Institutional Research

Bauer

Bauer produces mainstream magazines meaning that their magazines are very well known and popular. This means that their target audience will be varied as the type of magazines they produce many different magazine. For example, ‘Match’ magazine is a football magazine targeted towards male children in secondary school as the content is information that they’ll understand and have an interest. In contrast, ‘Closer’ magazine is targeted towards mass-market women as it contains feminine colours and information to interest females mainly. Although, some magazines cater for a specific audience such as ‘Golf Illustrated’ which is targeted towards golf fans and golf players. The brand image is primarily to give their wide audience as well as their specific audience the latest information to do with each individual magazine. This is encouraged by the fact that their magazines are able to be seen online. Bauer have a lot of links to other media types such as radio stations like ‘Kiss FM’ and ‘Magic FM’, to show how they’re widely connected to the world of media. Also, they own other media products which include the different brands of TV, mobile and radio.

IPC Media

IPC Media produces mainstream magazines to ensure that they have a wide target audience and appeal to a lot of people rather than a few. Similarly to Bauer, IPC Media’s products vary from ‘Nuts’, a magazine targeted towards males in their 20s, to ‘What’s on TV’, which is targeted to middle-aged people interested in TV drama. The target audience is made up of the different specific groups who read each magazine produced by IPC Media. The company has magazines to do with cycling like ‘Cycling Weekly’, which contrasts hugely to music magazines like ‘NME’. This shows that the magazines produced by IPC Media are targeted to a wide audience rather than a specific audience, as their many magazines contrast to each other massively. The brand image of IPC Media is shown through the creation of content for multiple platforms which include print, online, mobile, tablets and events, indicating that they have many other media products except magazines. Their brand image is that they are “the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher” as they engage with 26 million adults in the UK. The brand is focused and committed to working and engaging with their consumers, advertisers, employees and business partners. Moreover, IPC Media has more than 60 iconic media brands which shows their influence on the market.

Immediate

Immediate produces mainstream magazines that are targeted towards a very wide audience which includes kids, teens, adults and elderly people. This is shown through the vast majority of the magazines produced by Immediate being based on either kid’s shows or kid’s toy stores. Despite this, other magazines Immediate produce include ‘Golf Magic’ and ‘Healthy Food’, which indicates that though they have a main target audience, they still have other magazines to appeal to other age groups, genders and lifestyles. In this case, these two magazines are targeted towards middle aged men as they play golf the most out of age and gender; the other magazine is targeted towards women aged 20 – 40 as at these ages most women are conscious of their weight. Immediate provide some of the most popular children’s magazines, meaning that their brand image is mainly to provide sensible and entertaining media products for kids as well as other audiences. This is shown through the amount of children’s magazines that are popular being produced by Immediate. Therefore, their brand image must be appropriate for a brand providing products for children. It would be wrong to be providing such a magazine like ‘Nuts’ whilst providing a magazine like ‘Girl Talk’. Additionally, the brand image of Immediate is being able to give its audiences multiple ways of accessing magazines. A quote from Immediate’s website states that they “create bespoke print, online, mobile, podcast, video or augmented reality content that helps organisations connect and engage with their members and customers.” This indicates that the brands audience’s accessibility to their media products is one of Immediate’s best interests, showing how their brand image is to give their audience the best content in the best way.

Development Hell

Development Hell publishes the market leading international dance music magazine, ‘MixMag’. The cover of their magazine ‘MixMag’ features the title on the top of the page with a central image and sub-headings surrounding this image. Development Hell is different to the other magazine publishers as it only produces one magazine. Due to this, their target audience is very specific as it is focused on one sex, one age and one type of lifestyle, unlike Bauer, Immediate and IPC Media. The main target audience would obviously be fans of dance music, as this is the music genre focused on by ‘MixMag’, meaning that the age group targeted is most likely to be people aged 18-25 as this age group particularly go to nightclubs or other parties, where dance music is often played and listened too. The gender cannot be as specific however, as both males and females generally listen to dance music. Development Hell’s brand image is being ‘The world’s biggest dance music & clubbing destination’, which is the slogan featured on the front cover of ‘MixMag’. This shows the ambition Development Hell has and to indicate that although they may just publish one media product, they are doing very well with it. As well as aspiring to be the best at what they do, Development Hell have multiple platforms in which their audience can interact with their magazine ‘MixMag’. The magazine publisher provides its readers with the ‘MixMag’ iPad app, mixmag.net, ‘MixMag’ TV, ‘MixMag’ events and ‘DontStayIn.com’, the world's biggest clubbing social network. Development Hell aren’t part of a larger media company, instead they are “an independent media company based in Islington, London”, indicating that although they may seem like a small business, the one magazine they produce is very successful.