Task 5: Skills Audit

Task 4- IPC Media case study

"IPC Media produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults – while our websites collectively reach over 20 million users every month.

IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women.

Our men's portfolio (IPC Inspire) comprises a wealth of leisure brands including Country Life, Horse & Hound,Rugby World and Decanter, as well as lifestyle brands including Nuts, Mouse breaker and NME.

Our mass market women's division (IPC Connect) comprises famous women's weeklies including Look, Now, Chat and Woman; TV entertainment brands including What's on TV, TVTimes and TV & Satellite Week and, online, the good to know network.

Our upmarket women's division (IPC Southbank) comprises luxury fashion brands including Marie Claire and InStyle, lifestyle brands including woman&home and essentials and home interest brands including Ideal Home, Living etc and house to home".

Extract from http://www.ipcmedia.com/about/

IPC Connect's brands provide powerful reach, with its magazines read by 49% of all mass market women – that's eight million mass market women, while its digital brands reach 2.7 million adults

IPC Advertising offers you access to IPC Media's unparalleled range of print and online brands. Our leading magazine portfolio reaches 27million UK adults*, and online our brands collectively reach 20 million users every month**.

IPC Inspire is IPC's men's division. Its portfolio of 38 brands covers a huge spectrum of interests and includes famous names fromCountry Life and The Field to Nuts and NME.

Marketforce is the UK's leading newstrade sales and distribution company, successfully marketing 23% of the total magazine category.

IPC Southbank is the upmarket women's division, focusing on the two key markets of Fashion & Women's Lifestyle and Home Interest. Southbank is home to some of the most iconic magazine brands in publishing.

"Pinpointing exactly how far IPC's roots stretch back into the midst of publishing history is a complicated business. The International Publishing Corporation Ltd was formed in 1963 following the merger of the UK's three leading magazine publishers – George Newnes, Odhams Press and Fleetway Publications – who came together with the Mirror Group to form the International Publishing Corporation (IPC). And IPC Magazines was created five years later, in 1968. But those three original magazine businesses each had their own illustrious history, having been established in 1881, 1890 and 1880 respectively, with a number of the titles they launched in the late 19th Century still being published today under the IPC umbrella. And when The Field, launched in 1853, joined the IPC stable in 1994 following the acquisition of Harmsworth Magazines, it saw our family tree reach back even further.

Extract from http://www.ipcmedia.com/about/companyhistory/

• What types of magazine and target audiences has IPC been associated with over the years?  Mass market Women, Upmarket Women and Men.
• Why might IPC be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine? They already publish well known, well established music magazine NME.
• What sorts of genres of music/types of magazines might they be likely to publish? Mainstream, electro-indie styles, something a bit different but wide open to the mass market of young adults.
• Why might alternative publishers like Bauer be appropriate? Because they publish Q and Kerrang, two high grossing music magazines. 

IPC Media

Task 3 - Conventions of Teen Magazines

•  Successful celebrity on the cover
• pink and purple themes
• fun masthead fonts
• busy cover, lots of little bits
• lots of cover lines
• focus on fashion
• abbreviations
• lots of colours
• coloquiel language
• plain backgrounds

• 'true stories'
• big writing
• top banner
• use of <3
• little pictures alongside the main one
• gripping words: 'Ultimate' 'Extreme' 'Better'
• handbag size magazines
• variety of stories
• centered around female celebrities
•  links to real life

• Head and shoulders image
• relatable interviews
• 
  

To What Extent Should Magazines Be Held Responsible For The Social Ramifications Of The Representations They Offer?

Magazines often promote a more mature image to younger girls because girls always want to grow up quicker. The magazines have researched into what 11-15 year olds are interested in and pushed it through the fashion and interviews in the magazine. Unfortunately, Magazines have pushed the themes to far in making girls grow up quicker and therefore creating a age group that comes across as suggestive and inappropriate.

On the front cover of Bliss, one of the cover lines is 'Why I Got A BooB Job At 16'. This article is explaining about why a young decided to change her image with plastic surgery when she has not stopped developing yet. This article is displaying the story as a positive thing rather than a hard hitting article which it should be. Because of this article, the young readers will think its ok to dislike their body image and its simple to change it. I think the magazine is responsible for this effect because of the story they chose to print and the way they printed it; if the article was about how the girl regretted it 5 years later then the article would've been acceptable in the magazine. Also, this article promotes a stereotyped body image that only big breast are attractive. This again was wrong of the magazine as the girls of 11-15 would not be fully developed yet and they would be learning about 'their age group' in a totally false way.

The Front cover of Sugar magazine has a cover line of 'Flirt Fashion'. This suggests that it is acceptable that girls aged 11-15 flirt openly with boys of a similar or older age. This article is selling girls clothing that will make them 'attractive' in the eyes of boys. The image that accompanies the cover line is three short dresses with low cut front. This encourages these young girls to dress provocatively and suggestively, showing that this is all that boys are interested in when looking for a relationship (even though relationships are an iffy subject when you're 11-15).

The front cover uses main images of celebrities that are considered role models for the younger generations. The front cover of Seventeen magazine features Katy Perry who sings about sex, lesbianism and manic partying/clubbing. She also poses nude on the album art of 'Teenage Dream'. Perry is seen as a role model for young girls but advertises her music and her person in these adult ways. I don't think that this is the magazines fault but the magazine could have chosen a main image of a tamer role model.