Wayfarer magazine

The Wayfarer reader is young, curious and excited to travel. Wayfarer magazine aims to provide a platform for students, young people and travellers to publish their adventures. As a customer publication it will be contracted out to STA Travel who provide the perfect platform and audience for this magazine. In return, Wayfarer will promote their business by featuring their destinations and prices. It will build a relationship with STA customers, while also attracting new ones. Wayfarer magazine will produce content for STA and will of course be subject to approval by them, much like airlines and their in-flight magazines. Editorial direction will always balance STA with its customers and feature a wide range of destinations and activities.

The monthly title will be 28 pages long and will feature guides to destinations, upcoming festivals and events, hotel and restaurant reviews, adventures and photography, along with historical and cultural features and anything else to inspire travel. For its readers it will serve to inspire travel; provide informative cultural content; and provide a platform for them to publish their travel stories.

What differs Wayfarer from its competitors is its contributors and content, it is targeted and tailored to a specific group of people, the STA customer, and will feature many of its readers, as writers.

As a contract magazine, the main revenue stream will be from STA Travel and it will be distributed free throughout their shops. It also has the potential to be distributed as a supplement in university newspapers in the future. Additional revenue will come from advertising, advertorials and student journalism awards.

A core editorial team, including an Editor, Art Director and Advertising Manager, will produce the magazine. Content will be sourced from STA customers, students and young travellers. 

Task 4: Response to the seminar

I agree with Maya in the blog post below that we are providing a fresh, academically informed perspective on innovation and entrepreneurship in the media industry. I also agree that professionals outside of our group would provide an invaluable insight into the fundamentals of media business, and their experience would possibly offer more focused ideas that we, as a group, can expand on. In addition, I think that enthusiasts, although not academically informed, would offer a more analytical approach of knowledge that is already available, and because of their passion might bring to the table ideas we have not considered. Allowing outsiders contribute would also build the awareness of the course, and, in turn, possibly the reputation. To maximise awareness of our bogs, I definitely think we should make use of 'labels' when blogging so that others interested can find our posts easily.

The class yesterday helped me identify the difference between ‘entrepreneurship’ and ‘innovation’, and the different implications they have in the old and new media industry business models. Entrepreneurship is a process or attitude, whereas innovation is the tangible activity of making something new. Understanding the difference allows me to analyse the attitudes of, and the motions being put in place by, innovative media companies to stay ahead of their competition whilst continuing to deliver content but, more importantly in the present digital age, new platforms to display, connect and use this content.