Targeting is a key strength of magazines

Magazines can target specific groups of people with precision and without wastage. The targeting can be defined in terms of demographics, interests (e.g. sailing), or a variety of other ways.

Targeting can be achieved in terms of quite subtle variations in attitude, since individual magazines can be chosen which represent specific outlooks on life. The product to be advertised can be matched to the appropriate magazine, and thus the relevant audience. For instance, within a group of magazines as superficially similar as the leading women’s weeklies, there are important editorial differences which attract slightly different kinds of women - as illustrated by the “Editorial Dynamics” research [10] cited earlier.

Targeting as applied to the market of 15-24 year olds was explored by the ROAR project [59]. Seven media companies including EMAP Consumer Magazines conducted quantitative and qualitative research from 1995 onwards under the name ROAR (Rights Of Admission Reserved).

It showed that there is no such thing as an ‘average’ 15-24 year old. Instead the sample was clustered into seven distinct groups, based on answers to 42 attitude statements. The clusters were given labels - New Modernists, Corporate Clubbers, Conservative Careerists, Moral Fibres, Blairites, Bill & Ted, and Adolescent Angst – and each had its own set of values, motivations, and relationships with media and brands. A given brand will appeal more to some clusters than to others, and the relevant clusters can be targeted for advertising by choosing the magazines that these clusters read.

A study from Condé Nast [11] indicates differences between magazines in the attitudes of the readers they attract. ABC1 women readers of five women’s fashion and style monthlies were interviewed. A photograph of a clothes outfit was shown and readers were asked how much they would expect to pay for it if it was advertised in a particular magazine. On average, readers of one magazine expected the outfit to cost £159 if advertised in that magazine. Readers of magazine no. 2 expected it to cost £209 if advertised in magazine no. 2. Readers of magazine no. 3 thought it would be £223 if advertised in magazine no. 3. The other two magazines fell within this range.

The considerable variation from £159 to £223 arises from two factors: a presenter effect and differences in the outlook of the five types of reader. Readers of magazine no. 3 may well be used to paying higher prices for clothes than readers of magazine no. 1, and have a different outlook on pricing of fashion outfits. That is, the magazines themselves are targeting subtly different kinds of reader.

As the Henley Centre’s report “Magazines into 2000” points out [2], “the targeted nature of magazines typically results in a close relationship between the magazine and the reader and inspires a high degree of active reader involvement”.