Audience research- defining the audience

 This magazine needs to be targeted to a 16-25 year old middle and up market style conscious demographic.

16-25 year olds fall into a ten z target demographic and therefore the magazine must be targeted towards a younger audience, with a mode of address and language familiar with that generation.

 Although there is quite a large difference in age between 16 and 25, both ages tend to be interested in similar things due to teenagers generally beginning to become more mature at this age.

 I can say, as a teenager myself, that teenagers also tend to look up to those who are older to influence their opinion on many different subjects- especially fashion. This is why, in recent years, many young adults have become 'influencers' who showcase their own fashion style and lifestyle and are subsequently copied by many teenagers. For this reason, the target demographic should show similar preferences when it comes to mainstream fashion sense and style. 

The demographic, being middle and up market, would be in a position to afford more high status magazines or have parents who can buy them high status magazines. Therefore, I should replicate a sleek and sophisticated look for this magazine. This will not only reflect the maturity levels of the target demographic but will also align with the magazine's high status value. Furthermore, this magazine will be owned by Condé Nast who is notorious for owning GQ and Vogue, so inspiration can definitely be taken from past covers of these brands. 

This target age group are also digital natives. It is a fact that 99% of 16-24 year olds use social networking sites. They will be incredibly familiar with social media sites like TikTok, instagram and Snapchat and therefore up to date with the latest trends. TikTok and instagram are notable sites where trends of the year are constantly talked about. Many videos talk about 'the next trend of 2025' or 'what will be this year's new pattern?' for example, which links to how style conscious the target demographic is. In this magazine, I think references to trending fashion, makeup and hair would have to be mentioned in light of this. 

TikTok has such an influence on style that even Vogue felt the need to commemorate it. 

I thought this would be worth pointing out with regards to the age group.

Pop culture and references- 

This target audience will be familiar with- 

Music- artists like Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan, BTS, Ariana Grande etc.. will be very familiar for a Gen Z audience so interviews or references to popular celebrities like them would be beneficial for the product

Due to a rise in technology, streaming platforms like Spotify, apple music, amazon music and YouTube are key in developing young people's music tastes. Pop music and rap are increasingly popular genres for 16-25 year olds. The two are often combined in this generation, for example, Swift's Bad Blood is classed as a pop song but also features a rap segment from Kendrick Lamar.

TV- speaking of a rise in technology, streaming sites such as Disney +, Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and Netflix have played pivotal roles in changing the way this generation views media like films and tv shows. Making a vast variety of new television readily accessible to a mass audience.

Popular TV shows include Stranger things, Squid games, Bridgerton, Friends, Modern Family, Brooklyn 99, The Office and Euphoria etc... The most popular genres include comedy (sitcoms) and dramas.

Films from the marvel and DC franchise are also incredibly familiar to this age demographic. There is a new level of interaction with films that wasn't there in the past where the audience will actively pick one film over the other to see and support. This trend has been seen by Barbenheimer (Barbie vs Oppenheimer) and also the more recent example, Wickedator (Wicked vs Gladiator 2). Gen Z also tend to gravitate towards a feeling of nostalgia with older films like Shrek being considered as iconic of the generation. Another franchise that a Gen Z audience can't escape is Harry Potter, with the long line of books and accompanying movies, the series will always remain as popular today. 

Games- The most notable games of Gen Z are Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite and GTA. These popular games could be so successful considering the lockdown of Covid-19 this generation went through. The age demographic would have either been teenagers or children during this and so, a rise in the popularity of such video games when kids had not much to do makes perfect sense.

Fashion- finally, the most important thing to consider for this product is fashion. As mentioned before, fashion is incredibly influenced by the short coming and going of trends- often dubbed microtrends due to their small length in popularity. This reflects how social media sites play a massive role in popular style due to how fast changing and evolving fashion is nowadays.