Musical Tots - Music Magazine for Children

The Queen’s composer, Peter Maxwell Davies, has recently spoken out against the UK’s education system and its “elitist” dealings with classical music. This, alongside shocking claims from 2012 OFSTED reports that "one in five of the schools visited were judged inadequate for music”, the current climate for classical music is shaping up for a bleak future. The lack of musical education in primary schools is cutting off the musical future, and without intervention at these early stages, classical music will simply be a thing of the past for the younger generations.

 Musical Tots is a classical music magazine for primary school children in the UK. It is a fun, vibrant magazine that aims to educate children about music in an exciting, innovative way. Musical Tots is a response to criticisms in the press that classical music is too elitist and strives to overturn the idea that classical music is only for a minority. The magazine will aim to present classical music in a way that targets the stories behind the music and encourages children to make intelligent links between different creative arts.

Musical Tots will be sold directly to primary schools in its first year before expanding to a supplement in another publication in alternate months. In its third year the magazine will reduce its production as a supplement to one magazine quarterly whilst developing as a magazine on the newsstand and with subscription.

The magazine will be sold for £5 per issue and with advertising as another revenue stream, it will make a profit of £1,414 end the end of its first year. As the sales increase, the price of the magazine will decrease to be more competitive. Total profit at the end of Year two will be £19,500 and £33,871 at the end of its third. 

The magazine is a brand and has the scope to expand into a number of different fields. Once established as a brand, I intend to expand into podcasts, CD audio books, print books and perhaps even a television channel. 

Musical Tots is a breath a fresh air that allows young people to engage with a subject too often deemed to be stagnant and old fashioned. This magazine will nourish the imagination of children and restore the beauty of one of our most ancient art forms.

The UK's first MANSIZED magazine

The hair styles of celebrities like David Beckham and Harry Styles are almost more famous than their talents. What does your hair say about you?

(mtv.com)

Modern men are image conscious and trend savvy, they want to look their best in the board room and in the bar afterwards and there is a new breed of barbers and men's hairdressing making this possible.

But when many men sit down in the hairdressers chair or visit their barber they lack a source of inspiration for their latest style. This is not only frustrating for the client but also for the professional. Barbers and men's hairdressers are overlooked by existing hairdressing magazines and as this new brand of barbershops and salons, which offer a premium service to their well grooming clients, grow they are lacking a publication to offer them news and advice.

Introducing…

A quarterly, glossy, premium magazine dedicated to the art of men's hairdressing and to exploring the latest trends in men's grooming. Distributed to premium barbershops and hairdressers across this UK this magazine will be inspiration for both the professional and their clients.

The average man waits 11.5 minutes for his hair cut and it is during this time advertisers have the opportunity to directly target these men through a magazine that will sit on the top of the magazine pile. This is a direct channel for advertisers to reach an audience that is often over looked in other hairdressing magazines and consumer style magazines.

With creative editorial photo shots and features on the latest trends, news, products and tips to help achieve their dream quiff MANSIZED is the bible for image conscious men.

For the professional, MANSIZED will be the window to the growing community of stylists who are committed to making people look and feel their best; stylists who compete in competitions such as the L'Oreal Colour Trophy Mens Image Award and American Crew All Star Challenge, stylists who are digitally savvy and stylists who are talent creatives.

Whilst the quarterly magazine will be the stylishly produced and full of the the best features, the digital platform of MANSIZED will span all social networks and will feed the growing community of online stylists with the latest industry news, reviews and features. As a member of this community MANSIZED will give it's subscribers chance to generate the content of the platform with their pictures and videos form their latest cuts and shaves through viral content and advertorials. Through the choice of different subscription packages the customers of MANSIZED have the option to gain a much or as little from the brand as like they wish.

As a brand MANSIZED if full of potential and with an industry which is booming the opportunities for both the magazine and its customers are endless. Whether it be industry exhibitions or award ceremonies, MANSIZED has the potential to grow and go there with the support of the professionals who want to see more recognition for this hard working, creative industry. 

Whether he works in a hair salon or barbershop, the barber is back and there is an army of image conscious, trend savvy men waiting for his service. MANSIZED offers this professional the chance to promote the art of his trade whilst making sure he is moving with the trends of the industry and ensuring his clients are the most well-groomed gentlemen on the street.

Due to launch in April 2014 with yearly subscriptions starting at £16 you and your clients have the chance both to look good and be MANSIZED!

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Investor Pitch Slides

Your Street, Your Style

Street style is booming.  It is beginning to define the fashion industry and designers are starting to look to the streets for inspiration for their clothing lines.  Many people look in magazines for inspiration in their everyday style, only to find outfits that have been styled by professionals and sometimes, at very high prices.  What if there was a magazine that showed you real street style on real people?  Would that inspire you?

