From an early stage in the magazine, I had decided that I
was going to have a lot of full bleed adverts. The method of this seems simple
– picking out pictures that are the right size, placing them, and then setting
them correctly – but this ignores all of the construction that goes into a
magazine from the conception to the production.
When thinking of what to include into the adverts, it was
important that the choice of product placement complimented the style of
writing and content of the magazine; Vice versa is counterproductive not only
for the magazine, but also for the advertisers who are alien to the audience’s
sensibilities and tastes; A lose lose situation for both players.
I had a lot of advertising space I needed to fill, so my
range of advertisers and products would have to be expansive to compliment the
pieces around the adverts properly and engage readers.
Looking at my brief, the adverts included would need to fit
into these categories;
·
Premium products (for those of media grouping C2
and above)
·
Racedays (to further the interest of novice
racegoers reading amongst others, as a natural attraction)
·
Refreshment themed brands (given the age group
and demographic we are targeting)
Remembering that my survey revealed that a 1/3rd of
my focus group spent £61 a month on racing, and then that half of them spent
£61 and above on each visit, there was a clear potential for premium products
to engage with their audience outside of raceday advertising.
While raceday ads and refreshment ads seemed simple enough,
for this I decided to take some inspiration from striking double page ads that
had made a big impression. There was the less is more approach, as seen by this sunbathing ad;
And it's intended use;
Or this bubble gum ad. Notice how the product’s interaction
with the person dominated the spread.
I had a similar idea in mind and smoother, classical design,
so my first choice for an advert was a fashion magazine aimed at higher class
young women; There was a lot of Royal Ascot themed advertising in my spread
which used space well and gave a striking appearance. The direct address of the
model was also a positive.
There was also the same technique, but used to promote a
premium racing event. Here, the vibrant colour from left to right along with a
horse connoted the class and excitement of the raceday as one while allowing
the time and date to dominate the right hand side of the page links the two
together.
Notice how white space in the next advert is instead
subsisted for a dramatic and bolder racing background instead, brining the same
effect delivered in a different style. If they don’t go to the raceday, they’re
likely to have more of inclination to watch it on TV, for example.
Given the common culture of alcohol on racecourses, it made
sense to have beverage advertised. A lot of our pieces – 4 – were based on the
premise of national hunt racing; so stout beverages seemed a sensible
inclusion. Guinness is associated closely with the Cheltenham Festival and
National Hunt racing in general, so seemed a sensible inclusion
I also added John Smith’s to the magazine, a well known beer
that was in the price range of all our intended audience; See the offer in the
magazine that encourages more engagement for the advertiser – only with John
Smith’s can they get more for their money.
While this was all well and good, bookmaking advertisements
were an obvious choice.
I had planned to include bookmakers in my magazine
advertisements and the focus of the horse’s eyes on each a side of the page and
the font used is slim and attractive. The two Racing Post headless betting apps
might have been s strange choice given I’d identified them as our competition
but as the magazine developed, my product became vastly different to their
product and this seemed as obvious a place as any to advertise, with most of
our target audience likely to use smartphones.
Last but not least, having the advertisement of a luxury
product is helpful for creating a classy feel to the magazine. The same way
that you see Gucci advertising in Vogue, and Boots in OK! Magazine, an
advertisement for this Jaguar could go a long way to subliminally convincing
people that Winning Post is the magazine of the elite. You expect to see high class products in a high class magazine; The two mirror eachother.
