COHESION OF MY MEDIA PRODUCTS

Before I can evaluate the success of my whole media production campaign, I need to assess the cohesion between my magazine pages and my ancillary products which includes my radio advert and my billboard poster.

FRONT PAGE I have stuck to the house style I was going for with

the blue, black and white font colours and the three fonts used. The fonts used have connotations of sophistication and professionalism which appeal to the targeted audience. However I have used stronger stroke around the masthead of the magazine than I have done on the billboard which gives heavers the cohesion slightly.

The topics on the front page in the cover lines all appeal to my target audience as women between 35-60+ are stereotypically interested in new cocktail recipes they can make with their friends, new hobbies such as yoga and any new shopping outlets for them to try and because they are aspirers and enjoy trying out new “in-fashion” things. After establishing a representation of an upper middle class reader, with the traditional representation of a ‘lady of leisure’. However, the use of Old John creates a masculine setting for the magazine which is something I did not want to try and achieve. On the other hand, I have acknowledged the active, feminine readers through the yoga.

The fact that both my main product front page and my billboard ancillary product have a similar image of a model doing a yoga pose up at the well known landmark in Leicestershire that is Old John, creates a massive amount of cohesion between the two products because people will associated that months magazine with the billboard. The fact that the landmark used is also well known in Leicestershire reassures my primary and also secondary audience that if they purchase this product, they will be informed about their home region and achieve personal identity. The genre of the magazine is also portrayed through the image as well as the tagline which informs the reader about the content of the magazine before even opening it. The tagline also creates a brand for the product as a whole and explains that the reader will be getting top quality lifestyle information for their region.

The repetition of the image of Old John has created quite a narrow marketing technique for the brand which could actually create the oppositional reading that there isn’t much in the magazine, whereas I wanted to create a product that contained lots of different types of information for the reader and variety of content. However I do believe that the history and identity of the region is more important, but I could have portrayed this more effectively by including different landmarks around Leicestershire on the billboard and within the contents page.

CONTENTS PAGE My contents page reiterates quite a

modern representation that magazine is portraying to the audience due to the images of the yoga class and the boutique, which clashes with the historic iconography on the front page. However, if the reader read the double page spread then they will learn that the two images are effectively linked. It includes information on news and events in the region, food and drink ideas, lifestyle advice and competitions which will suit my target audience as they are social active people who like to keep in the loop with anything that is happening or has happened in their home region, as well as it creating social interaction due to them being able to talk about the contents of the magazine with their friends.

It also has connotations of sophistication due to the minimalist and structural layout.

There is a large amount of cohesion between my contents page, front page and billboard due to the theme of yoga being reiterated through the front page image, billboard image and the image of the class on the contents page.

In the radio advert, the woman doing the voiceover also explains that there are yoga classes taking place up at Old John which links itself to the contents page which explains more about that associated activity, as well as the images used on the front page and billboard.

If I was to create another issue to follow, which would actually be December, I would still follow the lifestyle genre but I would access another area of it, primarily food and drink related and link the three products through images of women celebrating the festive season with friends, drinking and eating.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREADOnce again, there is cohesion between my products as my main article in my magazine is about the yoga studio, which is linked to the image on the front page, as well as the billboard image. There is information on the yoga studio at the bottom of the article which allows the audience to do further reading of the business if they are interested in taking up a new hobby which my audience stereotypically are interested in doing due to being achievers. There is cohesion in the sense that the reader is able to place themselves in the yoga situation and be cathartic which comes from the identification theory through the article. However the dark figure says otherwise as it gives connotations that the audience can achieve this but it is through work, the talent doesn’t just come naturally.

All three products link themselves to the lifestyle representation which creates yet more cohesion between the campaign.

BILLBOARD POSTER My billboard uses an image which also

features in my magazine which allows my audience to recognise it and make associations between the two products. The house style including the fonts and colours are the same on the billboard as the front page, contents page and double page spread which creates cohesion.

The use of imagery creates a sense of regional pride within the community and creates personal identity between the main product and its ancillary products, however I could have used other landmarks that would have done the same, such as Swithland Woods and Beacon Hill. A feminine representation is also not portrayed as much through this image due to the masculinity of Old John and the strong and grey persona it gives off, even though the audiences needs are strength and independence.

Due to the landmark on the billboard being very well known within the region of Leicestershire, people will want to find out information which they are able to if they purchase the magazine from available newsagents which is also advertised on the billboard and is a main focal point on the poster.

RADIO ADVERT The radio advert is a great way of advertising my media product as it is able to

form all of my products together due to having links with the magazine and the billboard.

The radio mentions web 2.0 like the billboard and the magazine which is important due to the most active audience on sites such as Facebook is 35+ which is within my target audience.

It also mentions content of the magazine, which is about the yoga classes up at Old John, which are linked with the front page image, billboard image and the article on the double page spread as well as the image of the yoga class within the contents page under the heading ‘news and events’. This targets the active audiences who will share brand contents to fellow people, activating Gauntletts ‘Making and doing culture’.

The ambient sounds of the children's playground, social café and birds tweeting create connotations of nature and being outside, as well as the social aspect of the magazine. The children's playground promotes a traditional mother representation which could be seen as hegemonic due to them being protective over their young.

The advert creates a sense an ideology of the “perfect lifestyle” which my audience seek and desire.

The fact that the advert is advertised on Gem106 and Heart link with the audience due to them being the same and create the idea that is achieved from the magazine, escapism.