Guardian Weekend, Heat and Plan B all target vastly different audiences in a variety
of ways.
Firstly there is Plan B, with its elaborate language and varied music genre topics you can see straight away that they're not targeting the same audience as perhaps top of the pops magazine (of which uses simplified language, and speaks more of musicians personal lives than focusing on their music.)
The market of readers for Plan B is fairly wide-spread within the niche market of music fanatics. They are the type of person who loves music of all kinds and are ipen to new music and genre types. This is shown by the magazine not focusing on a solo genre or stereotype and publishing stories of all musicians whether they're famous or unknown, pop or rock etc.
The way the publication is written is in a conversational, literary sense, the readers are expected to be knowledgeable in all aspects of music and should be able to engage with the cultural references with a good understanding of the text, showing that they are aiming at an intelligent market.
In comparison to other publications - such as Kerrang! magazine - Plan B is exceptionally well designed with a not so busy cover (showing they care more for the featured musician than cluttering the page with mainstream artists to draw in a bigger audience) and huge blocks of text instead of the short to-the-point snippets of text that other music magazines boast, showing that they expect their reader to want to read a well-prosed discussing and gain a sense of another persons opinion rather than be hunting for snappy bits of news.
Plan B was well produced, taking pride in an artistic design, and was only sold in record stores in belief that their readership are more likely to come across the magazine while browsing through record collections than in a supermarket where it would be in the midst of women's weekly's and mainstream magazines.
The writers are giving their readership a voice by never displaying what they say as fact, only opinion, and by leaving a lack of star ratings so that the reader can make up their own mind whether they agree or disagree with a review.
In contrast to Plan B's audience, Heat magazine targets a different type of youth (C1, C2, D) of whome are between the ages of 15 to 26 years, and are very much the "social butterflies" of their society.
By using bright colours Heat is trying to grab the attention of their audience for long enough to draw them in to the headlines, and by cluttering the cover with a variety of celebrities, it is hoping that something will interest their reader.
Ways in which Heat targets its reader is hwith a heavy emphasis on celebrity culture. Their belief is that their readers want a part of this glamorous lifestyle, so by taking paparazzi shot, and dragging these celebrities down to our level, it is giving their readership a hope that stardom is within their grasp, as these celebrities go through the same daily drama as we do in our own lives.
The magazine has a huge focus on appearance, trusting that their audience want to look good and feel good by the clothes they wear. They try to feed this want for beauty by filling their magazine with high-street fashion, make-up tips, diet plans and by making their stars appear unattractive so that we, the reader can feel more attractive.
Women's gossip magazines is a competitive genre, yet Heat stay at the top with clever marketing campaigns which make Heat seem accessible and important in our lives ("going to london to buy heat magazine").
The readership are expected to be familiar with popular culture, for example they should know who "RPattz" and "KStew" are without an explanation. Another thing expected from them is a constant use of social networking, which is why the magazine is constantly promoting their online pages to drive more online traffic to their webpages.
The Guardian Weekend, like Plan B boasts an intelligant audience, while like Heat it also displays much about celebrities, but not in the same way.
The neat structure, artistic design, and well-written articles show that their readers want an intellectual discussion which is full of opinion and that they want to read a supplement that they can be proud to be seen with.
By involving recipes and fine wines, and displaying expensive country houses it is supposed to be giving us a taste and a want for this lifestyle. Perhaps suggesting that their readers are city workers who dream of a place in the country to relax and have dinner parties and such.
The way celebrities are displayed show that they are in no way better than us. The interviews they partake in are full of conversation on their views on important topics rather than gossip, showing that their readership care more for opinion and views rather than news, they want to get to know the featured celebrity as a person rather than a persona.
