IPC Media Case Study

The history of the company...

• it was formed in 1963, and IPC magazines was formed 5 years later.
• eight IPC titles that are still thriving today were launched in the late 1800s: Country Life, Horse & Hound, Shooting Times, Yachting World, Amateur Gardening, Cycling Weekly, Amateur Photographer and The Railway Magazine.
• The first of IPC's four traditional women's weeklies, Woman's Weekly, launched in November 1911.
• Homes & Gardens was one of the first magazines to be published after the First World War.
• Woman and Home came on the market in 1926.
• Woman's Own was launched in 1932, and Woman follwed 5 years later in 1937.
• NME was launched in 1952.
• TV Times was originally published by the ITV companies, but was aquired by IPC in 1989 in the run-up to the deregulation of the TV listings market.
• England's 1966 World Cup victory led to a new football weekly magazine being released in 1969 named Shoot!
• IPC was at the forefront of the pre-recorded video market with the formation of the IPC video division in 1976.
• IPC announced the formation of European Magazines Ltd., a joint venture company with Groupe Marie Claire to launch the UK edition of the international title in 1988.
• What's On TV came onto the market in 1961, and became the UK's best selling magazine.
• Loaded was launched in 1994, and Now in 1996.
•  IPC Magazines was renamed IPC Media in 2000.
• Pick Me Up was introduced in January 2005.
• In February 2007 IPC Connect launched Look – the UK’s first glossy high street fashion and celebrity style weekly magazine. In a joint venture with Groupe Marie Claire, and backed by an £18m investment, Look was IPC’s biggest ever launch.
• In January 2010, IPC Media restructured around three key audience groups: men, mass-market women and up-market women.

IPC's current portfolio of titles:

• 25 Beautiful Homes
• Amateur Photographer
• Beautiful Kitchens
• Chat- Its Fate
• Country Homes And Interiors
• Cycle Sport
• Cycling Weekly
• Essentials
• Eventing
• GoodToKnow
• Homes & Gardens
• Horse & Hound
• IBI
• InStyle
• Look
• Motor Boat & Yachting
• Mountain Bike Rider
• NME
• Nuts
• Practical Boat Owner
• Shooting Gazette
• ShootingUK
• Sporting Gun
• SuperYacht Business
• The Field
• TV and Satellite Week
• TV Times
• VolksWorld
• What Digital Camera
• Woman
• Woman's Own
• World Soccer
• Yachting World

Magazines and target audiences that IPC Media have been associated with over the years include:

• Music magazines e.g. NME- aimed at young people (generally speaking). 
• Fashion magazines e.g. Marie Claire, Look, InStyle- aimed at women from the age of about 15-30.
• Sports magazines e.g. World Soccer- aimed at men from the age of about 18-30.
• Women's magazines e.g. Now, Woman, Woman's Own- aimed at more middle aged women (maybe with an average age of 30).
• 'Lads mags' e.g. Nuts- aimed at young males. 
• Lifestyle magazines e.g. Beautiful Kitchens- aimed at home owners.
• TV magazines e.g. TV Times- aimed at a large audience, but mostly home owners as they would be the ones paying for the TV license within the house. 

IPC would be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine as it has been very successful in the publishing of NME (which has had a circulation of 48, 459 this year) and so would know how to execute the publishing of a brand new music magazine on the market. 

If IPC were to publish a new music magazine, they would be likely to focus upon rock music due to the fact that they have had previous experience in this field with NME, and would therefore have more knowledge about this genre of music as opposed to (for example) classical. Also, they do not sell any other music magazines and so they have only had experience in producing NME; indicating that they would not be inclined to publish any other form of music magazine. 

Alternative publishers such as Bauer may be appropriate due to the fact that they have published lots of different music magazines, with diverse genres and target audiences. Therefore, they would be more inclined to produce a new magazine with any required genre rather than one that is purely focused upon rock music (which would be expected of NME). 

500 Word Analysis Of Vogue Front Cover

The magazine Vogue is aimed at a target audience of young women  (perhaps 18-30 year olds) who take a keen interest in fashion. However, it could be said that Vogue appeals to a wider audience as it solely depends on the extent of an individual’s interest in the world of fashion rather than their age, and also what stories are being covered in each issue. For instance, in this particular issue, the main feature is focused upon Emma Watson and her “Life After Harry Potter” which would naturally attract a slightly younger audience than, say, a story on Kate Winslet. To further enhance the variety of the magazine’s audience, this copy also includes a feature on “Reversing The Body’s Signs Of Aging” which would appeal to a somewhat older reader.

The fact that the price of a copy of Vogue is £4.10 (which is relatively expensive compared to something like Look or More) implies a certain class of people are likely to read it, as some may not be able to afford to pay out £4.10 on a magazine.  This defines the target audience a little more, as although the coverlines may appeal to a wide audience, the price may restrict the purchase of Vogue to a reader of a slightly higher class.

The cover of this issue of Vogue has attempted to appeal to a target audience of young women through the colour scheme of pinks and deep plum shades which are seen as ‘girly’ colours. Furthermore, popular music artists’ names are featured in some of the coverlines e.g. “J.LO, Beyoncé, Rihanna” which will instantly draw the attention of young women as they are familiar with these celebrities and take an interest in stories involving them.

On this cover, many conventions of cover design are evident.  The most key one, however, is the masthead which is, in itself, the most iconic element of the magazine. The lettering of “VOGUE” stretches right across the three thirds of the front cover, and immediately grabs the reader’s  attention due to the recognisable text and the bold colouring. Also, although it may not be seen as a plug in the direct sense of the word, the coverline reading “Reversing The Body’s Signs Of Aging” and phrases such as “must have” draw the reader in and allows the reader to believe that they will be getting something out of the magazine aside from the physical content. 

Other conventions of cover design that can be seen on the cover of Vogue include: the dateline (situated to the right-hand-side underneath the masthead), the main coverline (“Emma Watson, Life After Harry Potter”),  and capitalised and enlarged font so as to draw the eye to each individual coverline.

Finally, even though they cannot be seen on this particular image, a barcode and the price would exist on the front cover of Vogue in real life- usually with the barcode in the bottom hand corner and the price located in the top left hand corner next to the masthead.

Vogue Cover

Task2, Part1- Magazine Glossary

• Masthead- recognizable symbol or title of the magazine e.g. VOGUE. 
• Puff/Plug- a catch that is situated on the cover of the magazine so as to persuade you to buy it e.g. "free gym membership with every copy". 
• Coverlines- every piece of writing on the front cover, excepting the masthead. 
• Font- the type/style of text that is used. 
• Left Third- the left-most third of the front page that sometimes contains the masthead and coverlines.
• Centre Third- the middle third of the front page which, depending on the type of magazine, may contain the main model or coverline.  
• Right Third- the right third, when talking in terms of music magazines, typically contains the main model. 
• Barcode-usually situated in the bottom hand corner (either left or right)
• Dateline- the date is usually situated just above or to the side of the masthead.
• Image-typically, the front cover of a magazine will feature just one main image (usually of a celebrity featuring in one of the main stories).
• Price- most commonly found beneath the masthead. 
• Main Coverline- the coverline highlighting the main story.            
• Numbers- used to draw the eye to advertisements or cover lines. 
• Colour Scheme- used to imply a certain target audience e.g. pick for a women's magazine and blue  for a men's magazine. 
• Emboldened text- used to draw the readers eye to the front cover when it is, for example, sitting on a supermarket shelf.                                                     

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