That’s where Street comes in.  This will be a magazine which will be published monthly on newsstands, along with a digital edition and an online platform that will be updated daily called streetmagazine.com.

Street will be a magazine for young women and men who are looking for inspiration in their everyday style.  The magazine has a commitment to be a platform to showcase real street style from around the world, purely based on high street fashion.

Street will be 60 pages, saddle stitched and contemporary in look and appeal.  Quality photography and content is the constant goal.

There is a gap in the market for Street.  Not one magazine is currently out there that is dedicated purely to street style, based entirely on high street fashion.

My target market includes men and women aged 16-28 who have an interest in fashion, trends and style.  They only buy high street labels and want to live a stylish lifestyle.  This target audience have increased their consumption and demand for magazines in line with their rising standards of living.

I believe there is a big audience out there who are ready to consume this content.  So many outfits in fashion magazines are put together by a stylist.  People are waiting for a refreshing idea that shows them how people put clothes together themselves, just like you and me.

So get ready for an innovative, versatile magazine that will answer all your questions about style.  Just remember, it’s your street and it’s your style.

Click here for more information.

Holly Sutton

PEST Analysis for Media Journalism

By carrying out a PEST Analysis into the current Media Journalism sector, we are able to gain an in-depth understanding of the current industry, highlight new opportunities and also threats or problems and how these can be over come.

The Internet and advances in digital technology has changed the model of mass communication and has had a major impact on the external environment of the newspaper and magazine industries, gradually substituting traditional print media. Digital media has also increased competitiveness within the market and with low capital cost and global accessibility of resources, this has been a threat for many established prints publications. Many existing newspapers have therefore had to compliment their daily prints with online version and further updates throughout the day, instead of waiting for updates till their next publication to be released.

The current economical climate also means that people may be less likely to buy a newspaper or magazine when they could access this information free online - either via newspaper websites, independent websites, blogs or forums. This has had a knock on effect for companies who may have previously used print promotion to reach consumers, as their target consumers might be struggling to buy products, they may have smaller marketing budget or may be choosing to spend their budget on other promotional platforms.

The current economical climate has also led to the public becoming less trusting of the government and therefore, it is easy for consumers to avoid certain publications depending on their political standpoint. With developments in technology and an increased access to resources and information it also means that the public are more likely to investigate news stories themselves - allowing more transparency and angles to a story.

Socially peoples needs are also changing in the way readers access information. More people are accessing digital and social media and by going online, newspaper and magazines can offer their readers multimedia and interaction - something which was not possible only a few years ago.

Media Industry - PEST Analysis

Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological Factors – These will help make sense of the bigger picture.

Political – The Digital revolution is expanding yet has many issues to combat. One of which is the number of lawsuits it has faced due to copyrighted content. This has led publishers to take an extra precaution as they need to avoid future lawsuits. They demand that freelancers sign away electronic rights or risk not being published electronically. (Cunningham B. Who owns that story now? Columbia J Rev. 2000; 38(5):11). The threat here is piracy, where people will copy content free of charge.

Economic – The pressure is rising to sell more books. Profits on e-books are not as high and this means that authors are not able to make enough revenue. Technology has undermined the economics of book publishers and authors. On a positive note, e-readers help the economy because e-books as a supply inventory chain control saves trees in the long run. Digital editions of magazines are also creating an attractive environment for advertisers.

Socio-Cultural – New publishing strategies create engaged community forums, for example Goodreads.com is a digital and social networking library which allows people to chat about books and creates awareness about niche books. This builds an opportunity for promotion of products which would not only help authors but also help publishers. A threat that social networking may impose is bad reviews and therefore have the opposite effect. The audience now have just as much access to media distribution as publishers do. E-marketer has reported that CEO's within the media and entertainment industry are leaning on social media to encourage growth and build future customer connections. (www.Fipp.com)

Technological – The media market place is not simply about technology. But technology does in fact play a huge role. Convergence of media is making boundaries harder to decipher. Where do books end is one main question and another medium begin.  The rise of e-books meant numerous platforms were created as a marketplace for books. One example is when Steve Jobs announced the launch of the iPad iBooks, which created a huge opportunity for publishers. A problem with technology is that it is forever changing and media companies must always look at innovative ways to lure back those lapsed readers, with the added pressure of other competing technologies. The good thing about the discovery of new media devices is that it is transforming magazine media audiences, whilst print remains just as important.

 Fipp has researched into how

 “The remarkable strengths of tablets, websites, smartphones and social media in presenting magazine content, and consumers enthusiastic acceptance of these new means of 

delivery, means that for publishers there is a dramatic and continuing shift in profile towards digital audiences without necessarily reducing print audiences. All in all, this indicates a very healthy future for magazine media is one of the conclusions drawn in the book.”

By Saima Omar