesthis would attract them to the magazine. They also said having a red lipstick like Taylor Swift on the front cover would encouraging my audience to buy the magazine, giving them ways in how to look like their favourite celebrities. They also said aspiring celebrities music as that is the focus of the magazinee.g. recent hits

Would you want the text to be informal or formal throughout the magazine?

They said informal as this is used frequently by teenagers, making them feel closer to the magazine. They also said it allows you to get more information on the front cover giving the audience a better idea into what is inside the magazine.

Do you like lots of different images on the front cover? No they said that it makes ittoo cluttered and takes the effect away from the main image. They think 1 main image with cover lines and perhaps makeup and fashion items would be most effective.

Double Page Spread

I hope to create a double page spread which is an interview, question and answer with an aspiring star. Therefore before asking questions I gave my focus group the We Love Pop double page spread to help them with how an interview is formed, in order to understand my questions What kind of questions would you want to ask an aspiring celebrity? They said personal questions which allows them to gather information no one else would no but also casual question about their music and other artists, this included What is your favorite food? What celebrities do you follow and like? Where do you buy your clothes and makeup? Favoritebrands? Why do you make the music you do? Whats your favorite song you have produced?

TASK 8 TARGET AUDIENCE FOCUS GROUPS

Therefore I will be asking questions like this in my double page spread interview

Content Page
I also showed them the We Love Pops content page whilst also sharing my ideas, helping them when answering my questions Would you be attracted to bands in my content page amongst other images? The focus group seemed to like this idea, saying that bands are more interesting as there is more than one person to look and read about. When I asked them of the gender of the band they said they would like a male band .However they did say that female bands makes the magazine more girly and when taking into consideration of the female audience a female band would be more appropriate. Therefore I will try and have a female band in my content page to please my audience

To finish my focus group I asked them for any tips for my magazine that would attract them to my magazine. This said the following Content Page They would want page references by the photos They would like the rule of thirds to be applied therefore columns to make it seen more professionalwith subheading Front Cover They felt that the front cover shouldnt be too heavy in images and that the content page should contain the most images.

Overall I think my focus group was very successful I was able to get detailed feedback with addition answers that should allow me to create an attractive pop music magazine.

TASK 8 TARGET AUDIENCE FOCUS GROUPS